Customer Reviews

BlueRigger High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet 6.6 Feet (2m) - Supports 3D and Audio Return [Latest Version]

5 star:		(1,828)
4 star:		(177)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(52)

 

 

Briefly: right length for most uses, right price, certified HDMI 1.3/Cat 2 and a 'super savers' item (free shipping when ordering over $25 worth of Amazon merchandise). Can't get much better than this.

Given the 1 yr. warranty promise and the ability to easily return the wire to Amazon if you get a defective item, I see no 'negatives'.

[Anyone remembers the old "I am not going to spend a lot for this muffler" commercial?]

The 3-6 ft. are the optimum lengths to connect most electronics. I am actually using 3 ft. cables whenever the connected devices happen to be very close to each other because, when it comes to cables, shorter is almost always better :).

Just in case someone may feel guilty for not paying a lot more for a premium brand, it should be stated that at these lengths - 3-6 ft., you will get as good a service from a no-brand cable as you would from a super-expensive rip-off. An HDMI 1.3x cable should be able to carry, error free, all the signal your electronic equipment may put out. In fact, you can buy one or 2 extra 'cheap' cables, just in case. At these prices they're easily affordable.

The FUD campaigns, trying to attract buyers toward the more expensive brands make a series of claims. I will address them, as they may apply to this specific cable.

- Signal attenuation is less over a more expensive cable. - TRUE, BUT that's irrelevant on a 3-6 ft. length. The HDMI consortium stated that even the cables that were not 'certified' as 'Category 2' or 'High-Speed' will meet the requirements at lengths of 6 ft. or less. At 3-6 ft., it would be a waste to consider an 'expensive' alternative. In addition, the newer devices have sufficient processing power and are sensitive enough to properly interpret even the more ambiguous 'digits' they receive. Incidentally, the vendor claims that this specific item WAS certified as 'category 2' and HDMI 1.3a.

- The expensive cables are better engineered and their contacts are less likely to break. - TRUE, BUT how many times is one going to plug/unplug an HDMI cable in and out of an HDMI socket over the cable's lifetime? 5 times? 10 times? The 'better engineered' claim has no practical importance. If your cable works on 'day one' the odds are that it will be left in the back of your box for many months or years before it is unplugged and plugged back in. If this cable is purchased for home use, the 'better engineered' claim should not be of a major concern.

- The more expensive cables are 'future proof'. - NOT TRUE. Claims are made that, if you buy the more expensive wires you won't have to buy new ones when 'new standards' emerge because the more expensive wire will support them. This is untrue on 2 different levels. First, your cheap cable was purchased to work with some very specific devices which need HDMI 1.3 and will never support the 'new standard'. The new standards will be supported by new electronic devices but, for as long as you keep the existing ones, you will still need this cable to connect them. Second, the emerging HDMI 1.4 specs call for new features such as an Ethernet channel and an audio return channel, both of which can't be supported by the existing HDMI 1.3 cables so, no matter how large a bandwidth the existing expensive cables may support, it won't matter because you still won't able to use them if you are to take full advantage of an HDMI 1.4 device so... there goes your $5 invesment or... your $200, depending on your having purchased a 'cheap' or a 'top of the line' HDMI cable.

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Here are the HDMI 1.3 specs supported by both this cable and its more expensive alternatives.

Maximum signal bandwidth (MHz) 340
Maximum TMDS bandwidth (Gbit/s) 10.2
Maximum video bandwidth (Gbit/s) 8.16
Maximum audio bandwidth (Mbit/s) 36.86
Maximum Color Depth (bit/px) 48

Maximum resolution over single link at 24-bit/px 2560×1600p75
Maximum resolution over single link at 30-bit/px 2560×1600p60
Maximum resolution over single link at 36-bit/px 1920x1200p75
Maximum resolution over single link at 48-bit/px 1920×1200p60

sRGB
YCbCr
8 channel LPCM/192 kHz/24-bit audio capability
Blu-ray Disc video and audio at full resolution
Consumer Electronic Control (CEC)
DVD-Audio support
Super Audio CD (DSD) support
Deep Color
xvYCC
Auto lip-sync
Dolby TrueHD bitstream capable
DTS-HD Master Audio bitstream capable
Updated list of CEC commands (only on HDMI 1.3a,b,c)
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My personal experience: I've never paid 'a lot' for an HDMI cable because it makes no sense to pay more. I took home one of the 'expensive' ones once because the salesman promised to take it back if I wasn't amazed by the difference. It made zero difference and I returned it.

HDMI being what is it, it is hard to rate picture quality, it either works or it dosen't, and this cable works. Don't go to bestbuy and spend $100 on a HDMI cable, get one of these.

So to begin, I'm a Home Theater Installer. I spent five years with Best Buy both selling and installing TVs. I never got too much into the Monster Cable stuff, as at the end of the day, it's copper wire with covering; I used to sell people the less expensive cables, citing this as the reason. That said, you can judge an HDMI Cable on two (2) things: Pictures Quality, which, for the vast majority, will be absolutely the same, whether the cable costs you $1 or $1,000. This is why people say don't spend more money, and they'd be mostly right. However, the 2nd category that's used to judge HDMI Cables is build quality, and THAT can be a big difference. All build quality really refers to is the head (The gold part you plug into the devices you have), and how it will do considering the rest of the cable is hanging off of it, thus potentially causing it to bend and snap. THIS is why some cables are worth spending more money on. I mean if you don't put it on the wall and hide the wires, it really doesn't matter, as you have easy access. But this is the reason I've stuck with Bluerigger. In my mind, despite the fact that I don't buy Monster, they are the Smart Shoppers Monster Equivalent. I would use them in my own system, and I use them with all of my customers. They make a good product, and they offer it at an amazing price. Buy this cable. The only reason cables cost more at big box stores, for those of you unfamiliar with retail, is that is where they make up the money they lose when they sell you a TV. That's right folks, a $1,000 TV costs the store/company about $850 to $900 to buy, maybe a little less. They make their money on cables and other accessories.

I bought three of these cables and have used two so far. I put them both on Panasonic Viera Plasmas. One is 50" the other is 42". The HD picture on both is incredible. The cables work as advertised.

I bought this cable after previously purchasing a very cheap cable on amazon and finding out that there are in fact 2 different HDMI standards. The earlier standard doesn't support fast data transfer and will cause an annoying flickering to occur when utilizing a blue ray player. The newer standard (which this cable claims to support) transfers 10.2gbits/sec and is the type of cable that any customer today should be looking for.

This cable DOES NOT conform with the newer standard of data transfer. The description (supports ethernet, 3d and audio return, newest version) is MISLEADING.

I plugged the cable into the back of my BD player and it immediately started the "flicker" that is commonly associated with the older version. I mistakenly purchased this product based on the written customer reviews and high star rating. This certainly shakes my faith in Amazon.com and the opinions of people who buy products from it.

Equipment-
Mitsubishi 65" DLP LCD, 1080P
LG 590BD Player
"Tartan Cable" 28 AWG HDMI Cable 10 foot purchased from bluejeancable.com which works marvelously (as a control)
BlueRigger High Speed HDMI cable 6.6 foot which did not work as advertised

The BlueRigger Premium HDMI Cables are great. The picture quality was exactly what I expected. I compared them to the standard HDMI cables you can buy at Walmart and another cable from Radioshack and the more expensive Cyclone gamer HDMI Cable. I have a Samsung DLP 64" and I was playing the Planet Earth Blu-ray on my PS3. I know everyone says that you can't tell the difference. I know CNET says you can't tell the difference. But when I was switching out the different HDMI cables, I could tell the difference. Maybe it's because I have a DLP, but regardless. We saw subtle differences in clarity. I even had my family look while I randomly tested a few out. The BlueRigger and the Cyclone HDMI cables were the best. But the BlueRigger is the same quality at the fraction of the price.

Here's the thing... everyone has said over and over that you will go to your big box retailer, they will have $25.00 cables, and $50.00 cables, and, insanely, $100.00 cables, and will tell you to buy them. They told me to buy them. I bought 1 set. Then I went on Amazon, bought 3 of these cables at about 1/3 the cost of ONE entry-level cable at the big-box where I bought my TV. I tested them side by side. You know what? The cable from the big box was inferior in every way. These feel better, look better, and are absolutely sufficient for your HD system. For the record, I have not experienced any of the problems people have brought up with these cables (flicker, etc.). They are pumping full 1080 at 120Hz on my TV from my Satellite system, from my BluRay, and my IPTV device and they are just peachy. The fact of the matter is, the cables from the big-box places are made in the factory down the street from where these ones are made, and only because they get a more recognizable name on the package you get beaten up on the price. Don't waste money on fashion cables, and don't be a sucker. Take it from my experience, having found no performance difference between cables and having returned the bloated-price big-box brand (for a full refund). Go read CNet's discussion about this topic - they use cheap cables in their A/V "Proving Ground" facility and have no problem recommending the same to every consumer.

Of course one is always weary when purchasing an electronic piece of gear at such a low price, but I assure you these cables are fantastic! I am using them for my 3D setup and has been flawless. The picture quality is very good. And yes, cables do make a difference in regards to data transfer. There is no interference with these cables. Do not hesitate buying these, expecially if you are setting up a 3D system.

The cable came on time and works well. The picture quality is great with my HD TV and BluRay player.
The only issue I had was that the cable has two large ferrite bulbs at each end of the cable and this makes it impossible to run the cable through tight spaces like the one I had in my shelf. Due to this, I had to use a less elegant path to run the cable.

I ordered these cable to replace the "new" cables that ComCast gave me when I added a new Samsung TV to my den. The Comcast cables would continually drop out of either the audio or video channel and I had to get up and wiggle the cable to get things back. The BlueRigger cables came in two days, were installed in about two minutes and all my problems were instantly solved. I have used them now for several weeks and there has been no further issues. Comcast tried to repeatedly tell me the issue was the the TV and that I should return it.

The BlueRigger cables deliver a smooth, rich picture and good audio. I only say good for the audio because I am using the Samsung speakers and that is a long way from superior sound. I am sure if I hooked up a theater system that I would get superior audio also. I highly recommend these cables. Best of all, the price is right. Don't pay a fortune for cables.