HDMI
 

well i want to hook my ps3 up to get full HD quallity
but i can't justify buying a 50-100 dollar cord to do it


i saw a couple on new egg for like 10-20 bucks and i was wondering will it provide around the same quaility as the monster cables that are super expensive?

Well you do get what you pay for. Certain cables have trouble passing signals properly for long distances. However, from what I've seen/read nearly all cables work well to fairly well when you're talking less than 30 feet of cable (At longer distances I think attenuation becomes a factor). So cheap cables shouldn't be a problem if you're only running a short distance. Still I wouldn't buy super cheap HDMI cables to save a buck... The guy at my local BestBuy recommoneded Acoustic Research instead of Monster Cables, they may be worth looking at.

Also look at the version of cables your getting. Someone else could probably explain in depth better than I can.

I buy cables from Monoprice.com

You might look there for what you are looking for. I have bought HDMI and Component cables from this company, compared them to Monster Cable, unable to notice any difference.

The thin cheap stuff (category 1) is fine until you go beyond 20ft, so long as you don't string it along your power wires or loop it around the refrigerator. Remember, this isn't analog. It's digital across differential pairs.

Beware store advice. Their biggest commissions are given for overselling nonsense with fear.

so basically if i want a 6 foot cord then i shouldn't be worried about paying more than say 20 bucks?

Right. Those go for <$10 + shipping. Newegg and many reasonable online sources have them.

The lowest I've seen in stores here is $20, believe it or not, from our Apple store.

thanks for the info i was about to drop like 40-60 bucks on one of those cords

Yeah. Don't spend the money on those stupidly expensive ones. I bought a $7 HDMI cable from an online store, and it works flawlessly on my HDTV. Can't tell any difference between my coworker's $80 Monster cable. In fact, I gave him one of mine (it was a 3-pack of HDMI for $21) and he took his Monster cable back to Best Buy. Digital is digital. Either it gets to the source, or it doesn't. I wouldn't worry about anything under 10 or 15 ft. $7 for the win.

I've had problems going over HDMI for my mythbox. The problem is many TVs have a reduced set of resolutions for HDMI. ie not all the resolutions are supported. On LCD tvs this can be a problem because many times the native resolution isn't supported by HDMI and that causes a lot of visual artifacts. I'm not sure how the PS3 chooses its resolution but this could be a problem.

Best Buy = non-commissioned sales staff.

Cheaper cables are fine, so long as you aren't running them right next to a power cable or something similar. Keep is seperate and you'll be fine. Part of the extra cost of the "superior" quality cables is the extra sheilding put in them, not a big deal unless you've got a power cables wrapped up next to the HDMI cable. Another large part of the cost is mark-up. Many in-store cables have a ridiculous mark-up, I'm talking 40-70% markup or more.

I used to drink the Kool-Aid and only buy monster cables. Then one day i got cheap and decided to get a normal cable (not super cheap, but reasonably priced). I tested the 2 cable back to back and noticed little if any difference. My opinion is for more consumer electronics, most decent cables will do.

I agree that in most cases the biggest difference you will see in normal cables and ultra expensive ones will be in your pocket. The reason stores push Monster Cables (and other simular) is that (in many cases) they make more on selling these cables then they do on the device (dvd player, Home Theater in a box, low end TVs, etc).

Now, if you are buying really high end gear, you are paying for the suble differences. As such, you pay for really high end cables. I suppose you should buy what best matches everything else you have. It would be pretty silly to buy a Ferrarri and ask for cloth seats instead of leather.