What exactly is an expensive HDMI Cable?

Probably the biggest argument raging on the Internet at the moment! We try to give our viewpoint on the whole cheap vs. expensive HDMI cable argument… here goes…

The first problem we hit here is the term ‘expensive’. The problem is, expense is an individual’s perception of a cost and a personally held viewpoint, because it is a subjective term, there is wide varying opinion from one consumer to the next about what classifies a product as being ‘expensive’.

Starting this article, at hdcable.co.uk is in a funny position. That is because we have found that some customers find us to be expensive, whereas others find us to be cheap. We find ourselves in positions daily where customers are asking us to justify our high prices, then a few minutes later we’re trying to put a customer’s mind at rest who feels wary and dubious of our low prices. It’s certainly an unusual position to be in for a customer service advisor that’s for sure!

HDCable.co.uk cables are good value for money

We like to think that our cables aren’t expensive or cheap; we whole-heartedly believe that they represent good value for money. But that is our perception of course; hopefully we can present a sufficiently good case as to why our products do represent value for money.

It is true to say that most cable manufacturers are feeding you a line about the necessity of spending upwards of £50-£100 on relatively short cable lengths. There is definitely too much misinformation and smoke and mirrors being fed to consumers in big name retail stores and in big name advertising. You only have to look on a few forums to find a whole mountain of well-informed people rightly shouting the facts about the true nature of HDMI and condemning the profiteers essentially ripping customers off.

We certainly do not believe in hoodwinking customers and we aim to outline the facts as honestly as we can. Hopefully in an understandable way that will help inform your purchasing decision.

Good design and manufacturing quality are important in every product, whether that be a bin bag or a cable, we all know that super cheap no frills products can often leave us despairing, especially when the bottom of your bag drops out or your cable finally breaks down just as your sitting down to watch your eagerly anticipated blu-ray release on your new (not to mention expensive) HDTV.

In competitive markets there will always be a wide spectrum of varying prices and quality of products. You can buy a HDMI cable for as little as 99p or as expensive as £200. The crazy thing is it is entirely possible that a short length 99p cable will give just as good a picture quality as the £200 HDMI cable. This is down to the nature of HDMI being a lossless digital signal. The bombshell here for the uninformed is that digital HD video images such as those produced by your PS3, Satellite HD box or blu-ray player cannot have varying grades of picture quality between two cables, this is technically impossible.

Of course, a 99p cable is unlikely to have a decent build quality or be made from good quality materials. It may not last you very long but it is good to use it as an example when explaining the nature of HDMI.

This is a very simplistic explanation of a complex issue and more in depth articles on the subject can be found in our article, 0’s & 1’s – Digital is Digital. Right?

Bitrate

As we stated earlier, we believe we are neither expensive nor cheap; we probably occupy the middle ground. We certainly do not believe that our pricing represents false economy. Quite honestly we could not manufacture a HDMI cable for the price that some people retail HDMI cables for, this is because we insist on using quality materials, precise manufacturing and good engineering. Even prior to starting production, the high-grade raw materials cost more! In addition, decent quality control measures, investment on substantial product testing and official HDMI authority certification impacts on the final unit cost. The final product however is for certain going to tick the important boxes of being well made, flawless in performance and importantly officially certified to be of a high standard by the HDMI authority.

As a company we only supply products that offer faultless performance, incorporating robust build-quality and utilizing the highest-grade materials. ‘Value for money’ is always the key consideration for us and we work hard to bring you a range of products at sensible and realistic prices without compromising on performance.

Our HDMI cables start at £9.99 and for that we firmly believe we offer a great value for money cable. Well-made, durable, using high quality materials, incorporating a high specification, with version 1.3 device support and fully certified by the HDMI authority.

That’s a like-for-like product for under £10 that most well known retailers will be selling for at least 3 times as much! With delivery included and a lifetime replacement warranty, we think we present a strong argument that our cables are not over-priced and certainly do not represent a false economy.

Would a short length HDMI cable priced over £50 represent a false economy? In our opinion. Yes.

When you are looking for a HDMI cable, the most important factor is that it will carry 100% of the signal from the source to the screen. That is why at hdcable.co.uk we guarantee every single one of our products for 100% flawless signal handling. Unlike, some of our competitors we choose to sell our products on the basis of their rock-solid performance not obscure technical marketing hype, and this is backed up by our total satisfaction lifetime warranty and compatibility guarantee.

You can feel safe in the knowledge that all our products will provide you with the best possible picture and sound quality from all your HD equipment. Paying more for another product definitely doesn't mean that it will perform better than ours. Not one bit.

At HD Cable we believe that the ultimate acid test for our products is in real-world testing, carried out in the living rooms across the nation. We are firm believers in customer feedback and the importance it can play in both the improvement and development of future products. We also believe that the ultimate product reviewer and critic for our products is the end-user - you the customer. This is why we give all our customers the ability to post their own product reviews (good or bad) right here on our site. You don’t have to just take our word for it! You can see genuine customer viewpoints on the product that you’re interested in purchasing!

What to look out for when buying your HDMI Cable

In our opinion, the key things to look out for when buying a HDMI cable are as follows.

• Buy a brand of cable that is on the official HDMI adopter list.
• Look out for manufacturers who provide lifetime warranty on their cables, this shows their confidence in the build-quality of their products.
• Look out for genuine customer reviews and feedback.
• Check out what people are saying about the brand on specialist AV forums.