i'll fucking kill you
At this point everyone has to know about monoprice, right?
This isn’t like with analog signals where you could make an infinitely expensive cable that is measurably electrically superior to a coat hanger (despite being perceptually identical), digital signals either work or don’t. So the people buying these know they’re getting ripped off, right? It’s like infowars boner powder or brain pills, where the people buying these are buying things they know are fake?
digital signals either work or don’t. So the people buying these know they’re getting ripped off, right?
😂 good one. Ask 100 people in the street the difference between analog and digital and enjoy watching about 90 clueless faces
Analog is when you've got a large piece of a tree, digital is when it's completely buried undergound.
Digital, from the Latin "digit", refers to the active electronic device, performing electronic stimulation. Analog, from the Latin "anus", refers to the passive electronic device - receiving the stimulation. Electronics is about balance, e.g., if your circuit has too many digital devices, it gets overstimulated and climaxes too early.
Bro I wasn't even 100% sure about if HDMI was analog or digital until like 2 days ago and I've built my own computers. Having cables that expensive is such a Big Lie that it's hard to imagine it really is entirely bullshit
I think why it works is because there have been quite a few versions of hdmi over the years with some differing capability while maintaining the same plug. I'm not too much in the know, but very old hdmi standards sometimes didn't carry audio from what I remember. So, there really are some differences and it's even easier to upsell clueless/affluent consumers on imaginary features like a gold plated digital interface.
No, even when HDMI was still on like 1.0 I remember seeing a bunch of 40-80 dollar cables in a Best Buy.
digital signals either work or don’t.
This is kind of true and kind of not.
Just up front: super expensive HDMI cables are BULLSHIT! There's no disputing that. If you bought a $100 dollar 6ft HDMI monster cable you done been grifted.
That said:
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There are I think two ratings for HDMI cables. Almost every one on the market today cheap or otherwise is rated "high speed" meaning its ready for 4k....BUT there are still some older cables out there only rated for 1080i. They can probably still handle the extra resolutions but they aren't rated for it, and that leads to the second point.
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Digital noise and/or snow is still a thing because "work or don't" in terms of the signal doesn't necessarily refer to the entire image on the screen but rather the pixels. IE: if your HDMI cables is damaged/failing or not properly rated you will still see an image but your tv will generally try to fill in the missing information and the result is usually a bunch of solid pixels on the screen (what color I think depends on the tv). IE, no "distortion" in the analog sense...but some digital information IS being lost.
EXample: https://www.cnet.com/news/why-all-hdmi-cables-are-the-same/
So if you're seeing an image on the screen and there's no speckles or solid colored pixels anywhere as you watch: congrats, your $5 hdmi cable is working properly and displaying the image just as well as a $1000 one. Distortion isn't a thing. The pixels show or they dont. If the signal looks a bit noisy...you might consider trying another cable. You might even consider one with a bit more insulation....just don't pay that much more for it.
A cable rated for the full bandwidth of HDMI 2.1 will be better than some old barely-capable-of-1080p cable, but that's practically A/V nerd esoterica. Normal people don't know and can barely tell the difference between 1080i and 4K.
I still think 4K is a scam by tech companies to sell us new TVs when they had basically already reached perfection over a decade ago. 4K still doesn't make sense on a 50-60 inch screen, it's useful when you have a giant ass projection screen I guess but still
It’s vastly more comfortable to read crisp text than blocky, blurry, or smeary text, which was the norm for everything before HiDPI became common.
idk I used part of my stimulus check to buy a 55” 4K TV and 4K looks better than 1080p did
that could be entirely because of better video encoders for 4K content vs. 1080p H.264, but I really notice the pixels on uncompressed 1080p content like video games
Yes....and also no.
My post was long winded enough but 4k itself is generally bullshit for most consumers simply as a resolution goes. In terms of resolution the difference between 4k and 2k (1080p more or lesss) is negligable unless your face is right in front of the screen. That does give it uses in VR headsets but for the average consumer its nothing but a marketing ploy.
Here's the thing though: 50-60 inch TVs today ARE significantly better then the 1080p displays of yesteryear. The black levels, color accuracy, brightness, refresh rates, and features like HDR local dimming are genuinely incredible. I recently upgraded and the difference between my 2010 insignia and my 2020 Hisense is VERY real and worthwhile if you spend a significant portion of your time watching movies.
The problem is that all those features are a bit difficult to sell or explain to the average consumer in a quick simple form. Most people get glassy eyed when you even start tossing out words like LED, QLED, LCD, etc. Its way easier to say "4k!!! Bigger is better!!!!"
IE: its not the size that matters....es how you use eit!!!
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I'd like to think of myself as not the biggest idiot in the world and am super-weary of rip-off scams, but know fuckall about electricity, so what you wrote is Greek to me.
Is Monoprice a good place to buy electronics? Is it the new Newegg now that Newegg sucks? Or is it only wholesale? ...And is there actually no difference between the performance of cables/wires when it comes to average consumer needs?
You might actually need this if your using the coax digital audio connection.
This is truth. Cheapo RCA cables don't work for S/PDIF. That's literally the only time I've ever had cable issues, though.
Monoprice is a good place to buy a lot of things, first and foremost ethernet and A/V cables. Some of their other products are good, but it’s a bit of a crapshoot as to which ones are good and which ones aren’t. As always, do a little research beforehand. The New York Times runs a review site, Wirecutter, that is honestly pretty good - they come to a lot of the same conclusions I come to independently, but they’re always going to make lib consumerist recommendations, so take that into account. They won’t recommend used items, or alternatives to major retailers like Amazon, or super privacy- and security-focused stuff, or really add any kind of ethical consideration into things. No ethical consumption, I know, but you can be slightly conscious about where your money goes.
Thanks! Your thinking process while buying stuff definitely rhymes with mine. Impossible to be fully ethical, still need stuff to live life, but fuck Amazon and overpriced shiny shit.
monoprice is actually a manufacturer, not resale. their whole business model is producing cheap things in-house and undercutting the competition.
60 bucks? That's amateur hour https://hothardware.com/news/10000-ethernet-cable-claims-earth-shattering-advancement-in-audio-fidelity-if-youre-stupid-enough-to-buy-it
Whoa boy. Allow me to introduce you to audiophile cable elevators.
The cable stand you see and hear today is the final result of Telos Audio Design's redefinition of what an ideal cable stand should be. Milled to minute precision, polished to perfection and finished to flawless classiness with 24k gold plating, be prepared for a whole new dimension of musical experience!
Cable Elevators are designed to suspend cables eliminating interference from boundaries. Produced by a leading manufacturer of porcelain isolators, Cable Elevators are coated with a non-conductive glaze to reduce noise and affixed with a special non-slip foot for added stability when used with today's heavier cables.
How Do Cable Elevators Work?
Regardless of make or model, all cables create some form of electrical field around them. In free air, the field is a roughly cylindrical shape around the girth of the cable. However, when cables are placed on a boundary, such as a floor, the field becomes compressed, distorting the signal. Cable Elevators restore this field by raising the cable up, allowing the cable to deliver an undistorted signal. Cable Elevators are electrically inert, so they won't cause phase issues and because of their physical mass, Cable Elevators are able to provide a small measure of resonance damping on longer runs.
Use them to support long runs of interconnects, power cords and speaker cables for huge improvements in detail, focus and dynamics. Creating an instantly noticeable and undeniable audible improvement
However, when cables are placed on a boundary, such as a floor, the field becomes compressed, distorting the signal
when you definitely understand how fields work
Can I interest you in some standing speakers at the low price of only $225,000?
I mean these seem more like an art piece than anything at that point
But the signal is just crisper, with a wonderful aroma of apricot and a hint of hazelnut and birch leaf.
my friend knows absolute fuckall about technology and almost bought one which makes me so mad, some dickhead at the shop was like "nooo you need this special hdmi or it wont work"
I used to work at a big-box retail store. For Black Friday one year they pulled me out of my normal department and put me in electronics. A customer asked which HDMI cable he should buy, and I told him "the cheaper one, there's no difference." Fuck profits
there actually is a difference, the cheaper one is often more durable. the expensive ones are made to break.
Iirc the more expensive one was Monster brand which are like 90% marketing 10% quality
I got a job at Best Buy over the summer a few years ago. This is one of my pet peeves and during sales training the trainer asked me to mock sell HDMI cables to another new hire. I started essentially saying that there is no difference and the trainer stopped me from telling the mock customer to buy cables from Monoprice. I was pretty sure I'd just lost my job after a day or two of the training. I somehow got past that and worked there over the summer. I suppose it helped that I was going to be working in the Geek Squad instead of a floor sales person.
lol wait until you learn about audio equipment and how much people pay for copper wires.
I'm pretty certain the purity of copper becomes inaudible to the human ear much faster than companies bilk idiots with too much money. we're talking hundreds of dollars for speaker wire.
oh, yeah, totally. they just get to seriously obscene prices on that ludicrous explanation.
I just bought some wire cutters and high gauge copper wire and made my own :)
Ehh just because it's on or off doesn't mean the cable has no effect. Thinner wires means more cable loss meaning it's easier for an on to look like an off. Additionally better cables can have better/thicker/more shielding making cross talk on the wires or interference from outside sources less impactful. Not to mention insulation protecting the cable from damage. Source: am EE for a company that does video transmission.
At high enough speeds, digital starts looking like sine waves. 😕 Course, HDMI isn't quite there yet unless the latest stuff is bumping up against it.
This is a problem people who are doing PCB layout for RAM have to worry about. The traces have to be nearly the same exact length else the timing is off due to trace impedance. If you look at a PCB around memory chips, you'll see the traces doing little serpentines to try can keep the trace lengths the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dym6XD3-8qw
Somewhat related. These guys have a good video to walk you through what specs to look for when purchasing AV products (early on they go over cables).
But yeah, $60 cables are a fucking scam.
just bought a 75 foot one for like 20 bucks. all of our drywalls hover maybe .25 inches off the ground so we route a fuckton of longass cables though them
I got a nice 4K cable, but the thing is so thick and dense I was worried I would damage it snaking it through the drywall. Had to get those port grommets to ease it around
~
I was kinda worried that once it gets to 8K120p with HDR etc. that the cables would look like a 10 gauge power cable
Or maybe wireless will make some strides
Man, be careful about long cables like that. They are prone to failures. I'd hate to have to reroute a cable if it goes bad. I know there are things out there the convert the signal to be sent over ethernet (more reliable) and converted back at a receiver.
When I worked at BestBuy I could get them over half off if I remember correctly
When I worked there we bought them at cost +5%. I think the store brand HDMI's cost like $39.99 and we could buy them for like $2
I bought an HDMI cable worth more than 60 dollars.
It was 50 feet long and made of fiber optic. It was expensive as fuck and I think I broke it.
Pft $60? Have you not seen the $1000 "audiophile grade" audio cables?
I could justify $60 for an HDMI cable if it was an active cable that was >20ft or an armored outdoor cable >10ft. Really quality of HDMI and other digital cables only matters if you're pushing the maximum length for the spec (where rigid adherence to materials quality and build quality above spec can start to mean things) which is I think 50 feet for HDMI over copper and even then the top tier brands you see in stores are rip-offs (not that commercial brands aren't a bit pricier than the discount monoprice stuff but they're still far away from the rip-off pricing).
