I need a cable to connect a Sky HD box to a TV and find there is a wide range of prices for a 3 m cable (£10 to £50). I would like to know what the is technical performance of these cables and how this differs with the different types. Can anyone advose me?

Thank you

I think some of the cables allow for audio, and some don't.

As the signal is a digital one I wouldnt waste my money on an expensive cable

Paying anything more than 10-15 pounds for a 3 metre HDMI cable is a waste of money imho.

It's the modern day equivalent of high street retailers flogging gold plated scart connectors to customers for £40-£50, in the naive belief that you need to match your expensive AV equipment with equally expensive cabling. In reality there was absolutely no difference between those and a £3 cable form homebase, except in the profit margin.

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Asan Tu
Senior Technical Analyst
Internet Services Group
The IET

Get it from Radio Shack. Monster Cable is overpriced and no matter. Its all snakeoil to be honest.

BW 802Ds, Sony HD4556, Mcintosh 552, SVS subwoofer

Edited to remove dubious hyperlink, please don't advertise.

Edited: 31 July 2009 at 07:02 AM by IET Moderator

HDMIHDMIHDMI is an uncompressed, all-digital signal, while the aforementioned interfaces are all analog. With an analog interface, a clean digital source is translated into less precise analog, sent to the television, then converted back to a digital signal to display on screen. At each translation, the digital signal loses integrity, resulting in some distortion of picture quality. HDMIHDMIHDMI preserves the source signal, eliminating analog conversion to deliver the sharpest, richest picture possible.
Previous video interfaces required separate audio cables, with the vast majority of people using standard RCA L/R analog audio jacks. HDMIHDMIHDMI, with its abundant bandwidth and speed, carries not only video but also up to eight digital audio channels for uncompromised surround-sound. It replaces the tangle of wires behind the system with a single cablecablecable, greatly simplifying the entire setup process of the home theater system while delivering top tier performance.
Though standard HDMIHDMIHDMI or "Type A" has 19 wires, "Type B" will have 29 wires. The latter is targeted for the motion picture industry and other professional applications. Both varieties are "Intelligent HDMIHDMIHDMI," referring to the built-in capability for HDMIHDMIHDMI-enabled components to talk to each other via the interface. Auxiliary information can provide all-in-one remote functionality and other interoperable features not possible in previous interface technologies.
HDMIHDMIHDMI supports standard video formats, enhanced video and high-definition. It is also backwards compatible with DVI (Digital Video Interface). High-end graphics cards featuring a DVI port can connect to a HDMIHDMIHDMI interface via a DVI/HDMI cable. This is simply a cablecablecable with a DVI connector on one end and a HDMIHDMIHDMI connector on the other. As a rule, HDMIHDMIHDMI cables should not run longer than 15 feet (5 meters), or degradation of the signal could occur.

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Simply put HDMI cable carries Video and Audio in digital format, so there is no need for expensive cable over short runs from a set top box to a TV.
Cheapest cable for the distance required in this circumstance.

Contrary to what has been said so far, I have personally noticed a slight difference in Picture and Audio Quality with a more expensive, gold plated, well made HDMI Cable than the cheaper ones. However this is not such a huge difference as to warrant spending an extra £50 on a cable, in my opinion.

As far as I understand it, signal degradation on HDMI cabling can come about when bits are "lost" (that is, a 1 might turn into a 0 or vice versa) due to noise. This doesn't happen too often, of course, but I understand that modern HDTVs have circuitry incorporated which handles these lost bits, and does so very well. A better HDMI cable can help reduce the number of these lost bits, but I don't think the difference is such a big deal. I have an £8 HDMI cable hooked up to my Xbox, and a £20 one with my PS3.. the main difference is down to the two consoles, of course. I have seen my friends PS3 hooked up to his TV (Same as mine) with a £60 Cable, and the difference between his and mine is so small, you'd have to look really really close to see it.

I think it is far more important for you to save the money and make sure you buy a higher quality HDTV and DVR/ BD Player or whatever it is you might need a HDMI cable for..