Customer Reviews

6ft PTC Premium Gold Series Elegant Dual Tone HDMI Cable, Supports Deep Color

5 star:		(238)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

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

[NOTE: I bought TWO Premium Gold Series cables and I actually took home one Monster cable at one time so maybe I know what I am talking about :)]

Just in case someone may feel guilty for not paying a lot more for, basically the same thing, let's look at our top of the line offer, Monster HDMI 1000HD Ultra-High Speed HDMI Cable (2 meters) and do a quick comparison.

The Gold Series item supports the HDMI 1.3 standard. Any HDMI 1.3 cable can carry up to 10.2 Gbit/s. Hmmm... I suppose the Monster is much better, right? Well... it "guarantees a certified cable bandwidth of 10.2" Okay, but the Monster also supports "x.v.Color, and Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD". It turns out that, all of the above, and more, are part of the HDMI 1.3 specs and they are fully supported by every cable that complies to the standard and can be had for about 95% less in the Premium Gold. The expensive brand presentation simply enumerates the HDMI 1.3 specs as if it being HDMI 1.3 compliant was a really big deal. It is not a big deal. Even a cable that costs 95% less is HDMI 1.3 compliant.

My suggestion: if you think that the proponents of the expensive brand have a point when they claim that their product is a lot more durable, buy TWO Premium Gold wires and still pay almost 90% less than you would pay for one of the expensive ones.

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.
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The following are the HDMI 1.3 specs and any certified HDMI 1.3 cable is going to support them.

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)

Comparative Results: Technically Average, Overall Value Excellent (4 stars for build quality, but still the best value)

**Explanation**

Explanation of technique used for Review (actual results are below with accompanying title).
My first inclination when I received this cable, was to attempt to do a side-by-side comparison of various HDMI cables to determine what benefit, if any the various cables provide. To make such a test fair however, I had to find identical televisions, input devices, (cable box, blu-ray, standard dvd, etc), and a place to put them; as you may imagine this proved to be way more effort than it would be worth.
After contemplating the issue I came to the conclusion that such a test would be pretty worthless anyways. Since I (like most people) never watch identical televisions side by side the real question lies in whether one HDMI cable improves the picture enough that it is discernable without viewing the pictures simultaneously. After all, if a viewer cannot discern a difference between the two without looking at both together, then there is no justifiable reason to buy one over the other.
With this in mind I used the following equipment to test the cables:

Television: Sony Grand WEGA KDS-55A2000 55-Inch SXRD 1080p Rear Projection HDTV

Cables:
1. HDMI Cable 6ft 6 ft 1.3 1080P FOR PS3 TO DVD LCD HDTV
2. Cables To Go 98035 Premium HDMI v1.3 Digital Audio/Video Cable (8 Feet, Black/Grey)
3. Mediabridge - 6ft Ultra-High Speed HDMI Cable - 120 Hz - Version 1.3 Category 2 - 1080p - PS3 - Blu-Ray
4. Monster M Series M1000 HDTV HDMI Cable (8 ft. / 2.43 m.)
5. Sony 5mm High speed HDMI cable ver. 1.3 (White)

Inputs:
1. PlayStation 3 80GB
2. Optimum HD Cable Box/DVR (not sure of the model number)

**The Test**
To conduct the test I had my wife label each of the cables with a number, the cables were mixed then piled together behind the television. With my wife assigned as the operator. I and two friends sat on the other side of the television. We watched pieces of Planet Earth on Blu-Ray, as well as Transformers on Blu-Ray and Standard Def. In addition, we watched the same song from American Idol in both HD and SD, and portions of an NBA playoff game.
Each of us had a card numbered 1-5 with space for comments on image quality, sound, etc., for each cable. The test was, as aforementioned, blind. This was to ensure that one of my friends (one of whom provided the $200 monster cable) and I, owner of the .01 + shipping no name cable (and most of the other ones) would not be biased by knowing it was our cable. If you shell out $200 for something you really want it to outperform, which creates bias.

And now:

**The Results**
All three of us agreed that there were no conclusive differences in the test. After a lot of switching between various inputs the conclusion was that while we occasionally perceived slight differences it was never clear and would be impossible to tell if the two pictures were not side by side.
Thus I must conclude that these 5 HDMI cables are, for all practical purposes, identical. Which means that they all had average performance and the main purchase determiners are price, aesthetic quality and build quality.
So to sum up, taking into account my opinion of the different cables, the HDMI Cable 6ft 6 ft 1.3 1080P FOR PS3 TO DVD LCD HDTV is the cheapest and feels it, it will probably need to be replaced soonest as well but at .01 cent plus shipping you can afford to. The Cables To Go 98035 Premium HDMI v1.3 Digital Audio/Video Cable (8 Feet, Black/Grey) and Mediabridge - 6ft Ultra-High Speed HDMI Cable - 120 Hz - Version 1.3 Category 2 - 1080p - PS3 - Blu-Ray were pretty similar but I like the design and build quality of the Cable-to-Go a little more, it feels more solid, I feel like this one would last a while longer than the first cable but I didn't do any endurance tests. My least favorite of the bunch in terms of feel/price was the Sony 5mm High speed HDMI cable ver. 1.3 (White) which I felt, was very thin and cheap feeling considering its price tag, I wouldn't bet that it would outlast either the Cable-to-Go cable or the Mediabridge. The Monster M Series M1000 HDTV HDMI Cable (8 ft. / 2.43 m.) is well made and aesthetically pleasing and looks as if it will last you until something replaces HDMI, I cannot however recommend it because the price tag is simply preposterous, as it provides no visual or auditory improvement.

These cables work just fine, but one problem, which might just be user-related.

I bought two of them, one for my PS3 and one for my DVR. My TV gave a "No Signal" error for both when I first plugged them in. I tried everything I could think of and almost gave up in frustration, accepting my failure in hoping $5 HDMI cables would function as well as the $50+ ones. Then I thought maybe to try reversing the cable, and putting the plugs in the opposite device. All of a sudden my TV dings and says 1080p. Both ends of the cable look exactly the same, but for some reason, each end has to be plugged into the correct system. Or maybe it's just me and this is common sense, I don't know...

I picked this HDMI cable up because it was the cheapest of the 1.3 certified cables. It didn't disappoint one bit. The picture from my PS3 is simply stunning. The seller, Eforcity, shipped very quickly (arrived in three days).

Get these cheap cables. They are as good as expensive Monster cables -- better actually. Why? HDMI is a digital-signal only cable. There is no analog signal to get religious about. Bits is bits. A Monster zero is no more zeroish than a four-dollar cable's zero. Ditto for ones. Here's some fun facts. The HDMI 1.3 spec tells us that all HDMI cables have to be certified as meeting the standard in order to use the HDMI name. HDMI 1.3 runs a 10.2 Gbps (gigabits per second). For perspective, this is 21 times faster than USB 2.0 at 480 Mbps. Fast.

The standard was cleverly designed to be robust, reliable, efficient (low power), high capacity, and LOW COST to manufacture. The HDMI cable contains 4 high-speed low-power differential-signal shielded connections -- in addition to 5 volt power and some low-speed digital signals for devices to talk back and forth to each other. Three of the high-speed connections carry respectively the red, green, and blue uncompressed video bitstreams. The fourth carries a synchronous clock, which cunningly allows the receiving chip to economically recover the bits in the other 3 channels at this extreme speed. Uncompressed audio is also sent (on a time slice basis) over the 3 video channels. Whereas the 1.3 spec supports 10.2 Gbps, your BluRay player rarely exceeds 5 Gbps -- depending on content such as color depth and the number of audio channels. There's plenty of excess capacity in your cheap cable. (Read the FAQ and white papers at HDMI dot ORG for more.)

So why is this dinky cable better than an expensive one? The Expensive Brands have wide-diameter cables with unnecessarily long connectors. This must give the appearance of being totally awesome. However, the wires INSIDE are the same size and layout as for any other HDMI cable. They must be in order to match electrical capacitance, impedance and shielding parameters required conform to the 10.2 Gbps spec. But, importantly, this bulky bloated thickness puts weight and tension on the connectors of your expensive LCD TV and BluRay player and other equip. Why would you want to put mechanical stress on these sockets? Bad idea. And their bits are not better bits: just 0s and 1s. I have these cables. They work.

Wanted to get an hdmi cable for my new Sony 1080p set to connect to TiVo HD. Looked around and didn't feel like paying store prices (ridiculous). Much to my delight there were loads of choices and very cheap. Ordered it, came pretty fast, plugged it in, and it just worked. This is how things in the world should work. Maybe all the other inexpensive cables work just as well--probably do. I just know that in my case this one has worked fine for about a month now. Going to get another one.

Was skeptical because of the low price, considering that most HDMI cables at Circuit City, Wal Mart and Best Buy among others were 50 bucks and up. So i decided to gamble my money on this. Ordered it, and got it in a few days. Hey it works!!! It does what its supposed to do, so I cant complain. My PS3 games look awsome with this cable pluged into my HD TV. And I only spent 12 bucks.

Got the cable for my time warner dvr and a brand new samsung series 7 LCD tv. At first had trouble getting it to work with the crappy cable box and most blogs online reported the problem. Supposedly HDMI 1.3 doesn't work with older boxes. Not true, all you have to do is make sure in devices setting on your box(rather than audio settings) you have HDMI selected for audio output. If you are still confused called the cable company and they will explain...

Cable works perfectly well, don't get ripped off by buying $90 cable in the store...

I was tempted by the price and since I was purchasing a PS3, i wanted to get the most out of my system. I figured, what the heck, the price makes it worth a shot. How wrong I was. Just a few months ago I spent a pretty penny on a 50" 1080p plasma. I wanted my new PS3 to look the best it could with HDMI. However, the problem I ran into was when I tried to display 1080p signal. The cable displayed 480p, 720p, and 1080i just fine. Im sure I cant even tell the difference between the 1080p/i, but I wanted the best. There was noise and signal loss when using 1080p, so be warned. If your TV doesnt display 1080p, no worries, but if it does, pay a little more for what its worth. It was delivered promptly and neatly packaged, if that counts for anything.

I had this cable and a 3' Phillips cable ($30) that I used to hook my laptop to my old TV (only 760). New TV came in (Samsung LN46A650), so I just unhooked the PS3 that had the cheap cable and put it into the new TV. Also got new digital cable, so used the shorter Phillips cable for that since the 3' was too short to reach the PS3. With the cheap cable, the PS3 to TV would only get 1080i... I looked online to find solutions, and nothing worked until I re-arranged my setup so the 3' Phillips cable would reach the PS3.. and 1080p worked first time. Cheap cable works fine with the cable box that only gets 1080i anyway. Only rated it two stars becuase it didn't work for the intended purpose. Works fine though as a 1080i cable (for me).