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(More customer reviews)Howdy folks -- Time for another review of Cmple cables! Yay!
There is an incident that occurred recently that prompted me to write reviews of Cmple cables. This company defrauded me. They did a "bait and switch" which is a legal term that means that I paid for one thing and received another, way cheaper version of what I'd ordered.
Their response was to offer me my money back if I shipped them back at my expense and if I included every scrap of matter I'd received from them and if they inspect said goods and deign to award me my money back. Bull**** I say. Too much work. The cables do work and perform the same function as the cables I'd ordered, so what's my beef?
Here's my beef. There is a vast difference in quality between the various brands of cables. In the instance of this review, let's talk about HDMI cabling. One reviewer up top claims that the "build" is the same or better than his more expensive Radio Shack cable. Well, that may be true on the outside, where differences are negligible, but on the inside, where everything happens, this reviewer has no idea what he's talking about.
Here's my expert opinion. Expert you say? Yup. I deal with cables for a living. I've been a SMPTE member for decades. I know what it takes to send a signal from point A to point B. So, what about the Cmple HDMI cables? Well, honestly I have no idea since I've only seen a picture. However I do know something about the honesty and integrity of Cmple, and they are not to be trusted. They did as other companies have done and commissioned a manufacturer to build the cables for them and stick Cmple's name on them. What is the gauge of the wire they are using? The quality of the copper? The quality and the completeness of the shielding around each of the nine signals being sent? (some of these signals are bi-directional) How about the choice of end connectors? Cmple had dozens to choose from. Did they choose quality and longevity over their bottom line? Well, for most end users, you simply have to trust the company that commissioned those cables to be built.
I don't trust Cmple, and neither should you. The cables they sent me cost as little as one penny each (plus shipping, naturally), right here on Amazon. I paid for a premium brand with which I am familiar. Now the brand I bought ain't the best, but they're plenty good for my applications. (The brand is Hosa) They have complete shielding around their video and audio signals, and are built rugged. Their connectors are much less likely to go intermittent. The no name brand I received is pure crap that may work well for most end users, but are insufficient for my needs.
There are differences between the various HDMI cables out there. Due to the nature of the digital signals, the way it goes is that when distance is a concern they'll pretty much work, or they won't. No gradual degradations like you see with analog audio and video signals. Either the devices handshake thru the cables and establish connections, or they don't. The phenomenon "HDMI blink" often comes into play when maximum distances are approached and exceeded.
So, which cable do you pick? Monster is uniformly good, but overpriced. I've bought a few and I have zero technical complaints. If you have a good TV, a good Blu-Ray player and a decent sound system, buy Monster or better yet try to find an equivalent for around half the price or less. The things to look for are the gauge of the wire used, the quality of the shielding, the soundness of the connectors, and the overall ruggedness. Now for permanent installations ruggedness is of little concern. For short hauls up to 5 meters, Cmple's choice of 28 gauge is adequate but I prefer 26 gauge as the wires are thicker, which is a good thing here. Since this is a 15 footer, 26 gauge is more appropriate, 24 gauge is considered the best today. Their triple shielding claims are good, if true. Their gold plated connectors are fine, though gold connectors are generally a rip-off, at least in 10 years your gold plate will resist oxidation better than silver or nickel, so there's that.
As you can tell, this is a complicated matter, and for the end user to get good results a lot of trust is involved. These cables claim to be Ver. 1.3 Cat.2. Now if that's true, this is a fine cable. However I cannot trust an outfit that bait and switched me to actually deliver a cable at that spec. and at that price.
For those of you who are interested in this tech stuff, go to Wikipedia for decent if choppy explanations. I use "pinouts.ru", a Russian website, to give me no-nonsense descriptions of the actual duty of each pin of that 9 signal 19 pin connector.
So, please don't buy from Cmple. If you have modest equipment and modest means, just about any cable will do. If the signals arrive, then all's good. However for those with long cable needs, 5 meters and beyond, for those who have discerning tastes and fine full 1080p equipment, you've got to start to get choosy. Look for at the minimum version 1.3 category 2 compliant cables or better and choose a trustworthy vendor and manufacturer.
As you can tell I'd rather write reviews than pack up those damn cheap cables and send them back to Cmple. Heck, the postage would vastly exceed the value of the crap I would be packaging.
Thank you one and all for taking the time to read this. I deeply appreciate it. My purpose here is to contribute to the honesty of this website, and to weed out the dishonest merchants that sell inferior product to unsuspecting consumers.
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Cmple Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable, Black (15 feet)
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