Do Expensive Monster HDMI Cables Work Better Than Cheap Generic HDMI Cables?

Written by: MelissaViews • Edited by: Rhonda Callow
Updated Jul 1, 2011 • Related Guides: HDTV

Wanting to compare expensive monster HDMI cables to cheap low priced generic HDMI cables. Is it worth it to spend more money on monster cables? Or should you go with a cheap brand of HDMI cables?

Monster HDMI

Monster HDMI Cables or Cheap HDMI Cables?

When I first picked up my HDTV I was clueless about HDMI cables. I had no idea what it was, or what it would offer, or why I even needed one. I was told by the salesman who sold me my HDTV that I would definitely need to pick up some HDMI Cables. Seeing that my HDTV also came packaged with a Playstation 3, I was told I would need to buy 2 cables, or I could switch one cable back and forth between my cable box and my Playstation 3, which would work well enough, but prove to be annoying in the long run.

Seeing that I'm the lazy type, I wanted 2 HDMI Cables. One to plug in to the back of my HD ready cable box, and one for my Playstation 3.

The salesman showed me a rack of all sorts of HDMI Cables. First he started with some cheap looking ones that were wrapped in plastic. They looked cheap, and they were cheap. $10.00 for a 4 foot HDMI no frills brand. It seemed good to me! Seemed great even! So I grabbed two, four foot HDMI Cables priced at $10.00 each.

Then he stopped me. He pointed at the Monster HDMI Cables. These cables were nicely packaged in a plastic case, had a sick looking logo, and reeked of expense. Sure enough, one Monster Cable would come to $75.00!

I gagged. I just spent $1,700 on the HDTV, and now this clown wants me to spend close to $200 more for 2 more HDMI cables! He must be crazy. I shook my head and said, no thanks.

He gave it one last final attempt to up-sell the Monster Cables, he went on to tell me that they would offer a clearer picture quality on not only my regular viewing, but also that the gaming picture quality on the Playstation 3 would also be much better.

I declined yet again, and went happily away with my generic HDMI Cables. I assumed they would work just as good as the $75.00 Monster HDMI Cables.

Man, I was dead wrong!

The Generic HDMI Cables
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I got home, and went right away to setting up my HDTV. The final installation process was of course plugging in the no frills HDMI Cables I got for $10.00.

When I powered on the HDTV, do you know what happened? I got a white noise type fuzz all over the screen, with horrible grainy picture quality. I rattled the HDMI Cables around hoping that it was just a loose signal or something like that. Unfortunately the fuzz never went away. No matter how many times I plugged, and unplugged the cables in and out of the HDTV and Cable box, the quality was horrendous and I could not even view what was on the HDTV.

After spilling out nearly $2,000 on an HDTV, you could imagine how I felt. I wanted to cry, I thought there was something wrong with the HDTV. Before blaming the HDTV for the crappy quality, I tried the other HDMI Cable that I bought.

I plugged it in to an available HDMI port on the HDTV, and then into the Cable box. I got the exact same result.

The Monster HDMI Cables
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I made my way all the way back to Best Buy to return the generic HDMI cables. I told the same salesman who sold me the HDMI Cables about the fuzz and and crap quality of the picture.

He looked at me with the 'I told you so' look, and then went on about the Monster HDMI cables once again. I had it coming, and I knew I would end up coming back to the store to pick up the Monster Cables I left behind prior.

Regardless though, I was mad that these cheap generic HDMI Cables gave off such awful picture quality and I was mad that I had to waste my time driving all the way back to the store to spend yet again more money.

Mostly though, I was baffled how not one, but two cables worked the same way. I'm a reasonable person, and I thought that the first HDMI cable was defective, but for both to work so horribly was just odd.

Seeing that I was pretty livid about having to drive all the way back less than an hour after my purchase, he sold me 2 Monster HDMI cables at $100 for them both, which was a deal considering they were originally priced at $75.00 each!

Once home, I went straight to the HDTV and plugged in the Monster HDMI Cable. One end to an HDMI port on the HDTV, and one end to the HD ready cable box.

The picture quality sparked up immediately and it was superb. My HDTV came to life with beautiful blazing colors, sharp gorgeous quality in picture, and I was most pleased. I was ready to sit on my rump and enjoy my high definition experience! Oh la la!

I plugged the Playstation 3 in using the other Monster HDMI Cable, and sure enough the picture quality was just as smoking hot!

So to Answer Your Question on Which HDMI Cables to Use...

With the experiences I have personally encountered when it comes to the two different types of HDMI Cables, I would have to whole heartedly recommend Monster HDMI Cables over generic cheap ones!

I had my trial with buying the cheap generic brand and my result was cheap and generic; not once, but twice. I don't care how many articles I come across online stating that Monster brand is a rip off. This was not at all my experience. The Monster HDMI Cables brought my HDTV to life, while the generic HDMI Cables gave me fuzzy low quality picture results.