Fucking HDMI Cables!

Sick at home today (genuinely, even though I did go out last night) I finally ordered my new TV from the comfort of my bed. I'll perhaps talk about that when I get it rather than now.

Afterwards, I went looking for a HDMI cable with a good price to quality ratio. In the time it's taken me to really be no clearer I could have earned the money to buy a mid priced cable quite comfortably.

The problem here, and this applies to a lot of technologies - knowitallism.

There are a myriad of idiots who are obsessed with explaining that because the signal is digital, the cable quality is irrelevant. It's just 0's and 1's, and they either get there or they don't. All or nothing. Everyone understands digital because somebody explained 0's and 1's at the height of the digital TV launch. They didn't actually understand how the analogue that came before it worked of course, but they're happy to be an authority on the differences.

They nail the entire point without understanding it. Yes, it is 0's and 1's, and sometimes 0's and 1's don't get there. Sometimes they get interfered with on the way. Sometimes the bit pattern changes enough to knock the whole video stream off, and sometimes just enough to distort the video or audio.

An interference laden digital stream is far less usable than the equivalently interfered analogue signal. Anybody trying to watch Sky during just the right type of rainstorm knows this.

My parents have been happily watching below par analogue TV signals at their house for 15 years. With their current aerial, they would have no chance of picking up a digital terrestrial TV signal.

Back to the point - the difference between cables that do the job is not be that important. A cheap cable of reasonable quality that delivers the bitstream flawlessly will deliver audio and video no differently to an expensive one of higher quality, but buying a really cheap cable with poor shielding, it's signal being distorted by the 10 or so other wires currently behind my TV, may actually not be a great idea.

I would say half the sites and cable reviews I read didn't understand this as well as I'm confident I already do, so why are they putting up this information, and why are they writing as if they're an authority?

I can see why some people just say "fuck it" and spend the money on the first thing they see.