Am i right in thinking, that if i get a .5m £5 cable the quality will NOT decrease

Not as much as if i had a 7mtr run where you should purchase a more expensive one

Idea is hooking up a bluray so was looking at getting a 1.4series to cover the 3d signals when required.. ANy recommendations from anyone whos looked in to this one?

Correct, quality is exactly the same. HDMI is digital, and so not affected by cable quality like analogue is. You maybe able to get some short ones from poundland that have the same quality picture.

Being digital they will either work or not work it is that simple.

I got a 2m HDMI cable from eBay that was on a buy it now, can't remember the exact price (very cheap) but the postage cost more than I paid for the cable with free P&P!!

i can help with this one, trythat cable

they are 5 star rated by what hi mag i have one and it is very good , i was happy that i wasnt spending a lot and still getting a good cable!

this cable is £5 delivered

Edited 21 December, 201015 yr by furn

The only issue you may face is attentuation over long cable runs - to ceiling projectors, etc. Otherwise just buy the cheapest you can find and ignore 'specialist' magazines telling you that you get better contrast or colour with more expensive ones; they're laughing behind your back.

Edited 21 December, 201015 yr by Interphase

Cheap will be fine.

I bought a very cheap 10m (!!) HDMI cable from CPC for about £20. It's running 1080p60 without a glitch

No deffo need one of these

http://www.futureshop.co.uk/wireworld-platinum-starlight-hdmi-to-hdmi-cable-5m-p-3474.html

Only £2k

No deffo need one of these

http://www.futuresho...-5m-p-3474.html

Only £2k

I wonder why it hasn't got any reviews

Seriously though, the most expensive HDMI cable I bought was £10 and that came with a DVI adapter (bought so I could plug the old Mac into the TV) and I've not had any issues with picture quality.

The £1.99 1.5m one from Home Bargains or B&M or wherever it was gives the same picture quality as my super duper £10 cable...

Hdmi 1.4 cables (suitable for sound throughput to an amplifier) are under £3 from Scan and e-buyer, as long as you are buying other things to reduce the overall postage

Edited 22 December, 201015 yr by kenfowler3966

Bought a bunch of These from Amazon and they are fine, plug them in and they work, what more could one want from a digital interconnect?

Edited 22 December, 201015 yr by dstev2000

The only issue you may face is attentuation over long cable runs - to ceiling projectors, etc. Otherwise just buy the cheapest you can find and ignore 'specialist' magazines telling you that you get better contrast or colour with more expensive ones; they're laughing behind your back.

Good advice regarding specalist magazines, I've found them not to be the most objective in the past, I think they are too easily swayed by the manufacurers who advertise in their magazine and keep the cash rolling in. Unfortunately I learnt this lesson the hard way by buying two DVD players on the recommendation of a partciular magazine. Both turned out to be dogs and had inherrent design faults, one had a known issue with the DVD transport which meant is was very picky about what it played, the other had bad lip-sync issues (AV forums used to be littered with posts about this particular model), both got glowing reviews and were not low end brands either.

Never pay more than a tenner (including shipping) for a normal length HDMI cable, and never listen to the sales people in Curry's and Comet, they spout so much c**p about high end cables because they're incentivised to sell them. All HDMI cables have to conform to a mnimum spec which ensures that they are fit for purpose. Like others have said its a digital signal, so either there or its not. If you have a long cable run and it attenuates, you will experience picture stutter and break up. BTW I've never seen this happen in practice and we have 20 AV installations where I work using cheap HDMI cables bought from MISCO.

This one is £3.49 and meets all the specs, even has gold plated contacts. http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=495576&CatId=794

Being digital they will either work or not work it is that simple.

It actually isn't that simple.

On longer runs I've found some cables will work at lower resolutions but not on 1080p, or they will display a picture but you'll see sparkly artifacts, especially on black. This can also be an intermittent problem.

For short distances I wouldn't worry about spending more than a couple of quid on a cable but once you get above 3m or so then it can be worth investing in a quality cable - something in the 10-20 quid range.

Paying £50 and up for standard length cables is madness.

It actually isn't that simple.

On longer runs I've found some cables will work at lower resolutions but not on 1080p, or they will display a picture but you'll see sparkly artifacts, especially on black. This can also be an intermittent problem.

For short distances I wouldn't worry about spending more than a couple of quid on a cable but once you get above 3m or so then it can be worth investing in a quality cable - something in the 10-20 quid range.

Paying £50 and up for standard length cables is madness.

Agreed. It isn't just attenuation - the capacitance of the cable changes the shape of the signal and this effect is greater at higher resolutions. HDMI 1.4 compliant cables are cheap so I don't see any reason not to go for them for lengths greater than 5m. The connectors tend to be better plated so last longer if you are forever plugging/unplugging as is the case with a camcorder.

Am i right in thinking, that if i get a .5m £5 cable the quality will NOT decrease

Not as much as if i had a 7mtr run where you should purchase a more expensive one

Idea is hooking up a bluray so was looking at getting a 1.4series to cover the 3d signals when required.. ANy recommendations from anyone whos looked in to this one?

Yup, for short runs, say anything under 5 metres, more or less any old cable will do. The 1.8M 50p jobbies sold as PS3 HDMI cables will do the job as effectively as anything else.

Also, beware of buying a cable marked HDMI 1.4 or whatever. The standards refer more to the transmitting and receiving side of things. I don't know specifically about 1.4 series, but 12-18 months ago, a cable was a cable, was a cable. i.e. It'd just work.

Final thought, 0.5M isn't very long. IMO start looking at 1M cables around the £8 mark. Read the reviews and make sure they have reasonable but not too bulky connectors.

J.

I have bought a few HDMI cables. Paid about £1-£2 on ebay inc. shipping and also got a 5m one for £5.99 inc. shipping.

I have to laugh when I see the price of them in currys etc!

Phil

I recently bought a few of the Amazon Basics HDMI leads and they are fine, no problems whatsoever and they even look the part too. £3.99 at the moment.

Im all sorted now .. took me ages to get one delivered.. But cracked on my first bluray disc purchase last nigh..

PACIFIC.. Total win!

£32 worth .. and worth every penny.. wanted to carry on watching the 3rd installment .. but it was 11.30pm ehehe so thought best not

Get all my leads from scan.co.uk cheap but good spec payed £5 oxygen free well 99.9% free plus if tv is wall mounted they do hdmi corners and adaptors

Article about HDMI cables

Article about HDMI cables

That's a good article, thanks.

Hopefully people will start to realise a sub £5 HDMI lead will suffice 99.9% of the time.