After a disastrous visit to Best Buy tonight to pick up some accessories for my new media center, I’ve had enough with this mis-information being passed around, mostly by sales reps. Rather than BBQ Best Buy (although they deserve it), I am going to set the record straight:
First of all, if you are paying more than $20 for an HDMI cable, you are BEING FUCKED IN THE ASS by whoever is selling it to you. Newegg has 6 foot HDMI cables for $4. Amazon has 9 ft cables for $8. Even Radio Shack has them starting around $19, which is fine for brick&mortar. Best Buy’s START at $49 for a 4 ft cable.
This $49 cable will perform EXACTLY the same as that $4 cable. If the sales rep is telling you that the gold plating or thicker cable will provide higher quality video and sound, he is LYING TO YOUR FACE. Digital cables, which include HDMI, DVI, optical TOSlink, SATA and audio coax transmit a stream of 1’s and 0’s. A gold plated 1 is the same thing to the receiver as an aluminum 1. This is the same reason why HD antennas will either give a clear picture, or no picture, with none of that static medium that the analog antennas had.
HDMI = DVI for video quality. HDMI is NOT a better picture than DVI. The only differences between DVI and HDMI are that HDMI also carry audio, and can give/receive instructions from other devices. A common misconception is that HDMI is a step up in video quality from DVI, which is 1000 times false. If your TV has 3 HDMI’s and one DVI input, go ahead and use the DVI input for your 4th device. The only drawback will be that you’ll have to use a separate audio cable if your device doesn’t have built in speakers.
HDMI & DVI is the ONLY way to carry 1080p video. Component cables (the red, blue and green) can carry up to 1080i. This isn’t because of cable limitations, but because of encryption. HDMI/DVI also carry a security protocol called HDCP, which makes a handshake between the two devices, to make sure that nothing in the middle is “pirating” the signal. This is only done with 1080p, for some reason…this is also why if you have a non-HDCP compatible TV/monitor (yes, my Dell 2405 monitor will reject my Bluray player because of this), you are out of luck…
When you hear terms like “high speed cable” and “category 1 and 2”, this has nothing to do with the core quality of the cable. It has to due with the ability to transmit over further distances. The only reason you need to buy a category 2 cable is if you need a cable longer than 10 feet. Again, if the sales rep is trying to get you to spend $90 on a 5 foot cat2 cable so that your picture will look better, he is RIPPING YOUR OFF AND LYING TO YOUR FACE.
So yes, use HDMI if possible. But don’t get ripped off upgrading.