HDMI cables
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Why are they so bloody expensive? Does gold plating make any difference to a digital signal? While poking around on the interweb I also found 1 $500 cat 5 cable![^]
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Why are they so bloody expensive? Does gold plating make any difference to a digital signal? While poking around on the interweb I also found 1 $500 cat 5 cable![^]
i have to admit... i got ripped-off on an HDMI cable this weekend. i wasn't paying close attention to the cable i bought because i was spending big cash on a receiver. it wasn't until i went to Target to get another HDMI cable that i realized the "mark down" the guy at the stereo store gave me wasn't really much of a bargain at all. but, it's a nice cloth-wrapped cable. much prettier than the basic black GE cable i got for 1/2 the price at Target! i'm sure it looks great smashed in with all the other cables behind the receiver, inside the stereo cabinet.
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i have to admit... i got ripped-off on an HDMI cable this weekend. i wasn't paying close attention to the cable i bought because i was spending big cash on a receiver. it wasn't until i went to Target to get another HDMI cable that i realized the "mark down" the guy at the stereo store gave me wasn't really much of a bargain at all. but, it's a nice cloth-wrapped cable. much prettier than the basic black GE cable i got for 1/2 the price at Target! i'm sure it looks great smashed in with all the other cables behind the receiver, inside the stereo cabinet.
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Why are they so bloody expensive? Does gold plating make any difference to a digital signal? While poking around on the interweb I also found 1 $500 cat 5 cable![^]
They are expensive at BestBuy and walmart because corporations try to maximize profits by taking advantage of uneducated consumers... You can find them cheap online. Other products that are unfairly marked up, red peppers and contact lens solution.
I didn't get any requirements for the signature
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Because people pay the ridiculous prices, making cables some of the most profitable consumer electronics products ever. Do yourself a favor and buy from a place like monoprice. Inexpensive cables that work great. The savings are almost ridiculous compared to what you might find at places like Bestbuy. I've bought all kinds of cables (including HDMI) from them. I'm sure the $500 cables ARE better in some metrics, but above a certain point, the improvements are meaningless. As long as the cable can get through those 0s and 1s below the acceptable error rate, then it's good.
dighn wrote:
I'm sure the $500 cables ARE better in some metrics
Said metrics being performance in areas with toxic levels of EMI. If you;re not cabling a factory with large electric motors and aren't trying to run cables at a multiple of the maximum in spec length forget it.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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Why are they so bloody expensive? Does gold plating make any difference to a digital signal? While poking around on the interweb I also found 1 $500 cat 5 cable![^]
what people have been saying about if you get an image with a cheapo it'll be the same with an expensive cable, is pretty much true, the more expensive cables(to a point) have better built connectors and connections in them so they'll stand up to bieng pulled and tugged on a bit more and make a more solid connection with the jack in the tv/monitor, and the more expensive ones will have better shielding around the wires so if you're running a 35' hdmi cable through your walls becuase you cant put a TV near your av closet and happen to cross the main power line for the house and run along the main ground you wont get any interference. (just cross them at 90 deg if you have to cross em). a cheap wire did have a noticeable amound of interference but my 100 some dollar one didnt have an issue with the same route. btw Phoenix Gold makes some of the best bang for the buck wires you can get, at least in my experience.
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Why are they so bloody expensive? Does gold plating make any difference to a digital signal? While poking around on the interweb I also found 1 $500 cat 5 cable![^]
HiFi / Consumer Audio lives with that insanity for ages: gold plated contacts, hand-selected capacitors, isolating cable sockets so your speaker cables don't lie on the floor (yes, for better sound quality), directional cables (for an AC signal, no less). And the explanations that are given! :omg: Makes my toes curl up. With HiDef video, that stupidity seems to have entered new markets. Having said that, there may be some marginal benefit in some situations. Digital doesn't mean cable quality does not matter. At the frequencies used here, every wire is an inductivity, two wires are a capacitor, funny things can happen. The gold plating may cause to a lower contact resistance, thereby reducing reflections on a long cable. If reflections get to bad, you will see dropouts.
From your link: was designed for the audio enthusiast They misspelled "gullible people with to much money".
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Why are they so bloody expensive? Does gold plating make any difference to a digital signal? While poking around on the interweb I also found 1 $500 cat 5 cable![^]
I went to Best Buy to pick up a SATA cable once. The only one they had was $20. :wtf:
I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon
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I went to Best Buy to pick up a SATA cable once. The only one they had was $20. :wtf:
I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon
At one point when I priced cables a year or two ago, next day shipping from the egg was cheaper than retail (Ultimately I decided that waiting a few more days to bring my 2nd monitor up was worth the savings for ground shipping). I'm not sure if the surge in shipping costs has changed this since...
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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At one point when I priced cables a year or two ago, next day shipping from the egg was cheaper than retail (Ultimately I decided that waiting a few more days to bring my 2nd monitor up was worth the savings for ground shipping). I'm not sure if the surge in shipping costs has changed this since...
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
Lucky for me there is a local dealer with a bins of cables to grab. SATA are $2, giving BB a 10x markup. There's also a fry's a few miles further away, so I only have to use BB as an electronics 7-11, but even then $20 was way too high. I was expecting 8-10 and would have paid it.
I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon
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Why are they so bloody expensive? Does gold plating make any difference to a digital signal? While poking around on the interweb I also found 1 $500 cat 5 cable![^]
Another forum I hang about on (nothing to do with coding, don't worry y'all) which is about audio and stuff, there was a post containing a note about how the guy had once seen a Power Cable for an Amplifier, coming in at $1,700. 1700 bucks for a kettle lead.
Ninja (the Nerd)
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