I can tell you why Monster Cables are so expensive. Because people will pay for it. :) Seriously, that’s it. There’s good money to be made there, and with good marketing, they can get a good slice of that. Rest assured, it’s not only that you haven’t been able to tell the difference between your generic HDMI and a Monster HDMI cable… There *is* no signal difference. Good choice on not falling for the hype. ;)

Funny thing about the Monster cable. Around 10 years ago I used to subscribe to every Audio/videophile magazine out there. One of the mags decided to do an audio cable test between Monster, whatever the other big brand was at the time and Radio Shack. There was zero difference between them! So, needless to say, they suggested saving your monster money for something more worthwhile. ;-)

Monster Cables are a rip-off. Simply use the generic cables available from any computer store or online for your application. With digital either the cable works or it doesn’t unlike analog which would get fuzzy with low grade signal transfer. The store I work at sells RCA branded cables at about 1/6 the price of Monster. The stores are preying on the HD newcomers which is dead wrong. I fully believe in integrity.

i have read stories about moster hdmi cables wil break the cricet in the tv because it is so stiff also the ost as far as signal quality goes some one posted a math fourmula that back up the claim although it is all geek to me

I used to work for a big electronics chain, and here’s why their cables cost so much: They markup their cables by 300-1000%. They have price fixing arrangements with the brands they stock to only sell them at the MSRP, so nobody undercuts anyone else by only selling at 100% markup. Find an online seller who specializes in cables and buy the higher guage, shielded cables from them (I buy from cablesforless.com, myself). USB, Firewire, RCA, coax, HDMI, VGA, DVI cables aren’t rocket science. The difference in the material cost between a crap cable and a great cable is usually under a buck, and therefore the end price should only a few bucks more.

Remember the parallel port printer cable you always had to buy for $25 that didn’t come with the printer, or the gold plated one for $32? Employee cost (10% markup) was about $3.50. Or the $12 computer power cable you had to replace because you forgot yours at home when you moved to college? Employee cost $1.50. You got pwned.

After I bought my digital camcorder, I found out that I neededa firewire cable. When I saw the high cost of those at local stores, I bought online for 25%-35% of the local cost (even after adding shipping). The same thing occurred when I bought my HDTVs. I could view with the normal cable connection, but wanted to try HDMI. I received the same savings by ordering online that I did with the firewire cables. It’s the same with USB cables…much cheaper onoine. DON’T pay the high cable prices (typically $25-$40) in the stores. Buy online to save your money for more new toys.

I can offer that although Monster cables are WAY TOO EXPENSIVE, there are differences in the quality of the components that make up the cable.

I bought a $10 HDMI cable when I got my Sony HDTV and the picture was noisey (fuzzy). I read online about “make sure you buy good quality cables”. And although I’ve been building/repairing all sorts of electronic equipment over the last 20 years, I gave litte credence to spending big bucks for top of the line cables. I eventually chose a middle of the road priced cable and voila, the noisey signal dissappeard.

Bottom line is sometimes you do get what you pay for and that spending at least a little more than minimum may be worth the few extra dollars.

When I needed an HDMI cable, I looked on Amazon and found one for about $19. The HD channels I get look good (much better than regular TV).

Please Campbell tell us how a generic HDMI cable can cause a noisy picture?
It’s a digital signal. If you lose the stream, your video will totally cut out or you’ll see big blocks of your picture disappear.