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Great Deals Quality HDMI Cables for $7!
Monday, November 29, 2010 at 10:40AM 
Every time I walk into a super store's electronics section, I inevitably find myself stopping to chuckle at the ridiculously expensive AV (audio/video) cables awaiting uninformed shoppers. Rule of thumb: if you are paying more than USD$10 for an HDMI cable, you are wasting your money. I'm not saying that all $10 HDMI cables are created equal, but there are more than a few quality $10 options to be had without a lot of hassle.
During a recent store visit, I spotted a generic-looking 6.5 feet (2 meters) HDMI cable for $60. A similar length of more capable cable from my favorite online retailer? Yup, $10...er, $7.
Here are my top three AV cabling tips to keep in mind:
- Keep it tidy. Excessively long AV cable runs are unwieldy, unseemly, and may degrade the signal - purchase a length of cable that makes the connection with a little extra left over for easy dressing. I'm particularly fond of using very short HDMI cables for stacked components and 3 feet/1 yard lengths (0.91 meters) for slightly longer connections.
- Stop using composite video! That yellow video port (composite) is the lowest form of life in the video food chain. For improved picture detail, use an S-Video connection, or better yet, a component video (YPbPr) connection. When possible, use HDMI to connect your AV devices for the best picture and sound quality.
- Avoid devices that convert analog video signals into digital/HDMI. These types of products are costly and most provide no picture quality improvements over feeding an analog signal directly to a HDTV.
Examples of common AV cables (worst-to-best/left-to-right):
Here is a selection of quality AV cables for less than $10 each - I've purchased many of these, and have had nothing but excellent results.
Many people, myself included, also shop at MonoPrice for good inexpensive AV cables.
If a particular project calls for a high-quality AV cable (e.g. an especially long run; about 4m or longer), I highly recommend visiting the good folks at Blue Jeans Cable.
Own a Nintendo Wii and an HDTV? If so, pick up this affordable component AV cable and enjoy superior picture quality! Be sure to enable widescreen mode as well as 480p output on your Wii after connecting this cable!
And, here is more of my favorite HDMI gear that includes ultra-thin cables, switchers, and extenders.
Reader Comments (14)
Hey Robert,
This is regarding video converter devices. What would you suggest if I want to take something like the DVI out of my Macbook Pro and get it into my HDTV. Is there any other way than a DVI-HDMI adapter? Also, am I losing picture quality by attaching this way? I was under the impression that since it was a digital to digital conversion that there was no degradation of image quality.
Also, I'm loving the frequency of new articles being posted as of late by the way =)
@Travis: DVI-HDMI is fine - they are 100% compatible with each other (save the lack of audio with DVI cables). My comment was more to do with those devices that convert analog signals into some type of digital output - it's often no better than letting the TV do the analog-to-digital conversion.
Hi Robert
I need to run a HDMI cable about 12 metres. What's the best and cheapest way to do this?
Thanks
I got mine from a small rural department store called Pamida's. 6ft GE HDMI $9.99. Used one to hook up my XBOX360 to my new Vizio 42", used the other one for the previous gen AppleTV. Get good pic and sound off of TV. I know, I know. Get 5.1 blah 7.1 blah blah. I have a 100 year old house and 2 kittens and the last thing I need is more wires on the floor taunting them. The Wii sensor bar is usually more than they can bare.:)
@Ron: good question. Blue Jeans Cable offers one that long, but it won't be cheap ~ that's about as far as you can do a single piece of HDMI cable and still push a clean signal. For runs up to ~30 meters, HDMI-over-cat5 products would be a relatively inexpensive way to go.
$60 wall plate adapters http://amzn.to/gC6hIW
$30 cable adapters http://amzn.to/fVHhMN
I had to buy a switch for my home theater because my TV only had 1 HDMI port. I bought my switch at Monoprice where I also bought several 6ft HDMI cables for a very good price. They have all worked perfectly and I think I managed to get the switch AND the cables for less than one fancy cable at Best Buy.
HDMI=HDMI right?
@Dave: I always suggest that people focus less on HDMI port/cable specs (v1.2x vs v1.3x vs 1.4x), and focus more on what it is they are looking to do (connect source device to display, transport audio, simplify AV setup).
Every HDMI cable that I've used (at any price) was able to transfer SD (480i) and HD (720p, 1080i) video without issue. And every HDMI cable that I've tried that worked with a 1080p source/display has worked with 3D HDTVs just fine.
If you need something specific from HDMI such as audio return or Ethernet (in HDMI), then you need to pay attention to the specs and insure you are purchasing a product that will fulfill your AV needs.
Today my wife and I went to Wal Mart and I was amazed the the discount retail chain also was a source for very over priced HDMI cables. On another rack I even spied some Monster Cable brand HDMI cables, yikes!
Hey, I didn't realize you had your own site Robert, but I have been following you and Patrick on HD Nation! (I found this site from Jim's DLR site) I recently got a new hd tv and have been following your calibration guidelines using the AVS HD dvd. Thanks for HD Nation, and keep up the good work!
Holy crap 60 bucks for a 5 ft cable!? That's ridiculous, and I totally agree with you on this article and what you've said on HD Nation about the cheap monoprice or amazon cables (I went with amazon as I get free shipping) and I got 2 cables for about $12 which I'll never find at any B&M store! :D Thanks for the info
I bought some HDMI cables for ~$3 each about 2 years ago from MonoPrice. I had get some more to go with the Christmas gifts I got for my family this year. When I received the new cables I almost thought they sent me the more expensive ones. They were noticeably thicker, had more solid connectors at the end, and also had ferrite beads on each end.
If any of you live in the Southern New England, go to Ocean State Job Lot. Nice 6 foot cords for $5.00, and 12 foot for $10. Also, 3 foot optical digital cords for $3.00. For me, it is nice short ride.
I tweet/facebook this info, because I hate to see my friends get ripped off. Please pass this on to anyone in this area.
Kudos to TiVo for shipping them with their new box. Common blu-ray's, include the bleeping thing.
I am so glad I found this site. I've been dreading having to pay $30+ for a cable, so I can finally take advantage of my new monitor. I had really hoped I'd be able to find a decent cable cheap, and now thanks to you, I've got a lot of options.
Hi Robert,
same crazy things go on in the digital audio department. Last week I saw a SP/DIF optical audio cable that was advertised having gold plated plugs :)
Like, yeah - that'll really help the light passing through it.
just my 2c