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All joking aside. There really is a difference that can be seen in monster and monoprice hdmi cables.

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Please tell me you are joking, Pete.

Yes, there is a difference. Monoprice cables are higher quality than monster.


Monoprice is where to buy your HDMI cables... EOT

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CC and Best Buy just hate losing out on their 1000% markup items.

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You really think they only mark up 1000%? If so, they cut back their margin since i last worked there. We would get them on employee discount for $2. They were (at the time) priced at $60 each

[This message has been edited by redass1876 (edited 1/15/2014 7:25a).]

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Gotta agree with Spicewood. I've never seen a negative review in regards to monoprice's hdmi cables. If their stuff didn't work (much less blowing out people's expensive equipmen)t, it would be all over the internet.

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Well, I will be the bearer of bad news here. I purchased cables and wall plates from Monoprice to run HDMI through my wall to a new TV. An electrician ran them for me because I had to install a new outlet anyways, so it was all done correctly. I go to turn on my brand new TV (which had worked before the HDMI install) and the TV reads "No signal". I unplug the HDMI cable running from the wall to the TV, plug it back in and now my TV can read the cable box. This happens every time I turn on the TV. I didn't have this issue running HDMI direct from the cable box to the TV using an HDMI cable provided by AT&T.

Monoprice only offers tech support via online chat, not on the phone (which annoys me), and they said that I should've purchased 24AWG cables for my setup instead of the 28AWG cables I had originally purchased. Before I had placed my order, I checked the customer reviews on the cables I wanted and saw no issues plus there was no info on their site related to an in-wall setup (at least that I didn't find). Fortunately, MP is taking back the 28AWG and I've since ordered 24AWG. But my experience has partially ruined MP for me.

[This message has been edited by AgDrumma07 (edited 1/15/2014 2:00p).]

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An electrician ran them for me because I had to install a new outlet anyways, so it was all done correctly.

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While I don't disagree that it very well may be an issue with the cable, I'm not sure the above can be assumbed 100% of the time.

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While I don't disagree that it very well may be an issue with the cable, I'm not sure the above can be assumbed 100% of the time.

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A fair point but he did it the same way I found online, plus it's simply just connect wall plates and cables. Plus they are a licensed company.

so you get a bad cable (had a monster cable do the same thing with my uverse box by the way) and online support tells you that you didnt get the optimal cable and its their fault that it didnt work.

Kinda sorta. They weren't jerks about it but I was pretty unhappy with the lack of info when I made my original purchased. Granted, I didn't spend hours on this, but I figured it would be simple enough. I've hooked up electronics for years and HDMI is supposed to be pretty straight forward. I did also do some research on TA and the popular "What you need to know about HDMI" link.

MP did not argue about my dissatisfaction and sent me RMA instructions while I was still in my online chat session. Because of my setup, I was trying to run 1.5' HDMI cables out of the wallplates to the TV and cable box so it would look clean. The 1.5' cables had good reviews on MP.com, but when I mentioned my issue with customer support, they said "There are usually issues with such short HDMI cables. You should get 3' cables instead." I'm sending all of the HDMI cables from my first order back.

I had heard great things about MP and their product selection is awesome. They just need more info about which products are correct by project.

Customer service is another reason people like Monoprice.

I'll agree that they don't have answers to every question on their web page, but that would be difficult with as many products as they carry. If they often have issues with their 1.5' cables, that's probably something they should note on their sales page.

Another note is that anytime you introduce a break in a line, you have more chances for issues. In this case, it sounds like you are going: Cable box > HDMI > wall plate > HDMI > wall plate > HDMI > TV. If that's correct, you're making 6 breaks in essentially one connection. Not that there is any better option for your setup.

That is correct on my setup. The other option would've been to run one long cable ("long" meaning about 8') and using these wall plates, which I think are ugly and the lazy way to do it:

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All I know is that I would never use anything but this type of cable again.

It will change your life.

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Transmission of music data at rates faster than the speed of light seemed convenient, until I realized I was hearing the music before I actually wanted to play it. Apparently Denon forgot how accustomed most of us are to unidirectional time and the general laws of physics. I tried to get used to this effect but hearing songs play before I even realized I was in the mood for them just really screwed up my preconceptions of choice and free will. I'm still having a major existential hangover.

Would not purchase again.

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[This message has been edited by wee_ag (edited 1/15/2014 3:17p).]

Lazy or efficient?

I've been accused of both a time or two and if you could see behind my displays, you would be able to find a few of those wall plates.

I have all monster hdmi cables

I'm still going with "lazy" but that's no slam on you. I'm OCD when it comes to these types of things.

Circuit City's excellent knowledge and service caused them to go out of business about 2 years after this thread was started.

Guess what? The 24AWG cables that MP recommended to fix my issue don't work. I'm done with that site.

The cable is just that. A signal cable. Usually problems with HDMI connections are in the connectors themselves.

Now that two cables have yielded similar results, have you tried a different port on both source and receiver?

Each device only has one port...cable box and TV.

I understand HDMI can be tricky but when a customer has an issue with your product, you suggest they buy MORE expensive cables that should fix the problem and that doesn't work, you lose a customer.

how do you know you had an issue with their product when there are two products involved?

I used all of their cables and wall plates on the first try, which failed. I then contacted customer service and they told me to upgrade from their 28AWG cables to their 24AWG cables. I did that and it still failed. I then ran a non-MP HDMI cable straight from the box to the TV and had no issues.

It's obvious that their wall plates and both styles of cables do not fix my issue, despite their advice on fixing it. I've already spent a lot of time dragging cables through the wall to try this out, plus being charged shipping twice. All of their equipment is going back and I'll buy my cables somewhere else.

did you try the MP cable directly (without the wall plates)

Nope. I have a working cable for that already. I prefer the wall plate setup because I think it looks cleaner.

then how do you know that you are not misplacing blame? What makes you think that the MP cable didn't work?

It doesn't matter if one cable works. The setup doesn't work even after I did what they said and spent MORE money. I wanted the setup, not just one cable.

I went to their site upon numerous recommendations, I read the reviews to make sure I was buying products with good reviews, I found no evidence to state that my setup wouldn't work, a licensed electrician did the install, I reported the problem accurately to their customer service, followed their instructions and was let down again. I don't want any of their equipment now.

sounds like you should have just contracted the electrician to do the whole job, and move the responsibility of finding product/making sure it works to him.

Lots of diehard Monoprice fans on this forum

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sounds like you should have just contracted the electrician to do the whole job, and move the responsibility of finding product/making sure it works to him.

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The electrician inspected the equipment I purchased from MP and said it would work for what I needed. I was just plugging a TV into a cable box, not setting up a home network.

[This message has been edited by AgDrumma07 (edited 1/17/2014 8:48a).]

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It doesn't matter if one cable works. The setup doesn't work even after I did what they said and spent MORE money. I wanted the setup, not just one cable.

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FYI- I run the same set up you are trying to do on all of my tvs that go on a wall and I have never had any issues. I have used monoprice products for all of them.

I think what folks are trying to point out is that issue may actually be with the HDMI connector on either the TV or the cable box.

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The electrician inspected the equipment I purchased from MP and said it would work for what I needed. I was just plugging a TV into a cable box, not setting up a home network.

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yeah, I get it...it's just that you seem like you don't really want to DIY this. I am not going to insult your intelligence and suggest that you don't know how to verify something works, and then replace various parts with known working items until you find the culprit.

It just seems like you don't want to do that...so you would have been better served to just pay the electrician to do the job and be responsible for making it work.

[This message has been edited by diehard03 (edited 1/17/2014 9:00a).]

I have bought $1000 of stuff from monoprice over the years probably. Have not had one issue with anything.

I did have the same issue an earlier poster mentioned about the TV just getting 'no signal'. unplug the HDMI and plug it back in and it works. It was annoying. The problem just went away, but there were two things that transpired which I know think were the culprits.

The cable that feeds from the wall had come loose to where the coupling was loose and causes the little pin to receed and not make a good connection. This might have affected it. also, the cable box got replaced. It might have been something with the cable box.

The wall mount I have for my 60" television is also a moveable one, and the HDMI cable plugged into the back of it is quite heavy. I think sometimes with the movement of the TV, it just wiggles loose - this might have been it too

My point is that since, the cable has been just fine and I don't think my problem were due to cable quality.

My final tip - wherever the HDMI plugs in, keep/hold the cord higher than the plug. This keeps the bits from running back out and down the cable causing huge problems.

Sounds like you've got some bad links in your chain. I'll go a head and justify my lazy approach at using a single cable.

Lucky for you, blue and orange both sell HDMI wall plates and cables, so, if you felt so inclined, could replace the MP wall plates with another brand and see if that solves your problems.

A fundamental principle with A/V connections is that the best signal path is the shortest with the fewest breaks. Only use connectors in the middle if you absolutely have to. I would never use a HDMI connector midstream. An HDMI cable has 19 wires. Each connector has 19 pins.

I understand the desire to have tidy wiring, but since a cable gonna dangle out of that wall plate when connected I would just run a single cable between devices. That is just my preference.

I have many Monoprice HDMI cables. I have used a few others, but no boutique cables. None have ever caused me a problem.

My only problem with Monoprice in general is their microUSB cables. They wear out. The microUSB plug gets loose after 6-12 months of use. But these get plugged in/out every day with a phone.

I'd like to point out there is a big difference between "not having any issues" and losing out on quality that you aren't aware of.

That's like people saying the BCS championship system is working because it gives us no. 1 vs no. 2 match up. Ummm hello?

95% of people out there are not going to see differences in quality between two like cables when there probably is. Only audiophiles care. For those families wanting to watch a movie and want the best their device can offer without making it complicated - they'll just pick up an HDMI cable. Price and convenience outweighs the increase in quality for them.

Just like some people are not going to "see" the diff between 2.5GHz and 3.1GHZ CPUs, even though you can come up with data that verifies there is. Same thing with fuel octane levels. Can you get in a car and tell the difference? Probably not.

Who's trolling who here?

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...see differences... audiophiles...

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BigPete - if an HDMI cable does not function correctly, the image and/or audio will suffer. The picture will be degraded or the audio will have dropouts.

It won't be something analog-like such as loss of treble, or less detail in the picture.