One of the things that makes many of us laugh around the office is when we see HDMI cables advertised with all sorts of embellishments for a ton of money. There are Gold plated and even Diamond (no joke- actual Diamond) cables ranging from $50 to $1,000 (yes, that is one THOUSAND dollars) are out there.
The companies are masters of marketing and making them seem like they will make a huge difference in our viewing experiences. The truth is that MOST of the profit a store like BestBuy or others make when they sell you something like a cheap DVD player comes from that extra cable they sell you at the last minute for $50.
I don’t claim to be an audiophile or anything close to an expert on all things HDMI, but I do know that HDMI is a digital signal. As such, it transmits One’s and Zero’s. If this is the case, what possible difference will it make if the 1’s and 0’s travel in a deluxe gold plated uber pure copper cable vs. a simple $4 cable? If you use a $4 cable and the image appears on the display – mission accomplished – all the 1’s and 0’s made it safe and sound. The image won’t be any clearer or brighter using the fancier cables.
There is some basis to having a decent quality cable, if the length of your cable needs to be longer, having heavier gauge copper helps. Again, the proof is in the pudding, if the cheapest $4 cable works when you try it, there is no reason to change it.
My favorite place for getting cheap cables is MonoPrice.com. Wide selections of every conceivable cable you might need.
So the next time you need an HDMI cable, ignore the hype and try a cheap cable and see if it works (you’re only risking $4). If it does you may have just saved a $996!
Since your existing IT person didn’t share this with you, perhaps you would consider working with the people that did. If you need a little help with your Practice, this is what MME Consulting does. Just give us a call at 866-419-1102 or check us out online at www.mmeconsulting.com.
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