Don’t Waste Money Buying Expensive Digital Video And Audio Cables

Tony Williams | Apr 24, 2007 | View Comments

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Many of us are slowly building our dream home AV setup, although a few lucky individuals are able to purchase a complete setup in one-go. Buying a plasma, home entertainment center, receiver, Xbox 360, PS3 etc isn’t cheap, and unfortunately the cables don’t tend to be cheap either.

However, many retailers take advantage of naive consumers and force them to buy expensive HDMI, optical, Component, co-axial cables, promisng better quality video and audio on their shiny new equipment. This happened to me just today, and I had fun with the sales assistant as I asked him to explain why a $100 cable was better than a $5 on eBay.

Basically, there is no difference. Remember that the signal being transmitted down these cables is a digital signal i.e. a data stream that tells devices what sound or image to play or display. The same message will be transmitted using ‘cheap’ cables as via ‘expensive’ cables i.e. the quality will be exactly the same.

So, don’t waste your money on expensive cables. Instead, save your money and put it towards something fun like a Nintendo Wii!


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  • Dave
    I know this is a year old but Ross you're wrong.  Gold is not one of the best conductors on the planet it is used for connectors simply because is does not corrode easily thus guaranteeing a good contact. 

    The quality of cable cannot dictate bandwidth only the number of wires used can.  Digital signals are precisely that, 1 or 0.  there is no in between.  you either get a signal or you don't. simple as that.
  • Don't agree Ross. My point was there is no point buying HDMI cables that cost hundreds of dollars. Also, the advantage of a digital signal is that worrying about signal loss is much less important.
  • Ross Johnston
    Totaly agree with Ashly, Expensive cables ARE likely to provide better quality as they tend to have gold plated connectors. Seeing as gold is one of the best conducting metals on the planet, it can transmit data easier with less resistance, so little of the data is lost or corrupted.

    Tony Williams, a more expensive cable WILL deliver better quality, but wither or not the difference in quality is percievable enough for you to justify buying one or not is an entirely different arguement.

    Personally, I wouldnt mind using cheap cables, but if you want the best picture, you buy the best tv. Same principle applies to cables.

    Case Closed.
  • How is telling people that buying the most expensive cable won't deliver better quality bad advice?
  • Ashly
    Now you need to define "decent". Would you actually know a "decent" video cable if you saw it? Can you define one as "decent" merely by cost? (hint: no, you can't)

    The point was made that "any old cable" will not in fact "do". And that point is correct. Using cheap cables will, in fact, cause problems.

    This is not only not a tip, it's very very bad advice.
  • I was obviously joking about the coat hanger - some people really don't get sarcasm!

    Tony's point is valid in that there is no need to buy a $100+ cable when any decent cable will do for home theatre
  • Bazza
    Actually you're arguing from an incorrect premise, there are more things to consider than the integrity of the ones and zeros, especially in high bandwidth applications (such as video). I suggest you do a little research and maybe even consult with an electrical engineer before you post such misinformation in future.

    If you could do everything with cheap cables and coathangers, don't you think telcos would use wire fence lines to transmit digital broadband, in preference to using all those awfully expensive things like coax and cmuxs?
  • So true. A coat hanger would probably do the job if you could get it stretch between the units. I hate it when I see people buying £100 plus cable
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