CEDIA 2007 - Day 1: Us vs. Monster Cable, Sony's New Projectors and Toshiba on HD-DVD
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Manveer Wasson on September 5, 2007 11:45 PM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Monster insisted that its branding was to help the consumers decide which cable was right for them, despite one audience member warning that having so many "standards" may do more to confuse the consumer than educate him/her. We also had issues with the ratings, so we posed two questions to Mr. Lee. The first question was a desire for more technical detail on how the various speed rated cables differed from one another; Mr. Lee seemed to imply that the thickness of the "pipe" is what determined how much bandwidth you could send down a single HDMI cable, we wanted to know more. Unfortunately, our request was not met, Mr. Lee said that there are too many factors to take into account to answer such a question here but listed a number of factors such as how the cables are cut, connector assembly and distinct eye requirements of higher bandwidth HDMI.
Much to our surprise, Mr. Lee did answer our next question. We stated that cable "speed" and the ability to transmit a signal was directly related to cable length, but we wondered how fast the lower speed rated cables would be at shorter distances. Take the lowest end Standard Speed HDMI cable, Mr. Lee mentioned that at 2m it would be capable of transmitting around 12Gbps of data - nearly as much as Monster's high end Ultimate High Speed HDMI cable. Mr. Lee requested that we didn't quote him exactly because he didn't know the specific bandwidth rating at 2m off the top of his head, so don't take the 12Gbps figure to heart - but we would suspect that the actual number is somewhere around there.
The point being that Monster's high end cables are definitely necessary for very long cable runs, but most consumers aren't installing their HD-DVD/Blu-ray players more than 1 - 2 meters away from their TVs, where these ultra expensive cables are not necessary at all. In our opinion, Monster would be doing the consumer a greater service if it simply replaced speed ratings with length ratings: e.g. buy cable X if you need 0 - 10m, cable Y for 11 - 30m, etc...
Noel's counter-argument to our length rating proposition was that customers could buy these expensive HDMI cables today and be future proof for higher bandwidth implementations of HDMI that may come down the road. Our bet is that you'd still be better off buying good, cheap HDMI cables today and replacing them when necessary or that the HDMI connector would end up getting replaced before the time you'd need to upgrade your cables.
We did appreciate Mr. Lee's honesty in stating the futility of using even Monster's own high end HDMI cables for short runs, we just want to see less confusing marketing to consumers who will inevitably be pushed towards Monster or other expensive cables.
In order to compete with no-name cable manufacturers, Monster will also begin selling a HDMI cable in a box which is unrated, not "certified" but competitive with other cheaper cable available on the market.
Monster also introduced its Cable for Life Performance Guaranteed program; if your 1000-series (Ultimate High Speed) cable becomes obsolete because of a change in spec, Monster will replace it free of charge. Again, depending on the length of cable you're buying, you'd probably be better off simply buying cheaper cables when you need them rather than attempting to future proof your cables. It's sort of like an extreme case of the argument for purchasing SLI ready motherboards/video cards.
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leexgx - Friday, September 7, 2007 - link
my higher end pcs i sell come fitted with conbo BD Reader and an dvd-Rw buner and an 24" Wide monitor to support that as well (1920x1200 screen/1080p/HDCP)combo BD Read/dvd-RW drives are £140 (not looked at hd-dvd prices) once thay get to better price i fit them as standered on my med range pcs
burner for BD or HD are like £300
considering the buner but depends on customer
leexgx - Friday, September 7, 2007 - link
online stores only seem to have BD/dvd combo and BD buners so hd-dvd cant realy be pushed yet on the PC side if there is lack of an drive (good for BD then)compareing them disk size HD-dvd 15gb/30gb and BD 25gb/50gb, i not buy an HD-dvd buner
Locutus465 - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
By focusing on laptops you have the advanatage that it becomes more likely users will look their laptop up to their TV... After being wowed by the quality of HD off their laptop, they might start considering also investing in a stand alone player so they can forgo the inconvinience of having to mess around with wires and cables all the time just to watch HD movie content.Owls - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
to use adult titles as a selling point.. I don't know if that's a joke or something sad.mcnabney - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
The argument is valid. The marketing of adult content (previously only available on film) for home viewing on the VHS standard is considered one of the contributors to the victory of VHS over Beta. Recording time length and cheaper players also had an impact.Locutus465 - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Perhaps it's just me but I think the confidence sony is showing right now is the first step in their down fall... HD is still very much an up and coming market, just getting ready to make it down to regular consumers (i.e. to the point that single guys like me who aren't rich are finally getting HD-TVs, families are next). Here is where price/quality really matters, and that is where HD-DVD is delivering compared to blueray. Sony is completely off their rocker to think they've any where near won.AlexWade - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
HD DVD won CEDIA with the announcement that HD DVD will be pushed by Sunday Night Football. Monster is right about consumer ignorance (but wrong about their overpriced cables). Most consumers still have little clue about HD DVD and Blu-Ray. A lot of people watch football. And it comes at a time when a sub $200 HD DVD will be entering the market. Blu-Ray better counter, or else Blu-Ray will become What?-Ray.AlexWade - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Oh, and one more thing. Neither side has won the MAJORITY of average consumers. Blu-Ray, according to Sony, has won the enthusiasts. But those are the vast vast minority. The winner of this format war is the one that gets the majority.Locutus465 - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Blueray has won the segment of customers that think higher price tag some how means better HD quality from your DVD player... It won't take the average consumer long to figure out that HD-DVD gives you the same quality at a much lower price point...tuteja1986 - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Well i bought a 360 external drive and removed it from its casing and installed it on pc via mini ATAPI to IDE cable ;)A cheap $150 HD-DVD drive that works great on my PC.