HDMI has become a common word today and stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. It becomes necessary when you need to watch HD videos on your high definition TV to have HDMI cables. With a single cable, you can watch HD videos which are not possible in the case of analog cables and in any case, you will require a cluster of analog cables for that purpose. HDMI cables, especially branded ones are very expensive, and whether you buy them from your local Wal-Mart or CompUSA, you may have to shell out minimum $35-70 with some costing even more than a hundred dollars. There are of course cheap HDMI cables available in the market which is why consumers are often confused as to which ones to buy as they are not sure what the difference between cheap and expensive HDMI cables is.
There is no doubt that there is some difference in quality of cheap and expensive HDMI cables, but that certainly does not justify the huge price difference of nearly 500% between cheap and expensive cables. There can be no definitive answer to this conundrum. However, below are a few points that will differentiate between the two types of cables.
Though price necessarily is never a good indicator of quality, however, most good cables are expensive. Even without going into technical details one can see the difference by first listening to output of music through cheap HDMI cables and then switching over to expensive ones. Cheap HDMI cables produce only sound whereas expensive ones bring music to you (if you know what I mean). While cheaper ones produce a flat sound, expensive ones bring 3D to sound. It is like being in a live concert. The same goes for the experience of watching HD videos. When you watch these videos using cheap HDMI cables, the videos somehow do not look life like. On the other hand, the difference is palpable when you use expensive HDMI cables. It looks as if you are inside the movie.
Had there been no difference in quality, companies manufacturing branded and expensive HDMI cables would not have been able to sustain for so long in the market. Having said so, there is still no justification for such a huge price difference in cheap and expensive HDMI cables available in the market.