HDMI leads...what is the difference?

ferry

Just out of curiosity but what would be the difference between a cheap HDMI lead and some that I have seen cost upward of £20?

Will I see any better performance out of an expensive lead?

Thanks

Neil_Jones

Not really.

You pay more for the fact its in some pretty packaging than anything else.

https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/tvs-entertainment/7976/expensive-hdmi-cables-make-no-difference-and-heres-why

bob_a_builder

About £17:50

Steve_L

There is no appreciable performance difference. The only difference is the price.

It's the same with SATA cables. Someone tested these and found no more than a 5% difference in throughput speed between cheap cables and expensive "SATA-3" cables.

There might be a difference in build quality which might become apparent if they're unplugged and plugged in repeatedly, but how often do you do this? With SATA cables inside a computer case, this could be as infrequently as plugging it in just the once and never unplugging it again in the life of the computer. 

The_Fat_Controller

Build quality and (mainly) hype from the manufacturer.
A cable that handles digital signals cannot be "faster", it either works or it doesn't.
As long as it is the correct specification, no need for a high end cable, though some do LOOK very nice.

DoaM

If you need a long lead then the better quality ones may be better (lower signal loss due to better materials used), but other than that - No.

stator

I've got about 30+ HDMI cables in use in my house and I can tell you that for a cable that is 1m it makes no difference at all, you can use a £1 pound shop HDMI cable @ 4K UHD and it should work fine.

For cables longer than 3m you need to start worrying about quality. Price is not an indicator of quality.

I've got 10m HDMI cables that only work @ 720, some 5m cables too. Cheap cables may not work at 5m+

For UHD you really need a decent cable if you want length. In these circumstances you should buy a "Certified Premium HDMI cable" and you can't get them longer than 7m I believe.

MinuteNoodles

stator said:

For UHD you really need a decent cable if you want length. In these circumstances you should buy a "Certified Premium HDMI cable" and you can't get them longer than 7m I believe.

Short leads, little difference. Long leads, a lot of difference. More expensive with longer leads tends to mean larger gauge wire meaning less voltage drop and screened cable so it is more resilient to electrical interference from outside sources. 

In commercial installations I've run 30 metre HDMI cables but the cable is about an inch thick and extremely expensive.

stator

MinuteNoodles said:

In commercial installations I've run 30 metre HDMI cables but the cable is about an inch thick and extremely expensive.

Must have had inbuilt signal boosters for a 30m cable, no matter how thick the cable is. Or was it a fibre optic cable? Seen them around, they are expensive

Mickey666 said:

However, even knowing that, I still won't pay high prices for 'top-end' digital cables because such problems are rare and it's still cheaper just to buy another cheap cable.  Plus I keep plenty of spares anyway.

When you are running cables under floorboards or inside concrete walls, you want them to work first time and for a long time

stragglebod

A £1 HDMI cable will probably be OK. A £3 HDMI cable will be OK. A £10 HDMI cable will be OK and have nice packaging. A £30 HDMI cable will be OK, have nice packaging, and have fancy braiding. A £3000 HDMI cable will be OK, have nice packaging, have fancy braiding, and will make your TV picture so good that angels will weep so many tears of joy that Dudley will be swept away in the subsequent flooding.

Heedtheadvice

Stator is correct that price is not (necessarily) an indicator of quality so maybe not better value,.................but at the same time, as posted by Noodles, quality will cost.

There can be a significant difference in cable quality and high quality ones will rarely come cheap. In a domestic environment using short cables, most will not notice any difference in speed - aka performance in most peoples minds. Speed though is not the only quality.

For longer cables better cable construction is required. By that I do not mean things like 'oxygen free copper' and other misguided hype! Wire sizes and things affecting electronic impedance become more crucial.

In some environments the better cable construction is crucial such as to maintain electromagnetic compatibility aka interference! People with audio systems often find it difficult to track down interference sources caused by digital signal cables such as HDMI and USB types, solved sometimes by higher quality cables with improved screening. Same applies to video switchers. I had a problem at home with image interference from one source to another till quality cables were used.

To conclude: there are times quality does matter, it is linked with price but poorer cables can also be expensive! Try a cheapie first, not a lot to loose is there? If you have a problem buy a better one but do not rely on cost to indicate quality!!