Freeview HD: any HDMI cable will work
Simply put, some retailers are known to push higher priced HDMI cables claiming those are the only ones that can provide true HD. This is known as HDMI scam. The most recent case I can think is Rod buying two $400 HDMI cables... Yes, really.
That's just wrong. Whatever the $400 HDMI cable does it can be done with a $50 HDMI cable. It is just a bitstream.
The HDMI standard provides for two types of HDMI cable: Standard and High Speed. HDMI Standard cables are good for 1080i, which is the HD you get from TV3 for example. You don't need anything else. You don't need the "High Speed" cable, regardless of what the sales person tells you.
There are some other issues. For example Freeview sells a box so people can watch HD - why don't they provide the HDMI cable in the box then?
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Comment by Jon, on 20-Apr-2008 15:35
What's more interesting is the exactly the same freeview box we can buy here is sold in other countries and will give 720p and 1080i over component cables. It can also be used as a recorder with a USB hard drive attached. Unfortunately the NZ firmware has these features disabled.
I wonder how many people get home, wire up the supplied component cables and "think" they have HD because the SD picture quality is so much better than analogue UHF.
Comment by robbypreb, on 20-Apr-2008 16:47
Rod was given a real good sales job. After being ripped off by Hardly Normals, they still managed to convince him that they provided really good sales and service. If their explanations were truly the case, then why didn't he keep the $800 cables. I think they are intentionally trying to mislead their customers, I mean how many of their customers would actually need to spend that sort of money on those cables. I think it is another example of an Australian company trying to get one over on the gullible NZ public.
Also apparently a coat hander will perform the job just as well as expensive cables.
Reminds me of those door to door salesmen who go around with that really expensive massaging seat, or those really expensive vacuum cleaners. It is all a big con.
Comment by sbiddle, on 20-Apr-2008 17:42
As I see it the big question is why Freeview sell a certified box that *needs* a HDMI cable to operate without a cable. Imagine buying a fridge and then being told you need to pay extra for refrigerant so it will actually work and make things cold!
DSE sell their Zinwell boxes with one and the wholesale price of a 1m HDMI cable is around the $10 - $15 mark.
I smell a rat here and if what I've heard is true in that major big box retailers telling Freeview that they don't want cables included for the simple reason that they can upsell customers to a $149 cable then you really have to wonder about Freeview's motives. Do they want to make their end users happy or the retailers?
The price of boxes will crash any day now, DSE are making a very significant profit on their own boxes (which are a rebaged Zinwell), way more than a retailer selling a Zinwell box. The Zinwell boxes are significantly overpriced and reastically should be selling for no more than $299. They are paying a lot more than this for them however which really makes you question the margins of the NZ importer.
Comment by Bwooce, on 20-Apr-2008 21:12
Try DealExtreme prices by comparison...NZ$12 including delivery from HK. There is quite a range on that site.
Actually this one has more reviews and only slight more expensive.
For another perspective on Monster Cables business practices, try here for a laugh.
Comment by Kent, on 21-Apr-2008 14:24
Buying expensive digital cables is like buying a gold plated IDE cable and expecting your word documents to look at read better.
-KENT
Comment by Tom, on 22-Apr-2008 11:56
What???
"...for $60 you can buy a 10m 1080p HDMI cable..."
Where???
Comment by patdude, on 22-Apr-2008 14:07
I agree 100%, gold plated connectors and oxygen free HDMI cables are a complete load of over-priced tosh! By the way, my freeview HD set top decoder (a Zinwell ZMT10) had an HDMI cable included in the box....
Comment by davide, on 22-Apr-2008 14:51
Gold plated connectors are somewhat worth it IMO, usually a gold plated connector means that the cable is of better quality than just a cheapie, plus the gold plating means that the connector is less likely to corrode and makes for a better connection. However gold does not make your picture any better...
Comment by Kezzainc, on 22-Apr-2008 19:57
There seems to be alot of people just blowing words around here!? How many have done the test for themselves with highend gear? (A MUST) Myself just days ago had the chance to see and HEAR the differance from a cheap 'in the box' samsung cable to an 400 series Monster HDMI cable. And yes i could tell the difference more with audio rather than the 1080P picture on a 700 series Pana TV.
It all depends what you are after... Maybe you just want to get to the end result the cheapest way. Or getting to the best we can get to today without worrying too much about money.
I DO agree you will not see as much difference as we have from the years of anolog cables we've been using. But you just cant say they dont do anything. Thats simply not true. Also no one has talked about build quailty yet. HDMI 1.3b cable with last you an easy 5 years +. Myself i would not by thee' best HDMI cable but no way would i buy/use the cheapest after speanding all that money on a TV and HiFi system.
I seems people also dont believe the Zinwell puts out 1080I through component... Thats not the case from the Zinwells ive used. I run my Zinwell this way.
sbiddle : What makes you feel DSE is making alot of money off their rebranded Zinwells?
.....Do people know that the Zinwell is an 400mhz CPU with 128mb DDR Ram? With dual rca audio out, opt, dig coax, s-vid, component, HDMI, USB etc. Doesnt sound super cheap to me.
Comment by Brian, on 27-Apr-2008 18:03
I have bought a number of HDMI cables from this guy www.rapalloav.co.nz all of them have worked, 1.3 version and 1080p from $30.00. He has heaps to chosse from!
Comment by Kezzainc, on 16-May-2008 22:17
To my first kinda hasty post. I have since been back into that store and found the cables that I heard the difference between where of way different in length. How embarrassed I am about how I got fooled we all need to know this about 'my words'
HDMI is about bandwidth.
Freeview say get 10.6ghz cable but this is way over rated for 1080i.
Comment by afishe, on 1-Jun-2008 15:12
The other week the saleschild in Harvey Norman had a very enthusiastic stab at selling me a $400 or so HDMI cable..
his selling tool - 2 identical HD Lcds being fed from the same Blue Ray player - one picture looked terrible - the other fantastic....
I was told that the only way to get such a great picture was to 'invest' in quality cables and that the expensive hdmi cable was 'certified', future proof, special, golden, etc etc and that the other TV was being fed by a 'normal' cable.....
If I didnt buy it - my expensive tv/dvd combo would be a waste of money apparently and it was an 'essential' upgrade.
Predictably the other 'normal' cable was not a cheap hdmi cable (ie a fair comparison...) it was a cheap yellow composite cable...
I actually had a fairly good go at the bloke - I pointed out that what they were doing to convince people to part with lots of money for a cable that would make pretty much no perceptible difference over a $15 hdmi cable was bordering on a con trick and was certainly unethical.
I dont know if anyone else complained - but i was in there yesterday and I notice they dont have the 'cable comparison' display stand set up anymore.
Bandits the lot of them...
Comment by AncestralGeek, on 26-Jul-2008 10:31
Now I understand why my tech phobia brother phoned me after visiting a store and asking about $400.00 cables. Pity you did not photograph the setup.
Buyer beware.
Comment by Ian, on 12-Nov-2008 18:19
Most of this site refers to 1080i?
I have 1080P. is there any difference in the cable required?
thanks
Comment by rizzo, on 21-Nov-2008 12:45
I have just taken receipt of a deal extreme cable from Hong Kong. Cost US$9.99 incuding postage to NZ. Came in about 6 days, fantastic quality item...well recommended
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Comment by Filterer, on 20-Apr-2008 13:58
Another sane person ;p Digital is digital, period - It is either going to work or not.
A better cable may be able to be run over a longer distance, however for $60 you can buy a 10m 1080p HDMI cable, if you need longer distances then that then perhaps you should reconsider your setup.
I find it interesting that there was never a fuss about 'high quality' (i.e monster) DVI cables, essentially the two are one in the same.
Just read the link re Rod's blog after typing this, I had forgotten that I had read about sending hdmi over 2x Cat5e cables, even HDCP compliant!
http://www.svideo.com/ext-hdtv-cat5.html