Anyone using Redmere HDMI cables?

[+devHead Subscriber²]

my thinking has always been, you get what you pay for and gold conducts signal better than regular metal or steel.

Chris,

There is no 'signal to conduct' when it comes to digital.  Unlike analog signal, a digital signal is 0s and 1s.  It either gets through completely or it doesn't.  The connection material has no impact.

 

http://lifehacker.com/5506219/why-you-should-never-pay-more-than-10-for-hdmi-cables

 

Please read the above linked article, then make a better informed decision.  And keep in mind, when I used to use analog cables for my audio components many years ago, I did buy higher quality cables than just the stock patch cords.  However, when it comes to digital, there is no difference between a $10 HDMI cable and one from Monster for $50 or $60.  You don't always get what you pay for; sometimes you're just paying for a company name and folks who are trying to take advantage of people's lack of knowledge.

[Brian M. Veteran]

I personally have done as above, and run 5 cables to my wall mounted TV:

 

 - Power

 - 2 x cat 6 (1 video, 1 network)

 - 1 x coax (just in case)

 - 1 x RCA (again, just in case)

 

I personally didn't use an electrician. I haven't had any handshake issues using the cat 6 - and the run is probably 40 feet. I did originally try with a "long" HDMI cable, and had massive issues with devices not connecting (changing input on my amp lost output on the TV etc).

 

Do yourself a favour though - don't buy crappy cat6 from eBay. Use decent quality cable, and decent connectors. Whilst the monster HDMI cables are indeed a rip-off, you also need to ask yourself how someone can make, sell and ship 50m of cat6 for ?5. Also ensure you trunk properly. My cables are buried in the wall, but they're all in trunking with rounded corners, so if required I can still re-pull new cables without having to destroy the wall.

[ctebah]

As many have already said, don't run HDMI cables on such long distances, it's a waste of money.  Buy quality Cat6 cables as they are more versatile and future proof.

[AnDom]

Just FYI since this doesn't seem to have been mentioned,

 

You need to make sure whatever you run is in-wall rated (The Monoprice cables in the OP do not appear to be)... building/fire code makes this a requirement.  The electrician/installer will (or at least should) refuse to run any cable that is not appropriately rated.

[Kreuger]

I use new Monster HDMI cables myself. prime gold connections. cost a little bit more but good signal quality

HDMI cables dont matter. Its a binary signal. Either it's there, or not. The only way you should pay more is for length.

[MikeChipshop Member]

The only way you should pay more is for length.

 

:woot:

[+Fahim S. MVC]

Chris,

There is no 'signal to conduct' when it comes to digital.  Unlike analog signal, a digital signal is 0s and 1s.  It either gets through completely or it doesn't.  The connection material has no impact.

 

http://lifehacker.com/5506219/why-you-should-never-pay-more-than-10-for-hdmi-cables

 

Please read the above linked article, then make a better informed decision.  And keep in mind, when I used to use analog cables for my audio components many years ago, I did buy higher quality cables than just the stock patch cords.  However, when it comes to digital, there is no difference between a $10 HDMI cable and one from Monster for $50 or $60.  You don't always get what you pay for; sometimes you're just paying for a company name and folks who are trying to take advantage of people's lack of knowledge.

 

So how do 1s and 0s get lost in a longer cable then? Not quite as binary (pun unintentional) as you make it out to be.

[HawkMan]

So how do 1s and 0s get lost in a longer cable then? Not quite as binary (pun unintentional) as you make it out to be.

 

Quite simple, but not so simply explained. 

 

Bit changes actually happen at face change in most modern signals(in fact it can happen several times in a phase change in modern systems as well but it gets a bit technical). This means that in a cable signal on or off doesn't mean 1 or 0, it can in fact mean either or, as that method simply isn't fast enough for high data transfer systems. 

 

that explains part of it, but not much without the next part, which is what I believe is what is referred to as signal attenuation in english. 

 

When the sender creates the signal to be sent in the cable, the curves are if not perfectly square, very close to square. In the cable as the cable gets longer resistance and other "stuff" in the cables, "flattens" the signal, and creates a long flat curve. After long enough the curve becomes so flat the receiver can no longer accurately detect where the phase changes are and thus can't detect bit changes and don't know what some bits are and will have to guess or just drop or just assume there has been no change. 

 

In cables with multiple pairs where parallel data streams are important this is further exasperated by the fact that as the signals get attenuated, they ###### in the cable, and while it may detect the bits properly, one signal may be to late compared to another. This is why old parallel cables couldn't be longer than 5 meters. 

 

In effect it boils down to the fact we don't have super conductors. and is why fiber is better than copper(speed wise copper also sends the signal at light speed) as the light doesn't really attenuate in the same way and the cable handles much shorter pulses without attenuating out the signal pulses. Even then fiber needs repeaters after long stretches as well. 

[chrisj1968]

Live and learn i guess :/