Deuche
03-07-2008, 12:20 PM
Ive been reading this guys article on HDMI and different interfaces and found his testing to be very very usefull. Apparently ANY HDMI cable under 6 foot performs exactly the same! Anything over that is where you run into issues. He went as far as showing you actual scopes and readout of testing each cable from the cheapest online to monsters high end cables. Monster does perform the best but everything is just about on par under 6foot!
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hdmi-cable-battlemodo/the-truth-about-monster-cable-part-2-268788.php
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/field-notes/the-truth-about-monster-cable-266616.php
Differences in cable are easily spotted by untrained eyes.
A PS3 feeding 1080p signal to a Samsung 1080p LCD TV starts to jitter and throw digital noise lines across the screen if the cable can't hack the bandwidth. We tested the two cables above on a PS3 showing a Blu-ray of Chicken Little and it was totally noticeable, there were lines and jitters, none of this videophile matter-of-opinion stuff that I had anticipated. It was totally obvious, and something that Monster says people often blame on their TV, not their cable.
Future proofing and heavy-duty cable are crucial for in-wall installation.
This probably made the most sense of all. Given the fact that in-wall cable is longer than others, you'd need something that can handle the bandwidth. (In fact, when it gets to 50 feet, you don't have many choices in the cable world for that reason—Monster says it's soon headed for 100 feet of HDMI.) Couple that with staples, kinks and other weirdness that might happen with in-wall installation, and the fact that when you upgrade your TV, you don't want to have to re-do your drywall, and Monster has a good point.
Lest you think I be drinkin' Lee's Kool-Aid, here are my caveats to Monster's truths:
• If you are going from any source to a 720p or 1080i TV set, you should really be in the clear using a full-on crappy ass cable.
• As long as you're not doing installing the wiring in your wall, start with the crappy cable. If it sucks and you only paid $20 for it, go back and spend more on something certified.
• In the demo, Monster even proved that good components can offset crappy cables: that PS3 and that Samsung 1080p were able to work around much of the problems, all the more reason why, in a non-custom non-in-wall installation, you should try out the lower grade stuff first.
So listen, you've heard it from me: there are differences in cable, but there are also differences in technical requirements. We don't all need $120 cables for our components. As to the question of why Monster won't offer a lower-priced product in recognition of these differences in technical requirements, Lee told me to "stay tuned."
OK people, let's hear it. Go ahead and vent. – Wilson Rothman
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hdmi-cable-battlemodo/the-truth-about-monster-cable-part-2-268788.php
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/field-notes/the-truth-about-monster-cable-266616.php
Differences in cable are easily spotted by untrained eyes.
A PS3 feeding 1080p signal to a Samsung 1080p LCD TV starts to jitter and throw digital noise lines across the screen if the cable can't hack the bandwidth. We tested the two cables above on a PS3 showing a Blu-ray of Chicken Little and it was totally noticeable, there were lines and jitters, none of this videophile matter-of-opinion stuff that I had anticipated. It was totally obvious, and something that Monster says people often blame on their TV, not their cable.
Future proofing and heavy-duty cable are crucial for in-wall installation.
This probably made the most sense of all. Given the fact that in-wall cable is longer than others, you'd need something that can handle the bandwidth. (In fact, when it gets to 50 feet, you don't have many choices in the cable world for that reason—Monster says it's soon headed for 100 feet of HDMI.) Couple that with staples, kinks and other weirdness that might happen with in-wall installation, and the fact that when you upgrade your TV, you don't want to have to re-do your drywall, and Monster has a good point.
Lest you think I be drinkin' Lee's Kool-Aid, here are my caveats to Monster's truths:
• If you are going from any source to a 720p or 1080i TV set, you should really be in the clear using a full-on crappy ass cable.
• As long as you're not doing installing the wiring in your wall, start with the crappy cable. If it sucks and you only paid $20 for it, go back and spend more on something certified.
• In the demo, Monster even proved that good components can offset crappy cables: that PS3 and that Samsung 1080p were able to work around much of the problems, all the more reason why, in a non-custom non-in-wall installation, you should try out the lower grade stuff first.
So listen, you've heard it from me: there are differences in cable, but there are also differences in technical requirements. We don't all need $120 cables for our components. As to the question of why Monster won't offer a lower-priced product in recognition of these differences in technical requirements, Lee told me to "stay tuned."
OK people, let's hear it. Go ahead and vent. – Wilson Rothman