HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

After watching the programme 'Shop Secrets: Tricks of the Trade', I'd like to ask others if they think that paying more for an HDMI cable is worth it or not.

Does paying more mean better quality? If so, does there come a price point where it is not worth paying any more?

The programme said that you can pay between £1, £60, £80 and even go gold plated! However, they don't believe that it makes any difference at all.

Do VM supply a cable free of charge when upgrading to TiVo?

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Being digital as long as the signal gets to the other end it will work fine

Pretty sure VM did supply one when they installed my Tivo

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Thanks, it Iooks like VM will take care of this if I upgrade to a TiVo then.

If I go for Freesat and Freeview, I guess I'll need to buy one (or do these boxes come with an HDMI cable supplied- anyone?)

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

I got a free HDMI cable when I had a V+ box fitted. The same cable is being used for the TiVo I now have.

As long as you don't need a long cable (5 metres or more, there abouts) then any cable should be fine. I bought a couple off ebay for other devices a couple of years ago that were only a couple of quid each and they are still working just as good as when I bought them.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

My Humax Freesat came with hd cable in box.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Poundland do a 1 meter hdmi cable for (guess what) a £1.
I know that is short but is does what I want in connecting Laptop to TV occasionally it works ok for me.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

As its a digital connection as long as it works then thats going to get you a picture whether you pay £1 or £100.

All my HDMI cables are from Poundland and picture looks great.

Expensive HDMI cables are a total rip off.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

True, but at least with gold plated ones, the bits and bytes get to travel in style....

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Indeed - watchdog did a thing on this in the past couple of weeks and found that all prices were more than capable.

They even deliberately broke a cable and reconnected it with old bits of tin etc and the signal getting to the TV was fine.

and yup I got a HDMI cable with my VM box when I got one, my Sky boxes and my BT Youview box and even my NOW TV box.

I think I've got a whole load of spares now ;) :)

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

The only difference is that with gold-plated ones you don't get connector corrosion which can cause poor connections.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

To get corrosion, wouldn't it need to be wet/damp ?

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

It's true that digital signals don't degrade like analogue, so the very expensive cables are not worth paying for. However, at the bottom of the scale, I've seen some very cheap cables work for a few months & then pack in.

So, in either case too expensive or too cheap & you are wasting your money.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

I had this argument with a staff member in Currys a few years ago when buying a Blu Ray player for my dad for Xmas. He started on about paying £200 for a machine then getting shoddy pictures because i did not have his "higher quality" £49.99 HDMI cable. The debate got so heated i left the shop and bought the Blu Ray player on Amazon where it was £40 cheaper. To this day the player is still being used with a £1 Poundland HDMI cable. The quality of the images is excellent.

As pointed out there is no such thing as a higher quality HDMI cable just a higher priced one.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

I bet places like Monster are cursing, they used to sell cables at truly outrageous prices.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Thats exactly what the programme and the Consumers Association (Which) said. They also did tests with people who either didn't know the differences or got it wrong eg saying that the £1 HDMI picture looked "less fuzzy round the edges" than the gold plated one!

Why do HD pictures need a special cable anyway?

How does my V+ know that I'm not using one (and thus refuses to play HD VOD)?

Thanks.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Pc world still do

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/tv-dvd...relevance-desc

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

HD has a higher data rate than SD, and the cables need to have certain electrical properties to carry the required data rates.

HDMI is a two-way digital connection, where the TV can send the STB information about it's capabilities.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extende...ification_data

---------- Post added at 14:27 ---------- Previous post was at 14:17 ----------

Incidentally - the trade price of gold-plated HDMI cables starts at $0.10

http://lancom.en.alibaba.com/product...DMI_CABLE.html

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

you do have to laugh really at what some people pay

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

It is worth using a "High Speed" (Category 2) HDMI cable if you need 1080p, 3D, or 4K... however even those can still be purchased *very* cheaply, even ones with Ethernet.

No need whatsover to pay for expensive cables. As for gold plated connectors... rather pointless given that the sockets are not gold plated.

HDMI cables are so badly advertised...

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Think I might get a couple of these as spares. £2.99 with free delivery.

http://www.ebuyer.com/602639-xenta-f...d-cable-hdmi23

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Corrosion happens whenever 2 disimilar metals are in contact, gold is inert so prevents the corrosion, even if the other contact is not gold.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Mmmmmmm.

Corrosion is oxidation of a metal. It happens without the need for a second metal.

You are right, however, that gold corrodes much slower than other metals.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

gold does not oxidise

http://corrosion-doctors.org/MatSelect/corrgold.htm

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

So by that reckoning using gold contacts on the cable would result in corrosion on the non gold (and so dissimilar) contacts on the tv or stb???

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Nope, total non-reaction AFAIK. My repair jobs in the electronics/telecomms industry were due to 90% poor contacts (5% finger troubles and 5% component failures) until gold coated contacts started to become the norm.

A bit of a hefty read, but it gets the point across

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Gold certainly does oxidise.

There are two oxides of gold, Au2O and Au2O3.

Oxidation is the process of a chemical reaction which strips electrons from an element to form positive ions. In the case of gold, there are monovalent and trivalent positive ions, hence the two oxides of gold.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

you obviously know what you are saying or totally have me blagged lol . I bow to your greater knowledge :)

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Sorry if I came over the wrong way. I do have a degree in Chemistry, albeit from more than 40 years ago.

Oxidation is a basic process in inorganic chemical reactions and does not even have to involve oxygen.

I will concede that gold will not become oxidised and form either of the two oxides in normal conditions. This, of course, is why it is used in certain applications as it remains un-tarnished and keeps its conductive properties. It's also why it's liked in jewellery as it stays shiny, unlike silver.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

no not at all I like it when someone explains like you did I like to learn :)

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Perhaps we should lobby VM and TV manufacturers to make the contacts from gold :D

---------- Post added at 15:29 ---------- Previous post was at 15:28 ----------

Thanks for explaining it, I have often wondered about this.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

As a condition of their support for Hdmi, the content providers stipulated that it support encryption at all stages. If that encryption is not present, they stipulated that the device revert to an SD signal.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Do all HDMI cables have the ability to carry data?

My Xbox one HDMI Cable has the ability to control the TV, and a few years ago I bought a HDMI cable which IIRC had network capability.

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Watchdog test house on BBC 1 at 11.45 am daily, recently did a test on HDMI cables. 20/03/14
Try and get it in catchup.
Very interesting findings from a professor.
As long as it's made of metal and conducts electricity it will work all the same.
As long as the signal gets from one end to the other. All the same.
And the £3.99 cable came out as the choice in a test in which viewers watched the exact same film on the exact same equipment.
The other cable was approx £80

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Yes.

See "Communication channel protocols" in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

Re: HDMI cables: Free? & price v quality.
 

Some say that while gold to gold (plug and socket) is best, nickel to nickel is better than gold to nickel, as gold is the most cathodic metal.

It's also possible that some medium to high grade cables may be better made, have better strain relief, but then if you break a pound store cable, replacing it won't break the bank, while if the £80 one suffered damage, you'd be very cross!

PS. one digital cable that is VERY variable, is the USB extension, some will do USB2, others won't- one particular paradox being a 5M (USB max length) that would, and a 1M that wouldn't.