AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable (9.8 Feet/3.0 Meters) [Supports 3D + Audio Return Channel]
by AmazonBasics
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable (9.8 Feet/3.0 Meters) [Supports 3D + Audio Return Channel]
Customer Review: Great inexpensive HDMI cables
Summary: 5 Stars
It is a relief to find HDMI cables that are inexpensive and deliver high quality video. I paid $40 for a 4ft cable at Circuit City a year ago, and less than half that price for the 10ft cable from Amazon.
As an electrical engineer I can tell you copper is copper. Unless Monster cable has coaxial wire for each signal line, which they don't because then the cable would be 10x larger than it is, then it's just copper wire inside a shield. There's still going to be crosstalk and capacitive coupling and all that stuff. All that "gas filled" stuff doesn't matter either. If you look at the mathematical equasions for the frequency response of an unshielded wire, you'd know none of this stuff makes any major difference.
The biggest thing to avoid, if you can, are ferrite cores on a cable. Ferrite cores are those black blob things that overmold the cable near one or both of the connectors. Ferrite cores act as high frequency filters and may cause signal degradation. They are typically used to comply with FCC laws and other regulatory bodies' radiated emissions laws. They add cost to the cable and typically degrade performance.
Regarding expensive cables, HDMI or otherwise, what no one asks is the most fundamental question - Why? Let's assume Monster cable isn't lying and they can provide 300 GHz bandwidth or whatever they claim. Why do you need a cable that outperforms so much? It's like owning a car that can go 1000 MPH but the speed limit is 55MPH. In my field, that's called "over-engineering" which equates to unnecessary additional cost, which is exactly the problem Amazon has solved by sourcing this simple low cost HDMI cable.
While I'm soapboxing, gold plating isn't necessary either. Silver is the best conductor, followed by Copper, and then Gold (third best). Stainless Steel isn't far behind. The only reason gold plating is "better" is Gold does not corrode (but neither does stainless steel... they actually gold plate the stainless steel, how dumb is that?). If you are using your cables in a house where the humidity & temp is relatively constant, you should never need gold. As far as I can tell, Gold is just a gimmick to charge more for cables.
Customer Review: AmazonBasics makes a very good HDMI cable
Summary: 5 Stars
I got an email from Amazon announcing their new line of AmazonBasics cables. They said that their goal was to make a high quality cable and sell it at a very reasonable price.
They have achieved that goal.
I ordered two of the six foot HDMI cables and on nine foot cable for about eight bucks each.
The cable came in a simple cardboard box with nothing but a twist tie aside from the cable (which is a good thing, I hate the plastic blister packs that cut your hands and unnecessary stuff in the box to go in the landfill).
The cable has a solid, quality feel to it. Nothing feels cheap or chintzy.
Connecting the cable between my TV and several compontents including my brand new Samsung Blu Ray player, the connection just worked every time.
For comparison purposes, I bought a $50 super delux, high end, will solve all the problems in your life (according to the sales guy) HDMI cable at Radio Shack. Connecting the AmazonBasics cable to the same Blu Ray player as the fancy cable I saw **NO DIFFERENCE**!
Looking into it I found out that HDMI is a standard that is run by an organization. In order for anyone to make an HDMI cable and put the HDMI logo on it (which the AmazonBasics cable does), the cable must be made to the HDMI organizations standards. So the group basically tells the companies how the cable must be made in order to be given the HDMI logo. The long and short of it is that cheap cable or expensive cable, it must work to the same standards in order to have the HDMI logo.
So, super fancy $50 cable gets thrown back across the counter to Radio Shack guy for return and AmazonBasics cable gets a new home in back of my entertainment center.
I'm now going to purchase several more of these for family and friends to have as spares since they don't know any better and will get suckered by the sales guy at best buy into buying a $50 Monster Cable HDMI cable that does nothing better than this one.
Customer Review: No reason to pay more for HDMI
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased a 15ft Mediabridge cable along with this 9.8ft Amazon cable (Amazon branded, outsourced in China, no doubt, as are all HDMI cables). One for my PS3/BD player and one for my Xbox 360. Both are cheap and both work perfectly. The Amazon cable's coating feels slightly flimsier than that of the Mediabridge cable but otherwise works just the same.
When it comes to digital signals, you will either get:
1. A perfect picture and audio, or
2. Bad picture and audio.
In other words, there is no "improving levels of quality" between the two states above. We are brought up with the idea that increasing levels of quality are possible by purchasing better cables. This may hold true for analog devices but, in the digital age, all video and analog signals are rendered into 1s and 0s. A picture, for example, is rendered as a continuous stream of 010101100010 (think Morse code); your HDTV picks them up and assigns appropriate colors to appropriate pixels accordingly. Everything is in cold hard science; no art is involved. Your cable will either be capable of transmitting the signals, or it will fail. There is good and there is bad, there is no "poor".
There is no reason to pay ridiculous amount for a HDMI cable. I would recommend paying a couple of dollars for brandless cables except that with them you do run a risk of getting a faulty cable. Amazon offers an exchange policy for people who want some sense of security. On second though, you might as well purchase half a dozen brandless HDMI cable: you end up paying less if only *one* of them works than if you have purchased one of those "monsters".
Customer Review: It works, and that's pretty much it.
Summary: 5 Stars
Since HDMI is a digital interface, cables either do or do not work. So I'm not going to discuss performance here, but rather focus on packaging and build.
The packaging was very impressive. The cable comes in a very simple box, and the ends are capped with plastic covers over the gold plated connectors. The glossy plastic surfaces with the Amazon logo are covered with plastic film which you can peel off, so that was pretty nice. I found those impressive since nice packaging tends to please me quite a bit.
The other notable thing is the jacket. It's your standard plastic/rubber wire jacket, and seems sturdy enough. But it is also fairly flexible, unlike the jacket on my other HDMI cable. If you need to put this cable through a trench or duct of some kind (my entertainment stand has these built in), you will find it a lot easier with this cable due to the flexibility of the jacket. It was also easier to route into the trench because the jacket was thinner too, so that was nice.
Also, the connectors are a lot shorter than other HDMI cables that I have seen, which is very nice if your TV is flat to the wall and you don't want the cable off of the connector being crushed because there isn't enough space. This also makes removing and inserting the cable easier because the smaller connector gives you more room to maneuver.
FInally, the 3ft. cable that I bought was actually cheaper than the 6ft. cable that I bought previously. I wish these had been around when I purchased the other one.
Good value, and the definitely work.
Customer Review: Thank you Amazon
Summary: 5 Stars
Finally, an affordable HDMI cable. Amazon has recognized that the HDMI signal is a digital signal and not analog. What's the difference? Read below.
DIGITAL signals only have to get to their destination, that's the theory behind digital signals, it arrives or it doesn't, its either on or off. Therefore thick insulation and exotic wires, boasted by many leading brands, is not as important. Your biggest decision in choosing an HDMI cable should be which version to get [...] it is important to get the correct version as there is a difference between 1.0 and 1.4. Including new features that will benefit users with the respective equipment, see your users manual to verify the version of HDMI cable you need.
ANALOG cables are thicker, having more insulation, and made from thicker or more exotic materials to prevent the signal from degrading while in transit. This is important! Another multiplying factor in signal quality is the length of the run, the longer the cable run the greater the chance for the signal to degrade. If your receiving equipment doesn't take in a high quality analog signal the end product will most likely be inferior.
Bottom line: if you feel like you need the high end cables, feel free to buy them and show them off to your friends. Don't get mad when they laugh at how much you spent. Your digital signal will get there just the same as those who spent much much less. Maybe your fiscally savvy friends will invite you over to watch the new movies they were able to buy with the saved money.