are expensive video cables any better?

7 Aug 2005 6:05 PM

lambeth65

I just bought a moderately high-end HDTV and amplifier setup (Denon
ABR-2805.) Yesterday I went to Best Buy to get some component video
cables to carry the video signal from the HDTV box to the amp and from
the amp to the TV. (And an S-video cable to connect my TiVo, which
doesn't have component video out.) I was shocked to discover a HUGE
range of cable quality/price ($6.99-$299.99).

Is the vast price difference really justified? Are the $299 Monster
THX 1000 cables really worth it?

Since I don't have $900 to shell out on 3 sets of the super high end
cables even if they're that much better, what price range/brand/model
is the best compromise between quality and cost?

7 Aug 2005 10:36 PM

Cail Young

On 8/8/05 4:05 AM, "lambet***@earthlink.net" <lambet***@earthlink.net>
wrote:

>
> Since I don't have $900 to shell out on 3 sets of the super high end
> cables even if they're that much better, what price range/brand/model
> is the best compromise between quality and cost?
>

The next ones up from the absolute bottom will do you just fine. The really
cheap ones tend to break, but if you go a step up they'll be built decently.

8 Aug 2005 1:01 AM

Laurence Payne

On 7 Aug 2005 11:05:55 -0700, lambet***@earthlink.net wrote:

>Is the vast price difference really justified? Are the $299 Monster
>THX 1000 cables really worth it?

No, of course not. Cables need the right electrical properties, the
right connectors on each end and adequate physical strength. There
ARE cables made so cheaply that they fall to bits. Apart from that,
all the criteria above can be satisfied

Show quoteHide quote

>Since I don't have $900 to shell out on 3 sets of the super high end
>cables even if they're that much better, what price range/brand/model
>is the best compromise between quality and cost?

8 Aug 2005 1:09 AM

Laurence Payne

On Mon, 08 Aug 2005 02:01:25 +0100, Laurence Payne
<lpayne1NOSPAM@dsl.pipexSPAMTRAP.com> wrote:

>On 7 Aug 2005 11:05:55 -0700, lambet***@earthlink.net wrote:
>
>>Is the vast price difference really justified? Are the $299 Monster
>>THX 1000 cables really worth it?
>
>No, of course not. Cables need the right electrical properties, the
>right connectors on each end and adequate physical strength. There
>ARE cables made so cheaply that they fall to bits. Apart from that,
>all the criteria above can be satisfied ....

.....quite cheaply

5 Sep 2005 8:06 AM

tom.tulinsky

at least you have a rangel of prices at your Best Buy. At mine (Culver
City, CA), they've gotten rid of the cheap ones and the cheapest are
$20. Same at the Radio Shack.