Monster MC 1000HD-2M Ultra-High Speed HDTV HDMI Cable (2 meters) by Monster
|
List Price: Our Price: $64.95 You Save: $55.00 (46%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $28.36 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Monster MC 1000HD-2M Ultra-High Speed HDTV HDMI Cable (2 meters)
Digital camera Review: Great Product - Great Price
Summary: 5 Stars
The salesperson at Best Buy said these were the best cables for my new HDTV but recommended I buy them at Amazon.com to save money. He was right -- they were half the price at Amazon.Digital camera Review: Great cable, but same quality as monoprice $5 cable
Summary: 2 Stars
I couldn't believe the reviews so I had to see it for myself. The result: the Monster cable is pure hype.
I have a Philips 42" 1080P TV hooked up to a blu-ray dvd player. I bought this Monster cable and a $5 10' HDMI 1.3a cable from monoprice.com. I played x-men last stand and superman returns on blu-ray, as well as the matrix on a regular DVD.
For about an hour I switched between the two cables. I couldn't tell the difference between the resolution, noise, color, contrast or black levels. Over a 10' distance, there's simply no difference between this $100 cable and a $5 cable. I even tried to push the limits of the cable but having it carry both the surround sound signal and the video to my receiver...nothing.
Please, please, please...spend the extra $100 on a better TV, perhaps 120hz over 60hz. This cable will not make miracles happen, as Monster will promise you over and over. Future proofing? You're kidding yourself. Good cable construction? Everyone else has good cables as well. Gold plated, nitrogen-injected dielectric with 5 layers of shielding? Great, hope you have a fun time watching your spectrum analyzer in a lab. This all means nothing for good ol 1080P blu-ray movies!
Digital camera Review: Great cable, but too pricy
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an excellent cable that appears to be very sturdy and provides flawless service with a high performance Blu-Ray/HDTV combination (Panasonic DMP BD30/Samsung LN52a750). There are no deficiencies whatsoever that I have found in the performance or construction of the (1000 series) Monster cable. It is also a very nice-looking cable.
Why only 4 stars, you may ask. Answer: the price. Even with Amazon's substantial discount, this product is overpriced. Let me share what I have read and learned about HDMI cable since I spent the 80 bucks on a Monster cable.
Many have said that an HDMI cable transfers digital information and either works, or not. This is not entirely true. It is true in the sense that you will probably either experience major problems or you will experience only subtle problems (or none) from an inferior cable. The subtle problems are likely to be irrelevant to most people unless you have a Blu-Ray player and HDTV combo capable of producing "deep color".
I would assume that the transfer of digital information through an HDMI cable is analogous to pouring water through a funnel. There is a limit to how fast you can pour water into the funnel (if you set aside the possibility of variations in gravity, black holes, time/space distortions, spout diameter, or atmospheric pressure/vacuum differentials). If you attempt to pour faster, the funnel overflows and some of the water is lost. Logically, the same should be true if a premium A/V set tries to push more bandwidth than the cable will allow. The data rates of simple static scenes and fast moving complex scenes vary substantially. This means that an inferior cable may work fine 99% of the time, but fail when the transmission rate is very high. This could result in a temporary loss of audio or video, video pixilation, audio or video skipping, or the loss of audio/video synchronization. It could also cause the HDMI to "kick down" the transmission to a lower resolution. To put it simply, you can watch "Rambo" on Blu-Ray using a cheap cable, but you might miss the best parts.
The latest specification for high-speed HDMI cable is HDMI 1.3 or better. HDMI 1.3 goes well beyond the requirements for existing equipment. There are no differences between 1.3, 1.3a, and 1.3b that are relevant to the consumer. 1.3 more than doubles the bandwidth of the previous standard (from 4.95 Gbits/s or 165 MHz to 10.2 Gbits/s or 340 MHz). It gives you the equivalent of a wider spout for the digital information to pass through as well as better support for multichannel audio.
Versions prior to HDMI 1.3 might not support:
* Super Audio CD (SACD) - A higher fidelity format than ordinary CD's
* DVD-A(udio) - This is a format for delivering very high fidelity digital audio content on a DVD. This is an audio-only format and does not include common DVD movies.
Versions prior to HDMI 1.3 do not support:
* Deep Color - Billions and billions of colors. 30 bits of color precision or greater.
* Dolby True HD - An advanced multi-channel lossless audio codec.
* Audio to Video Synchronization - Auto Lip Sync. Admittedly, if you're watching a Kung Fu movie, this won't help.
Premium cables may have better shielding, but this is unlikely to matter in common circumstances. You can certainly find cables meeting the 1.3 standard for far less than you have to pay for a Monster cable. The rap on cheaper cables is that the connectors are often less sturdy than a premium brand and fall apart. If you actually need a cable that is 1.3 compliant, you've already spent thousands of dollars on your system. Unless you are completely broke at this point, you might be more comfortable buying the cable from a manufacturer that has a reputation it must protect. Bear in mind that according to their own published specifications, only the most expensive (1000 series) Monster cable is 1.3 compliant. The good news is that you can buy the Monster cable (2meters) at Amazon for about 45% less than you would pay at Best Buy.
Having said all that, you might first want to try the bluejeanscable or monoprice websites. They seem to have happy customers and their prices are a fraction of Monster or Sony. I didn't discover these sites until after I had purchased the Monster cable. The cables they sell are HDMI 1.3 compliant and prices run about $6 to $10 for a two meter cable. Since they are certified to meet the new standard, the only potential problem might be in durability. Even if that is the case, it shouldn't be a problem unless you are frequently moving things around and pulling on the cable. If you are planning to use a long run of cable through the wall, then you certainly will want to check these sites out. Only a drunken sailor or the uninformed would spend the Monster price on a 50' cable unless it was truly necessary. You could buy a Blu-Ray player for the difference.
Digital camera Review: Great picture now
Summary: 5 Stars
Easy hookup. Picture looks much better and clearer now. Used this to hook up HD LCD TV to an HD Dish receiver. Picture was so-so before, now it's very clear.Digital camera Review: Great product
Summary: 5 Stars
Much better deal than you can get in a store and good quality as well