Monster HDMI Cable Scam

Posted by Wayde || 12/07/2007 - 12:06 || 123 comments

MonsterHDMIYou just bought a new HDTV and a PlayStation3 from the local big box store. Now the sales clerk begins applying pressure to buy one of their expensive digital cables. The inquisitive may ask: Do expensive cables really make a difference to picture quality? The store clerk that says "yes" is either lying or ignorant.

Electronically there is no difference between inexpensive HDMI cables that sell for $20 and nitrogen infused gold tipped Monster cables.

Two HDTVs displaying the same movie purports to demonstrate the difference between Monster brand cables and regular cheap cables. The intended result is that you, the potential customer, will see a clear difference in picture quality between the left and right images. Now you're convinced and ready to spend $150 or more on a digital video cable that you can find for about $20 at sources like monoprice.com or your local computer parts store.

This display is an intolerable lie and should be illegal under fair business practices. It makes Monster an immoral company for creating consumer confusion and profiting from lies.

I used my cell phone to take snapshots behind this display to expose the reality behind the scam.

HDMI

The visible difference between the two cables is not one of brand name quality but format. The Monster cable is the HDMI format, capable of passing HDTV resolutions from the playback device - in this case an up-scaling DVD player. The HDMI format was introduced in 2003 and designed for high definition and progressive digital displays.

The lesser quality image is brought to you buy a composite cable

Composite

Composite is a format designed for analog television and has been in use since the 1980s. The classic yellow connector is a composite video cable.

The composite format brings a clearly inferior analog video signal to the HDTV. Despite the TV's efforts to scale the neutered video signal to a respectable progressive resolution, it lacks detail and the dark images look noticeably blotchy.

This test is like putting a fuel additive into a Ferrari then accelerating past a Ford Escort as proof of the additives effectiveness.

Monster brand has been running this scam for years. The big box retailers have found outrageously priced accessories to be a good way to recoup profits from the pencil thin profit margins on big ticket consumer electronics like HDTVs.

When you walk into the big box stores the HDTVs and other expensive items are located to the back. This forces you to walk past media; this includes movies and games that seem to call out to you. After all, everyone likes movies! Even if you don't buy an HDTV it's easy to walk out with a $7 copy of Tom Hank's Big from the DVD bargain bin.

Get a great deal on an HDTV (which is actually not as good a deal at the big box stores as it used to be) [electronics shopping] but save cable and accessory shopping for places that sell for a reasonable value.

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Comments

Frugal Nerd writes:

I think my favorite example of how Monster is utterly useless has to be the demo that was viral a few months back regarding an experiment wherein the testers ran a CD through monster cables, and ran the same CD through a wire coat hanger they jammed into the back of a speaker, and self-professed "audophiles" couldn't notice a difference. Google it.

tiregoober writes:

Well 'I got burnt by Monoprice I orderd 2 cables,neither of which worked. So I had to go to Walmart,their's worked ($19.95) Mono is taking them back but I am out $7.00 SH....I don't recomend

Stevekixs writes:

Wow. All I have to say is wow. Now, First off I am a monster retailer. :). So you can hate me all you want. But Educating customers is important. Yes I sell tvs. NO, I dont make commision. And yes we are a business, we are here to make money. If we dont sell things like cables, power conditioners, and High end add ons. Then Places like Best Buy, Circuit city. ETC.. Would go out of busniess. The profit margin for TVS these days is very small. And if someone is dishing out 2500, or 3000 for a tv, why not dish out a little more to get everything they do NEED. Let me explain. While I can't get every customer to buy monster. I at least let them know about HDMI technology, surge protection etc. Of course Im not going to tell them they can buy cheaper ones online, that would be bad business. But its my job to let people know these things so they don't get home and hook up their new Sony XBR With a Coax cable getting like a 240 resolution on their 1080p tv. Now If people buy my stuff, Im happy. Its nice and simple cause its all right in front of them. But If I dont show them all the stuff. Then you get customers who come in and are mad when their Tv or audio system blows up from a surge... And it happens more than you would think. Or customers who want to return a TV because the standard Def picture they are getting looks like shit, because no one told them how to hook it up. Which is why people dont go to Wal-Mart and Costco for TVS. They come to a retailer who has all that knowledge. Its not all about screwing the consumer. Its just business. And Yes we are out there to make money. But in the end its all about making the consumer happy. And who is going to be happy With an HD setup if they have it all hooked up wrong and it looks like garbage. And the sound is funky because they dont know how to hook up thier audio system or Sync their AV system, Calibrate their picture and audio. THats what we are here for. And honestly as a retailer, nothing makes me happier than When a customer has that big setup at home. Kicks off their shoes and relaxs in front of their nice new setup thanks to me.. And people are grateful in the end they spent the extra money. And it makes me happy to see they like the setup i gave them.

Gizmo n00b writes:

I've got a question? If you wanted to run 1080p/24 on a 120hz. refresh tv, along with DTS MA and use the PIP w/ audio feature, Deep Color and HDMI CEC; can I just use any old cheap piece of crap HDMI from Monoprice? That would take almost 3 and maybe 4 gbps.. Will Mono's cables pass that much info? The author of this has NO idea what he's talking about. It's all about the amount and speed of info being passed. Cheap pieces of shit cannot even come close to doing this.

dave writes:

Gizmo n00b it's obvious you have no clue what you are talking about...oh wait either you are employed at BB or CC and have been fed mis-information about monster cables or you work for monster. you should really do your research before posting idiotic comments.. http://www.electronichouse.com/article/the_truth_about_high_end_cables/C...

Interested Watcher writes:

Ok am I the only one who thinks a large part of this article is pretty pointless given that the whole basis is on a handwritten sign in a store. Did you ask who wrote the sign? Now do I think consumers can be mislead yes, but at least make a stink if it was a true real ad by a company rather than something written with a magic marker by someone in the store.

So It's not really monster in this case is it but what the store is saying..

Perhaps you should change the headline of your article as well as I doubt Monster spends all the money people say they do making ads that look like something from a clearance store...

yogidrew writes:

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/packing_the_deal/

Gizmo n00b writes:

Those Monster cables are such a huge scam. It is fun telling those idiots trying to sell u it that they are, and watch them trying to defend themselves and the product haha. http://www.wiinjamod.com

GizmoMan writes:

Hi! I'm from India. A friend of mine recently setup a home theatre system with most of the works. He bought Monster Cables that cost about Rs. 17000 (~USD 4000) for his surround sound audio system. Does what you say here apply to the quality of audio delivered as well? Not knowing much about high-end electronics, I've not been able to convince him that he made an unnecessarily expensive choice. Now, with this, I hope to keep him off any more Monster scams! Thanking you once again.

static writes:

it looks to me that while they are still using composit cables, they are hooked up to component outputs, which would have HD resolutions. while i believe that the monster cables are over-priced, i dont really see anywhere in the small limited pictures a claim that supports what the guy who posted this is claiming. all i see is that they're showing a difference between an older cable technology, and a newer one in HDMI, and since i hear monster is exclusive at best buy, it stands to reason that they'd use them in this setup. basically it just sounds to me like wayde's got something up his ass.

Wayde writes:

"while they are still using composit cables, they are hooked up to component outputs, which would have HD resolutions."

That doesn't make any sense. You hook component cables to component outputs. You can't hook composite cables to component outputs.

Yes, the comparison is between an older technology (composite, non-HD) and a newer one, HDMI and HDTV. It's not proof that Monster Cables are superior to competing cables of the same format.

You don't think that's purposely misleading customers?

As for your last statement - you obviously have this site mixed up with one of your bookmarks. This ain't GG Allin's offical website.

AVGeek writes:

Wayde, I think you missed the point here.

Structurally, component cables and composite cables are identical. They are both RCAs and they both fit into the same plug. The only difference is the type of data they carry - a composite video cable carries all of the video in a single (yellow) cable, which can cause color bleeding, signal noise, and other artifacts. The red and white are obviously used for audio.

However, with component, the video signal is split into red, blue, and green, with the green signal cable also carrying the data for luminance.

It DOES NOT MATTER if a composite cable is hooked up to a component output, or vice versa. The only thing that matters is that each individual RCA connects an output/input pair of matching colors. That's it. RCAs are RCAs are RCAs (though shielding does matter in this case, but I'm talking about what data they're capable of carrying) as far as what ports they can plug into.

To summarize, what you 'see' as composite cables are essentially functioning as component cables, because they're plugged into component inputs (this is assuming of course that these ARE in fact component inputs - though judging from the way the back of the TV is setup, it's component)

If you want to test my theory, get a dvd player that supports composite and component, and use the red white and yellow composite RCAs that it came with to carry the component signal. Use red for red, yellow for green, and white for blue. Surprise! You've got picture. See how that works?

I'm not arguing the fact that this setup is rigged - it would be fair if it were no-name-brand HDMI vs Monster, but you wouldn't see a difference. The marketing shouldn't be "see the monster difference," it should be "see the HDMI difference" since that's what's really going on.

Wayde writes:

Dude, we're getting way too muddled into the details. I know what a composite cable is, I know what a component cable is. I use three RCA cables all the time for component.

The difference is the formats. Composite is a format using one cable and it's not capable of HDTV. Component is a format using three of the same cable... yadda... and it is capable of doing HDTV.

People who claim to be able to see the difference between HDMI and component video on their HDTVs must have something else wrong with their sets. I have personally never seen any difference between the two and a/b tests report the same.

If you guys want to use Monster cables, more power to you. Enjoy paying $150 for your cables. I'll stick to my $20 HDMI cables and get the same video quality without Gold or other exotic materials.

Gizmo Expert writes:

I found no difference between my $4 HDMI cable and $75 Monster HDMI cable.

don writes:

sells monster hdmi i am in china

sockfocks writes:

I was very suprised when I started shopping retailers for an HDMI cable. I thought for sure i could find one for a reasonable price around 15 dollars or less. I think the cheapest I found was 25 or 29 at wal-mart. Its ridiculous to think that a digital signal degrades in such a short span. I've used composite cable 25ft in length to reach my rear projector and the signal looked fine and it was cheap Radio Shack cable. The best bet is to look on Amazon or ebay. For less than 10 dollars (shipping included) you'll be just fine.

Gizmo n00b writes:

Considering how many people out there spend thousands on progressive-scan DVD players, Blu-ray, 1080p flatscreens and such, and then use the old-standard cheaply made yellow/white/red cable that came with the player, I can see where this side-by-side isn't far from reality. ...although it may just be a product of the intellectually bankrupt region in which I live... Yes, you should be using a well-made cable, even for digital signals, and no, it should not cost that much. I first encountered this markup problem when I was shopping for IEEE-1394 cables years back. Newegg had what I needed and the shipping was the same or a little more than the cable price, which, combined, was still MUCH cheaper than what they were selling in the store. (The clear PVC overmold has yellowed over the years but they still work flawlessly)

PpL writes:

Okay, there is no difference in digital connections, picture quality wise. Moster cables probably are "better" in the fact that they can survive more wear and tear. ANALOG is where cables do make a SLIGHT difference. Due to interference. GO TO ncblogs.blogspot.com for all the latest info!

Crazy Canuck writes:

This is a hilarious forum... The fact of the matter is this... A cable can have all the fancy features you can dream up like gold plated, nitrous infused, carbon hyper dating, electron massaging technology, pulse wave technology, Isolinear power flux hyper mega mega sheilding, and can even be hand built by skilled atrisans in a magical underground workshop deep in the swiss alps but by the end of the day if YOUR eyes can't tell the difference then you've wasted your cash. and if your willing to pay 150 bucks for the "best" cable why stop there and go for a Transparent OPUS MM cable they have "high end" cables for everything including 23000 dollar speaker wires... no thats not a typo...

Wayde writes:

You're right Canuck!

In fact the best cables are hand made by dwarves who live deep inside the Alborz mountains, seldom seen by man. They extract only the purest pleiam-azurite ore, known to have stabilize the isolinear flux-vibrations that are found in inferior cables.

Just look at this "scientific" graph as proof!

------ / -------/

Note the flux-capacitance peak is .09% higher than the nearest competing cables.

In fact the Dwarven Alborz cables are fair trade cables made by indigenous peoples of the inner mountain range. You can tell they're hand made as evidenced by the imperfections you'll notice in the plastic moldings. Buy these baby's and we'll fly Cher out in a lab-coat with a team of engineers to help you correctly calibrate your home theater system with your new cables.

I may be kidding here but it's not far off from many of the claims out there.

Gizmo n00b writes:

I used to manage the pro audio department at Guitar Center, and we carried all kind of Monster Cable. The profit margin on these cables was ridiculous, and what's more it was a violation of our agreement with Monster Cable to give any kind of price break on their cables. That's right - no sales, no discounts, nothing. The biggest "proof" that Monster is better is THE PRICE. But the actual cost of the cable is not that much higher.

The one thing I can say about Monster is that they do in fact have an excellent lifetime guarantee on their cables. They're still not worth the money though.

Instigator writes:

Can we all just address the 800-pound elephant in the room? Monster Cable has been substituting engineering with marketing for years! The only reason it's a market leader is because it advertises heavily and has merchandised its way into becoming Best Buy's only cable brand. But the worst part is that because Monster Cable overstates the quality and performance of its HDMI cables, most people now assume that there's no difference in performance between basic, cheap HDMI cable and premium brands. If you don't believe that Monster Cable is the end-all-be-all of A/V cable (and I definitely don't), don't believe that all HDMI cable is the same. There are real differences in engineering and construction, which some of the smaller cable manufacturers actually put into their products. Do research and read magazines geared toward custom installation professionals. Get the facts, but don't let Monster Cable convince you by its inadvertently bad example that there's no difference in performance among HDMI cables.

box writes:

You should actually do your research before creating a web page. There is little accuracy to any of your claims.

Wayde writes:

Such as?

Colby C writes:

My brother used to work for Bestbuy and he told me the biggest profit maker they had in the store was Monster cable. Since he got the in store discount 5% above cost he could see the huge difference in price. The product that was the least marked up was believe it or not the DVD Movies they basically sell them at cost. Now another point to think about is years ago a stereophile guru told me as far as monster cable went for audio applications he found that lamp cord was the exact same quality and you could get like 50 feet at wal-mart for 5 to 10 bucks. I used lamp cord with my home bose speakers for years as a matter of fact still am. I don't know how good it would be for video and/or if you could find the ends to put it on but for speakers that you just trim the insulator and stick it in the back of the speaker you can't beat lamp cord.

jon writes:

Whatever your opinion of Monster HDMI cables v. cheaper HDMI cables are, I think it can safely be said that no one here is getting laid.

Jeff C writes:

Cables are Cables are Cables..... Cables carry electric current period, the longer the cable, the more resistance is applied. The only differance between analog and digital is how much info can be sent. I purchased 2 HDMI cables from ebay for 12 bucks. They work great.

Gizmo n00b writes:

What i waste of time to read that article. You mentioned nothing about the difference between high quality HDMI cables and low quality ones. You only showed the difference between Analog and Digital. The sign is not "illegal" just misleading, "monster" could just mean the incredible difference. If it does mean brands, it in no way says that they are the same cable just different brands, it just shows monster's cable versus "in the box" cable. Btw, there is a difference, i have personally seen it. i hooked up 2 different branded cables, one monster and one house brand, both were HDMI. It wasn;t an incredible difference, but there was a better picture at times. After all its called marketing. Right now where im living there is a sales tax increase going into effect in 2008. It's raising from 5% to 6%. All the car commercials are telling you to buy now to beat the 20% tax increase. Misleading yes, illegal no.

Daniel writes:

Sounds like someone overpaid for a monster cable...

Black ICE writes:

There can NEVER be any difference in picture quality in different HDMI cables. If you see a difference than it has other reasone than the cable.

Why this can be? because HDMI is transporting digital data. That means: either you have the picture as it is or you do not have any picture. The quality of the picture does not depend on the cable.

If anybody tells you there is a difference then same would also apply e. g. to network cables or firewire or usb cables.

The only difference which can be is, that the cable is so bad quality, that it does not work. Nothing more to say to that.

Andy the Hammer writes:

I've got some great cables I'd like to sell you!

zero-Kill writes:

I work at one of those Big Box stores, and I honestly tell you that what you are saying is true to a point. The scam is more in the pricing of the cables rather than the quality. The quality of the monster cables IS MUCH better than the cheaper one, thus they are more expensive, but the picture quality will not really make much difference to the average human eye. In my humbled opinion I'd just say go ahead and spend your money how you want to, whether you believe what someone tells you or not, you are gonna fight whatever conformity there is regardless of how easy it would be just to give in a pay more. Just wait for the Feb. 2009 digital cable blowout to begin, you'll have far more annoying things to pay for then.

PC helper writes:

DIGITAL vs. Analog It may of been said above, but i'll say it again. If you run analog, you will notice lines, and dots, and artifacts, and not so good sound if the source or wire isn't good. With digital on the other hand, it's either you get 100% or you get 0%. Nothing like 50% in the digital world. For those that wish to dispute this, go to your cable/satellite provider, and ask for a digital box and hook it up in your house. If you don't get picture, you wouldn't get sound. If you get picture, you will get sound and everything will be crystal clear. Again, with digital, it's either 100% or 0%

GSL writes:

The funniest thing about all this is that people actually think that HDMI was created so people could have the nicest picture imaginable. This is the marketing lie they shove upon you. Yeah, HDMI will give you a slightly nicer looking picture than an analog component (not composite) connection. But if you put two identical TVs side by side and compared the same source with the two, I'd bet most people couldn't tell the difference without getting right next to the screen and squinting at the individual pixels.

The real reason the industry wants everybody to use HDMI is quite simple: copy protection. HDMI has HDCP built in, so the content providers can decide exactly what you're allowed to do with every piece of video you watch. It was never about quality, but about corporate control over your life.

GSL writes:

Digital is digital is digital. Period. If your cables have problems with impedance, resistance, capacitance, inductance, bit skew, byte skew, length skew, electron skew, graviton propogation, tachyon surge, whatever, it does not matter. One of three things will happen:

1) The problems are not bad enough to introduce errors into the digital stream. This will happen in 99% of all cases.

2) The problems are bad enough to introduce errors into the digital stream, but ECC algorithms detect and repair the errors. This will happen in an additional 0.99% of all cases.

3) The problems are bad enough to introduce errors into the digital stream, and there are too many for ECC algorithms to correct. This will happen in about 0.01% of all cases, and will be visible as extremely noticeable blocks of corrupted video on the screen and audio dropouts. Not a slightly fuzzier picture, not dimmer colors, not a "muddier" feel (whatever that means).

Don't fall for any sort of marketing gimmick. That Monster cable might be double-insulated gold-impregnated 24AWG solid palladium wiring with patented HyperHype(tm) technology, but in the end you'll either have a perfect digital picture or you'll have severely noticeable corruption on the screen. Any other changes are the product of your overactive imagination and the placebo effect.

Gizmo Mikel writes:

I often see this similar scan at the local Best Buy with diff HD TVs, they will adjust the color and contrast on one to make the one beside it look many times better

Gizmo n00b writes:

The point of the demo you criticized was to educate the consumer by showing them an example of the picture quality differences that can be attributed to cables. In addition, since HDMI cables do not come with HD displays and source components yet composite cables do this display offers the sales or service staff an opportunity to discuss this important matter with them while pointing out one of the benefits to using an HDMI cable. If the store doesn't educate the consumer to this fact then who will? You? Or will they join the majority of HDTV purchasers who aren't able to watch true HD on their expensive new HTTV's becasue no one pointed out to them what they needed. Your "blog" will surely make them rest easy that they didn't get screwed by buying an "over priced" cable based on a "rigged" demo and an "unscrupulous" retailer in order to get the best possible picture from their expensive TV. Be resonsible and do some research. HDMI cable performances can vary significantly some being so poorly constructed that they can't pass 1080p without causing dramatic signal and picture degradation. If you were a retailer would you want consumer calls complaining to you about the picture from the cheap HDMI cable you sold them? I didn' think so.

Charlie Seattle writes:

You work for Monster don't you?

GSL writes:

If the point of the demo was to educate the consumer about the difference between composite and HDMI connections, they should've shown and labeled the two connection types. It wasn't. They were trying to say that a Monster HDMI cable showed a "cleaner" image than a cheaper HDMI cable, which is a complete and total lie. "Dramatic signal and picture degradation" does not happen with a digital signal. Either the picture is corrupted or it isn't. It is never "degraded".

Nordic writes:

That's a nice article!

Some comments (for the comments :) As said numerous times throughout the thread: In short distance, don't buy an expensive cable for your inexpensive devices.

But if one really wants to make an argument placing one cable above another the key word is: "Eye pattern". Find some inpartial test made by some magazine or whatever, I'm sure every country has it's own tech times. For starters google something like "hdmi eye pattern".

As said in the first reply: all digital is still analog. The format of a digital pulse is, forgive me if I'm wrong, a raised cosine. What that means is that that there are near-infinte amount of frequencies in each pulse.

What the eye pattern tells you is practically everything, the attenuation, the ISI (InterSymbol Interference), the noise and so on.

And you really don't have to be a geek to read it make judgements of your own: A perfect square is a perfect cable, the smaller your "eye" is, the more plausible a misinterpretation (between a 0 and 1) is.

Gizmo n00b writes:

I agree completely that the high $ cables are a waste but I would like to post a minor point about digital. Everyone has said digital is not analog but that isn't quite true. Transmission of the signal is still analog (no matter what format cable). Allow me to explain... Digital is essentially a square wave. Mathematically, a square wave is the infinite sum of the odd harmonics of a sine wave. If the transmission equipment cannot carry the higher frequencies then the squarewave gets rounded off. It is the receiver that is digital, as long as it can still distinguish the 1 or 0 signal, the "roundedness" of the signal doesn't matter. So everyone is right :-)

C. Williams writes:

Will I need hdmi cables after Feb. 2009 for my lcd tv

Industry Guy writes:

Expensive cables have been around for ever... Or since the 70's anyway. (Noel Lee) They are also a profit center for retailers. All business requires margin. With the declining TV margins and less people buying audio retailers and custom guys need accessories like cables to stay in business. I also know that if any of you reading this took a look at the data speeds required for 1080p signal (Gigs per second!) you will find that there is more information needed. What bit rate? What is the refresh rate for the output signal. What new technologies are on the horizon? If you think 1's and 0's are just 1's and 0's than why would anyone buy a computer that is "Faster" (can handle more data at once) than the next? You would just buy "The computer becuase it doesn't matter. If you were putting a long cable through the wall in your new house would you gamble with a cable that may not work in the future? If you bought a new DVD player that outputs 1080p at 120hz instead of 60hz and your cable didn't work would you be pissed? I would. If you look at all of the leading technology companies in wire you will notice they are all expensive! So, if your cheap cable works now that is fine but go ahead and pull that cable out of your wall when you buy a TV that will do 1440P at 60hz or 120hz and that cheap cable doesn't work. You are now paying to retro in of you new cable that actually works. For you dealers out there... If you want HDMI (the only cable needed besides speaker wire) to be worth nothing to your wallet than go ahead and use the cheap stuff! Good luck out there! P.S. - Support your local dealers. They need you!

Jim writes:

Saw another scam yesterday of a similar type: Side-by-side Sonys playing a Harry Potter film. This one blu-ray, that one "HD-DVD." But the HD-DVD player had the standard def disc inside. Boy, that blu-ray looks soooo much better, I guess it's worth the extra $200.

Gizmo n00b writes:

So, all of you are saying, why get the Ferrari, when the Chevy Malibu will take you from whome to work and to the club just the same? Hey, it is about QUALITY of the cable, and if you tell me that the $5 cable from new egg or other online retailers is built just as good as a Monster cable, you are STUPID!! I BUY MONSTER because the last longer over time, LIFETIME WARRANTY!!.. I have yet to buy a new optical cable because it was torn in a move, versus some of my buddies that bought the $5 cable. Just simply put, better construction!!

ManlyJack writes:

Yousir, Gizmo n00b, are truly a n00b... there is no picture quality difference between the cheapest of the cheap HDMI cable and a monster HDMI cable, i could even sticky tape some old speaker wire to the internal pins of a HDMI port and still get the same high quality picture, if not better picture than any monster cable will get, as someone previously has noted HDMI is a DIGITAL signal, its either working or its not as the signal on the cable is only of 1 of 2 states at any point in time. no matter what the resistance of the cable, if the signal is greater than a 0 the receiving end takes it as a 1. and as for the ferarri taking you to a club? yes, even a daihatsu would get you to the club just the same... and hey it comes with more than a warranty than the ferarri

HDTV Fan writes:

I had to replace a Monter XBox component video cable at the last minute this weekend because the cables came un-soldered from the connectors. This happend to 2 of the 3 component cables. Keep in mind this was plugged into my TV exactly once, and unplugged exactly once. The inner wire was so thin, I can't imagine how it ever worked. I replaced it with a $20 Mad Catz set and I saw no difference. Oh, and I'm really picky about image quality.

Gizmo n00b writes:

Eight years ago I bought all monster cables for my home audio/video system. Two years later I needed to move all the equipment, the grip portion of the connectors were turning my fingers black because they were disintegrating just by me disconnecting them. The quality was underwhelming. This was not one set of cables, it was all the Monster cabling I had. As for the integrity of the cable is concerned, I have no doubt that Monster cables are of the highest quality. I'm sure they use the finest materials. Also, have you even looked at some of the inexpensive cables out there, some look as good if not better than the more expensive brands. I've taken apart some monster cables and they look remarkably like most other cables. In the end though, unless you are running a 100 foot cable from your DVD player to your TV I highly doubt the $100 price difference is warranted from most of the expensive cables.

shameless writes:

Even if you are going on the lifetime warranty to buying monster, are you planning on going through over 20 HDMI cables by the time the next medium comes out? Sure Monster has a lifetime warranty, but HDMI isn't going to be used forever. And what if you need to run multiple HD lines? Are you going to dish out multiple hundreds of dollars just to say 'Hey, at least I've got a lifetime warranty'?

Gizmo n00b writes:

There is nothing different between a Monoprice HDMI cable and Monster except the $50 you'd pay for Monster's profit margins.

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