Widescreen Gaming Forum

What is the difference between Gold plated HDMI cables and the standard cheaper HDMI cables? I had a standard HDMI cable but i needed a longer one. So i bought a new one that was gold plated. It is still shipping in but id like to know whether it makes a big difference compared to my old one.

Depends how long, but below 5m and maybe even 10m the brand is not even worth considering IMO.

It has been shown time and time again, at short distances because digital is digital, an expensive/ fancy HDMI cable does nothing. But a more expensive (only if higher quality) cable can make a difference between a watchable picture, and no picture at all at 10/15m or more.

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The SNR decreases the longer the signal has to travel, so you should get as short a cable as possible and/or move your device closer to your receiver. I generally try to use a cable no longer than 3 metres and stay away from those longer than 5. Within these distances you really won't tell the difference in quality between materials. That being said, gold-plated is always better, but more expensive usually does not mean better.