Get some home-theater help
Posted on February 16th, 2009 – 8:50 AMBy Randy A. Salas
If you’re befuddled by some aspect of setting up a home theater, two new sources have become available to help.
The first is Joshua Zyber’s new HD Advisor column at High-Def Digest. Once a week, he answers reader questions about Blu-ray, high-def and home theater in general. His advice is straight-forward and easy to understand, and readers can jump over to the site’s forum for further discussion.
The second is from Don Lindich, whose syndicated AV column runs in the Star Tribune. He has just posted a detailed guide, with step-by-step photos, on how to set up a home-theater surround system. It’s one of many helpful guides on his Sound Advice website. If you don’t understand something, you can always send him a question, and he might even answer it in his column.
One thing mentioned at both websites that’s worth repeating: Don’t waste your money on overpriced cables. Monoprice is your friend. You’ll be amazed at the low prices it charges for all kinds of cables and adapters needed for your setup. The quality of its products is excellent, shipping charges are reasonable and service is prompt. What more could you want?
18 Responses to "Get some home-theater help"
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Buying the cheapest HDMI cable you can is a really good way to create unsolvable problems for yourself. While I agree that the most expensive option is not needed, quality cables are as important to your AV system as quality tires are for your car.
That’s the point, Tony: Monoprice sells quality cables, as I noted.
I have personal experience that would beg to differ.
With over 10 yrs experience designing and installing high end theaters, I can promise that a quality cable makes the difference. How many times have we fixed cables from radioshack that have broken center conductors that cause unreliable operation. Do yourself a favor and don’t skimp on this aspect of your system.
So Randy, how many Monoprice cables have you installed?
I have purchased 4 HDMI cables from MonoPrice and have had no problems and no complaints.
BigPapa: Most of the cables in my home theater are from Monoprice. I completely disagree with Tony on their quality.
Victorb17 doesn’t sound as if he’s actually tried Monoprice cables. If his point is not to skimp on quality, my point (and others’) about Monoprice remains. If his point is that high-priced cables are the only way to do this, I disagree.
If Monoprice was really producing a poor product, they would have been dismissed by AV enthusiasts by now. Instead, everyone on AVS Forum and other fan websites will tell you just as I did… don’t waste your money on expensive cables, and Monoprice is fantastic.
Joshua Zyber and myself are far from the only people trying to save you from getting ripped off. Here is what CNet has to say about the subject:
“Do you really need to spend that much money on a single HDMI cable?Absolutely not—those cables are a rip-off. You should never pay more than $10 for a standard six-foot HDMI cable. And despite what salesmen and manufacturers might tell you, there’s no meaningful difference between the $10 cable and the $50 cable…The editors at CNET are so confident that cheap HDMI cables offer identical performance, we’ve been using inexpensive Monoprice HDMI cables in the CNET Home Theater Lab for more than a year with no issues.”
Don’t fall prey to the overpriced HDMI scam and don’t believe the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) being spread by those trying to sell you an expensive cable.
Read more at:
http://consumerist.com/366674/cnet-says-cheap-hdmi-cables-just-as-good-as-pricey-ones
http://reviews.cnet.com/hdmi-cable/
DON’T LET THESE PURVEYORS OF SNAKE OIL PUT DOUBT IN YOUR MIND AND TAKE YOUR MONEY. Buy good quality, inexpensive cables and save your money for things that really matter in your system, like better speakers, room treatments to improve room acoustics, or a professional calibration for your TV.
i’ve been using m’price hdmi cables for over 2 years, no issues; and the hdmi 4×2 matrix switcher, v2.5 since last summer (albeit for video only for the projector and 2 ch audio to a flat panel) also with no issues.
I have ordered hdmi cables from monoprice and am very satisfied. I got 3 6 foot long hdmi cables for about 12 dollars, shipping was cheap and efficient. I also order some speaker stands for my smaller speakers from them, 4 stands for 43 dollars and that was with shipping. Sets of speaker stands similar to these were 125 dollars for 2 stands in stores. Monoprice has a lot to offer and they are helpful if you need it.
Another thing to think about, you can return the cables if you are not satisfied. Try their cables and if they don’t satisfy, and you’re too lazy to send, you’ll still only be out about 5 bucks. Or if you are too stubborn go ahead and spend 100 bucks and never know what you are missing.
I own a lot of Monoprice cables, and for that reason I probably have more experience with them than most of your average readers. Monoprice cables are a reasonable value for reasonable price. However, when one is dealing with long runs, a “reasonable” cable may not be good enough. For example, Monoprice sells a 26 AWG 25-foot HDMI cable. With my particular equipment, it works fine with resolutions up to 1080p24 and 1080i60, but it is not sufficient for 1080p60. Changing to thicker gauge cable makes the problems go away. I’ve also read reports of problems with some lower cost 24 AWG 50-foot HDMI cables. Again, thicker gauge cable of otherwise similar quality make the problems go away.
Quite frankly I find the articles that simply state something like “Monoprice cables will suit all your home theatre needs” are simply misleading. I never recommend the expensive boutique cables to anyone, but I don’t necessarily recommend Monoprice’s cheapest cables to everyone either, at least for long lengths. Signal attenuation is a real issue, and with some equipment combinations this can actually manifest itself as real-life video anomalies, such as sparklies, flashing bands, or even complete loss of the picture.
Fortunately, the thicker gauge cables I mentioned above can also be purchased for quite a reasonable price at places like Monoprice or Blue Jeans Cable, for not too much more money. I don’t think it’s a waste of money to spend $20 more per cable in this context, especially when one is dealing with an in-wall installation.
Eug
Eug is absolutely correct, while longer runs will warrant better cable (that really being just thicker gauge) there is no reason to go out and spend $160 on a cable from Fictional Beast, Inc. It is pure snake oil. I am personally a user of Monoprice and appreciate their honesty and customer service. Of course installers are going to say that you should not skimp and get the “best” av cables available because they get them at cost and make the most profit on them. Don’t be fooled by the companies that spend more on marketing than R&D or production. Do your research.
I wish this article was written a week earlier… I may not be as knowledgable as the others… but here’s my two cents. I just recently bought a new HD TV… and instead of buying the RocketFish HDMI cable to hook my PS3 to the TV as reccommended by the sales people at Best Buy I went with a cheaper cable. The RocketFish reccommended by Best Buy was 4′ and $59.99. I bought a Dynex 6′ for $24.99. After reading the article I realize even that was a rip off. I have had zero problems with the cheaper cable… movies look great… games are vibrant and detailed… Although I got duped it seems to me that regardless of what you pay for the cable as long as it’s fairly short in length the HDMI cable does not matter. P.S. When I hooked up my HD television the cable provider gave me an HDMI cord… just my assumption that this cord is also a very cheap cord in order to keep their costs down… it seems to work well and the hockey games look fantastic.
Questions: Since everyone here seems to know much more than I do… Are the Ferrite Cores an important part of a home theatre system? Is there a website like Monoprice for home theatre audio equipment?
bluejeanscable.com - great price - great quality. BTW - if you are on facebook, there is a group “friends don’t let friends buy Monster Cable”…
I have used Blue Jeans Cable with much success, as well.
