The Retardation of the Firearms Industry

[brutal]

HDMI has tight tolerances that may not be apparent in short runs as in 3 feet but if you have a source device in one location and a TV that is 50 feet away those tight tolerances come into play. Cable materials and construction, shielding and separation of conductors, metals used for conductors, QC are a few factors. For instance there are 19 conductors in an HDMI cable, some are shielded pairs some aren't, some companies might try to get away with not using shielded pairs where they should and so on.. You may be able to get away with a cheap cable for short runs but when you start adding distance the cheaper cables are going to show themselves quickly. Just today I set up the video system at a new restaurant in Steamboat. The owners bought their own cables from monoprice. They were only 3 foot cables but 3 of the 4 cables would not pass an image through the HDMI matrix switch. I pulled out 4 Tributaries HDMI cables from my stock and they all worked the second I plugged them in. That said, just because you pay more doesn't mean you get what you pay for and the rule of diminishing returns goes into effect at a point as well.

Somewhere on my computer I have a link to a great write up that shows in a lab the differences between some HDMI cables from an electrical signal point of view and explains why those cables do or don't work. If I can find it I'll post it up here.

this is what they had.. 3 of the 4 did not work out of the bag, they would not pass an image:
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_i...seq=1&format=2

This is what I use, I've never had one that wouldn't pass an image:
http://www.audiogurus.com/tributarie...mi-cables.html

I've had zero issues with these, though they are bulky and only go to 15', about a buck a foot past 3' http://www.monoprice.com/Category?c_...&cs_id=1024004

I've also grabbed some of the "Audioquest" cables that Costco used to sell cheap under their own brand.