Tartan HDMI Cable Review (50 foot)

I finally decided to buy an HDMI cable to connect my computer with my Denon receiver.

Frankly, I was a bit concerned about a 50 foot cable transmitting a high-bitrate digital signal without any loss, so I wanted the highest quality cable I could find. That cable was the Belden Series-1 HDMI cable from Blue Jeans Cable (which they sell in lengths up to 100 feet) with its special bonded-pair construction unique to Belden. It’s also the only HDMI cable manufactured in the United States. If you can find another let me know.

But at $135 for the cable plus additional costs for wall plates and 2 short cables (for running from the wall plate to my components) plus shipping and tax, I was looking at almost 200 bucks. I like quality but I also like saving money.

Blue Jeans Cable sells the highest quality HDMI cable I could find, but they also sell the lowest-cost HDMI cables anywhere. Don’t believe me? Fine. Go pay what you want for your cables; I bought a 50 foot Tartan HDMI cable for $32. That’s right. $32. There’s nothing special about this cable. It’s a 24AWG, tin-plated HDMI cable from China. Yes, I sacrificed my ideals to save a little money (actually quite a bit of money).

The checkout process annoyed me slightly. Blue Jeans Cable uses Paypal; during the process Paypal recognizes your name (if you have an account with them) and attempts to force you to use your Paypal account. It’s fairly easy to get around it; just use an alternate credit card and an alternate email address (not the one you use for Paypal). Unless, of course, you want to use Paypal. Then it’s no problem. Unfortunately, the process is slightly confusing.

The cable was shipped quickly using priority mail. I ordered it late Tuesday and it was on my doorstep on Thursday afternoon.

Both ends had little plastic caps on the ends of the cable to keep dust and debris out, although one of them had fallen off so obviously they weren’t on tight enough to begin with. The cable was coiled neatly and secured with two wire ties.

I plugged it in and . . . it worked. I’m getting beautiful high definition OTA (over the air) signals in full 720p with no data loss on my living room television. That’s impressive for a $32 cable.

I strung it through my wall (no problems there – it’s CL2 rated for in-wall installation) and had no problem getting it around corners and through tight spaces. With the more expensive cable (the Belden Series-1) tight turns would be a problem. The Series-1 is s a 22AWG cable (extremely thick) so flexibility is an issue. All this to say that even though the Tartan cable was fairly thick, it was still flexible enough to be able to install it without port savers (short, flexible HDMI cables that “save” your ports and the soldered points on the ends of extremely thick cables).

Cons

1. I hate Paypal (the ordering process can be confusing if you have a Paypal account and you don’t want to use it).
2. The small cap wasn’t on the cable end when it arrived (really a non-issue as it was packed in sealed plastic).
3. It’s made in China (not really a con as all HDMI cables in the world are made there – except the Belden HDMI cables).
4. This is a tin-plated cable (as opposed to silver which is a better conductor but honestly, in all my reading, I don’t really think it really matters with HDMI so this isn’t much of a con).

Pros

1. This cable is cheap. $32 for a 50 foot HDMI cable is practically unheard of. If you can find such a good deal elsewhere let me know.
2. Shipping was very fast for me (priority mail).
3. The cable transmits a high definition 720p signal over 50 feet without any problems whatsoever.
4. The folks at Blue Jeans Cable are knowledgeable and responsive, even if you ask lots of dumb questions (like me).
5. While the cable is thick, it’s still thin enough to be flexible so you can get through tight spots and around corners.

Final Verdict

If you want the cheapest HDMI cables on the market (that actually work) and you want to buy them from a knowledgeable, reputable dealer (e.g., Blue Jeans Cable) then these Tartan HDMI cables are a perfect buy. Am I saying a 50 foot Tartan cable will be adequate in all applications? No. If you’re trying to run a 1080p signal through the cable you might have problems. But then again, you may not.