HDMI cables are brutally expensive and for the most part, discount HDMI cables offer the same performance and video quality. I was in the market for some more HDMI cables and thought I would search for another supplier of discount HDMI cables and stumbled across Optimization World offering some great deals on HDMI Cables. I fired off a quick email and within minutes I received a response from the company. After being helped to select the product that would best suit my needs (10′ HDMI – DVI cable), I was impressed with the service offered by David French. After a few more emails back and forth, I managed to convince David French to give us his thoughts on the differences between discount HDMI cables and those expensive ones offered by the mainstream companies such as Monster Cables and Rocket Fish.
The following article is David’s thoughts on the discount HDMI Cable vs. expensive HDMI cable debate.
There’s been a wide debate about whether “discount” HDMI cables are the same quality as their more expensive counterparts, or if they’re notably different. There’s at least one noticeable difference: the price. While premium HDMI cables can cost upwards of $100, you can get the same length discount cable for around $13.
But what about quality? To understand, it helps to know what HDMI cables are. HDMI cables transmit a digital signal (both audio and video) between an HD source, such as a cable box, and your TV. Digital signals transmit to a TV’s using a simple code of 1’s and 0’s, the TV then determines the 1 or 0 and broadcasts the signal. There really is no gray area—they either transmit the signal or they don’t. Honestly speaking, your $13 cable will carry that signal just as effective as your $100.
All HDMI cables are certified by and go through the same standard testing at the HDMI Authorized Testing Center. That means that the generic cables receive the same HDMI certification from the same testing as the premium cables.
The reality is there’s absolutely no difference in quality. After seeing both side by side, I haven’t been able to see any difference. I also recommend researching some of the specs because you’ll find that most discount cables have the same specs as the expensive HDMI cables. It’s just like buying a generic brand of cereal, same ingredients, different packaging, and a lot cheaper price.
Some people wonder how companies can sell cables at so much lower prices. As I can’t speak for all, I can tell you how we save the consumer money and still offer an excellent cable. Our cables come in a plastic sleeve in a bubble wrapped envelope. There’s no fancy packaging, or expensive branding to place our logo on the cable. We simply put a stamp on the envelope and it’s out the warehouse door. We have no expensive marketing campaigns; we simply try and keep our overhead costs as low as we can in order to pass the savings on to the consumer.
Buying a discount HDMI cable may leave you without bragging rights, but it will also leave you with a lot of extra cash in your pocket and a clear signal to your HDTV.
There you have it. The world of discount HDMI cables according to David French of Optimization World. I would like to thank David for providing me with his thoughts and with the article.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
It might have something to do with manufacturing? Child labour in substandard working conditions paying next to nothing versus a good unionized, well paying job with benefits.
Well, the manufacturing of many of the products from the electronics companies takes place in substandard places. We’ve become a disposable society and while I still value my dollars, I’m not paying $100 for a cable that I can get for $10 when technically they are all the same.
When is your blog launching?
Ha! I couldn’t agree further. How I cringe when I see friends fall for the Monster Cable (AKA Monster markup) $200 cables at BB and FS and countless other large retailers.
As mentioned in your article, this is even more true in the case of a digital signal, where it is not the enthalpy of the surrounding room upon the sheath resistance of said cable which may cause (insert *bs* here) inter-harmonic peak potential maximum reference distortion…. that has any real world impact on the bits passing across the cable.
It’s worth mentioning that Monoprice – http://www.monoprice.com is a pretty well respected online etailer of quality cables (HDMI and other) at great pricing.