The Rise and Fall of a Cable Empire

Almost on a weekly basis someone asks me, "What happened to Offspring?" It's a good question.

Offspring Technologies was the company that I founded with my friend Shawn. It was back in 2001. The market was not good and tech companies especially were hurting because the dot com bubble had burst. I don't think anyone said to us "This is a great time to start a company!" There were many nay-sayers. In fact, the first two nay-sayers were the other two would-be partners in the company. Curtis Computer products was going out of business. Shawn and I had been let go, and these two other guys, Jason and Scott were going to be let go soon. Shawn and I were both in sales, Scott was the techie guru, and Jason was the finance guy. Shawn and I thought it would be a good team with which to start the company. But after our initial meeting in my home at the kitchen table, Jason and Scott walked saying that they didn't think the company would fly. They found employment elsewhere and moved on. Shawn was unemployed, and wanting to get going immediately. I was employed at another cable company, having been let go from Curtis several months prior to this meeting. So I had to decide just how much faith I had in this little start up. Granted, the odds were not with us. But there would be a window of opportunity with Curtis closing its doors. And someone would get the business in the void that Curtis was to leave. Could Offspring do it? Offspring was an "Offspring" of Curtis, and Curtis had acquired System Connection, the company that Shawn and I had originally worked for previous to Curtis' acquisition. So it was born. I decided that I would leave my good paying job to venture in the world of self-employment.

The early months were very hard. We didn't pay ourselves a dime. We kept putting everything back into the company. This is typical of small under-funded start-ups. It's also why many fail. They don't have the capital to keep going with out a paycheck. Six months into it, we hit it big with a large OEM account that I landed. It breathed air into the sails of the company, and from then forward, I felt like we would make it.

Later, we landed a huge distributor, that also brought a lot of badly needed cash into the company. We were on our way. This is when we really started to establish a brand. Selling to OEM accounts, you are not a brand. You in fact are brand-less. You are simply a factory supplying cables to the original equipment manufacturer. Your company name is not on the cable, the packaging, etc. You are transparent. To the end-user, you don't exist. With a distributor, we were private labeling all of or cables with our logo, our name on the packaging, our name on the boxes, etc. All of a sudden our products, branded "Offspring" were all over the Internet. Computer dealers and dot coms were selling our products. It was really exciting.

We eventually established our self as the leading computer cable brand in the college bookstore market. This was a real good niche for us and we ended up dominating the market. We surpassed billion-dollar competitors. There is something to be said for the small company, or the underdog. People like to support you. As long as your product is decent and your service is decent, people want to get behind you and help you succeed. No one cares to help the billion dollar company get richer.

Three years later we had a nice sized small company. We had done over a million dollars in sales, pretty much $2-3 at a time. The real underlying reason for what happened next was simply a difference in vision. I had a vision for the company that was to more or less stay small and run it until we retire. My business partner though had a different vision. He wanted out and wanted the stability of working for a larger company. There were too many headaches running a small business, especially one as complex as ours. I was not crazy about the idea of selling, but I could not see an amicable way of separating our company so that we could both be happy. We found a company that wanted to buy us out, and we sold it.

They made many promises and although I now have an MBA, this experience is worth 10 MBAs. I should make you pay for this advice. Here is my advice on selling your company:

1. GET EVERY LITTLE DETAIL IN WRITING & HAVE A GOOD ATTORNEY LOOK IT OVER.
2. GET CASH UP FRONT. NO LONG-TERM DEALS.

These two steps would have really changed the outcome for me. But, the promises that were made by this company, were not in writing. Also, they were supposed to keep the Utah location, but later decided to move everything to Florida. And, yes, you guessed it, I didn't get the cash up front. It was a 10 year plan... and some how 6 months into it, they decided that things weren't going as they had planned, so they weren't going to pay another dime. How can they do that you say? Refer to #1. They had written up the contract to favor them. Things continued to get worse and eventually they put pressure on me, threatened to sue me, and eventually forced me out of the company. Nice story eh?

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Well this all was a horribly costly learning experience. I had put everything into this company. I felt like Dr. Norman Osborn (The Green Goblin in the Spider Man movie) when the board forces him out. Remember how mad he was? Well, I didn't turn into an evil villain... although... hmmm.

So a costly mistake it was. My real MBA didn't cost me this much! But, the story does have a happy ending. Two years later almost to the day, I am now running an offspring of Offspring, Professional Cable. This company has now replaced Offspring in many ways and I'm a 100% owner. Business is good, and growing rapidly every month.

So what did happen to Offspring? Well, this company continued to run Offspring into the ground and later sold it to another company in Michigan. They bought it for pennies on the dollar. They too continued to mess things up more, and well, go to website and its no longer there. It is in the ruins of cyberspace. The company does not exist. Like the ruins of the Roman Empire, you wonder what Hubris might have caused this fall. I'm not sure. But, I'm glad that a new empire is being built to fill the dreams of this cable guy.

Until next time
The Cable Guy
http://www.professionalcable.com/

HDMI Cables In Orem, Utah - Close to Salt Lake and Provo

This post is simply to inform those of you out there who are looking for an HDMI cable (for your new HDTV) that you really shouldn't go pay full retail at Circuit City, or any other big box store, because you will pay a "Monster" price for those fancy packaged cables. You can order them online at http://www.whatacable.com/ or pick them up at will call in Orem. Their address is:

77 South Mountain Way Drive
Orem, UT 84058

They are open Monday through Friday
8:30 AM to 5 PM.

You will save at least 50% on this purchase, yet still get a high-quality, HDMI certified cable with gold contacts, backed by a lifetime warranty. These are manufactured by Professional Cable, and they are designed for professional installers and integrators who put these into million-dollar homes that have exquisite home theaters. These are not the "cheapy" low-quality cables that you find on e-bay or Wal-Mart. They just don't have the shiny clamshell package that takes an industrial saw to cut through, and they don't have the expensive price tag. You'll be glad you saved yourself a lot of money. Just think of all the popcorn, Milk Duds and Diet Coke that you'll be able to buy with that saved money!

WhataCable! supplies HDMI cables from 12 inches all the way up to 150 feet. Give them a call. 801-765-4617.

Buy your cable, and enjoy the movie!

Until Next Time

The Cable Guy
http://www.professionalcable.com/

The Dream Ticket - Obama and McCain

The Economist had an interesting article in its July 19-25 issue. It tried to nail down the best choice for both presidential candidates.

The article mentions that fourteen Vice Presidents have gone on to be Presidents of the United States. It's an important decision. The right VP in this race seems very critical to the outcome and both candidates are holding their cards close to their chest, hoping in this VP chess match, that the other will make the move first so that they can pick the best VP to counter the other's choice.

The Economist suggests that both candidates should ere on the side of caution. McCain, it says, "is the oldest candidate (71) in American history. He needs to appoint someone who could instantly step into his shoes" It goes on to say that he must compensate for his fatal weakness, economics.

Obama also has may weaknesses, most of which is his lack of experience and he also has trouble connecting with blue-collar America.

The Economist says that McCain has an easier choice. Their choice (and mine) is Mitt Romney, a youthful-looking 60-year-old with plenty of executive experience and a businessman with Wall-Street credibility. They go on to say "True, he is a Mormon with unreal hair, and he and Mr McCain don't like each other much. But running for the White House is not a road trip."

Romney stands out among the "short-list" as the obvious choice for the Dream Ticket for the Republican Party. He fills in where McCain falls short. Like Dick Cheney was for George W. Bush, he would almost be a co-president.

Obama's choice is not as clear. Hillary Clinton would be a disaster. The Economist says, "It would spell dysfunction in the White House.. and might suggest weakness on Obama's part." They run through a number of possibilities, leaving Mr. Warner, Bayh, and Kaine stating that they might be a little dull, but a boring white man may be exactly what Obama needs.

I think that the Economist has nailed it here. McCain is extremely weak when it comes to the economy. He is strong on the war in Iraq, but who is talking about that anymore? Energy Independence and the Economy are the two flags this camp needs to fly high. Let Romney hold the Economy flag and McCain hold the Energy Independence flag.

Obama can't choose Hillary. It just won't work. Both Obama and Hillary will always be overshadowed by Bill, and his reputation will follow them through the presidency. Obama needs to break away from that reputation. But he needs someone on the Democratic Party ticket to give him the experience he lacks. He needs his Dick Cheney to be a co-president of sorts to fill in where he is weak.

I'm not crazy about McCain. In fact, I, like many other conservatives out there, may not vote for McCain without a strong conservative VP running mate. Without Romney, I may just end up writing Romney in. McCain alone doesn't stand quite up to the conservative values that I'm looking for. And as a business owner, who is not fond of being over-taxed, I can't vote for Obama. So in my opinion, without Romney on this ticket, I'm without a party.

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“Un-politically Correct Comments” or “The Plainness of Their Words”

*Occasionally I will blog about things that pertain to my personal beliefs, my religion, or simply my opinion. These blogs are not affiliated or endorsed by my company. This is one of those blogs. It is also written more for an LDS (Mormon) audience.*

Today on my morning commute to le bureau, I was listening to the Bob Lonsberry show on AM radio. Bob was asking for thoughts comments on a situation where a father & husband, told his wife of many years that he had decided that he was gay. And he had decided that he first knew he was gay when he was about 9 years old. And he was thinking of telling his two oldest children (ages 9 and 11) that he was gay, but that he and their mom would likely still stay together. He said that he would probably stay with his wife and not look for any one else. But, he had recently realized the leaders of the Church were wrong when it came to same-gender attraction because they didn’t approve of it. It wasn’t his fault he said because God made him that way. Lastly he said that he had a rock-solid testimony of the gospel, the Book of Mormon. Riiiiight.

Well, I wanted to call in and opine about this, but I couldn’t get through. I may not have even called the right number. Hint to Mr. Lonsberry, “Say your number a little slower and maybe repeat it once in awhile!”

In any case, this is what I wanted to say this morning.

I have a confession to make. I too have a problem like this gentleman. I have an opposite-gender attraction. Yes. I’m embarrassed to say this. I know it must be shocking. I am indeed attracted to the opposite sex.

I first noticed my opposite-gender attraction when I was around 8 years old. I however lived a normal childhood, despite this problem. I went on and served an honorable full-time 2-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church). I served in Bordeaux, France. I would occasionally see a beautiful woman, (yes, imagine that, a beautiful woman in France!) and my opposite-gender attraction would tempt me, but I suppressed it and put it out of my mind. I later married, and had a wonderful family with four children. But I knew that I still had this opposite-gender attraction.

So I think that I should confront my wife with this and admit, when I see a beautiful woman, I am attracted to her. I can’t help it. God made me this way. So I should probably tell my children about my attraction…the two oldest anyway, because they are 8 and 10 and should handle this OK. I will probably stay with my wife, but I’m not sure. I know I made all those covenants in the temple and all, promising to be faithful for time and all eternity… but then this whole opposite-gender attraction thing came along. I thought that I’d magically be cured after getting married in the temple. I guess I too must now need to question the leaders of the Church because they do not approve of me fornicating with other women, even though I clearly have this desire to. You know, I have this opposite-gender attraction that God gave me, so really, what else can I do? Of course I have a rock-solid testimony, just not about adultery, keeping covenants, and being a good father, and maybe some other things that I will decide at my will and convenience if they jive with how I want to live my life with my problem of opposite-gender attraction.

OK, now as you know I’m being facetious here. But, it sounds so ridiculous when you change the attraction from same-sex to opposite-sex. Of course it’s not OK to act on either of those feelings. Most men do have opposite-sex attractions even after years of marriage. So if you have gay tendencies, boo hoo. Why should you get a free-pass to ignore all the commandments just because you have same-sex attraction? We all have our temptations, and like or not, there are commandments. God has His laws. And just because you don’t like them because you can’t go off and do anything you want, well, welcome to the club! I’m bound to the same laws, and I’ll tell you what, I have every bit as much temptation as you gay folks. (or you folks with gay tendencies). I don’t believe for a second that your desires are any stronger than my desires.

In summary, we all must live within the bounds God has laid for us. If you don’t live within these bounds, you are not in accordance with God’s commandments. That is the truth. Some take the truth to be hard because of the plainness of the words. Well my brothers and sisters, this life is a test for us all. We all have our temptations. I love my wife, and I don't want to hurt her. I'm attracted to my wife, so it's all good. I love my children, and don't want to hurt them. I believe that we are here for a purpose. That's where that whole Plan of Salvation thing comes in and families can be together forever. We do have a prophet here luckily to guide the Church and teach us the will of the Lord. The scriptures are clear. The Book of Mormon especially is clear. The Ensign and General Conference words are even clearer. Read "The Family -A Proclomation to The World." We know what we are supposed to do. Look in your heart and pray about it. Be ye not deceived.

Until Next Time
The Cable Guy

Family Home Evening Song

Tonight we had our family home evening. This is something that Mormon's are instructed to do each Monday night. We are supposed to set this night aside from work and play and even church activities, and spend the night with the family. We get the family together for a spiritual message or a short lesson, we read the scriptures, we say an opening and closing prayer and have an opening and closing song. Usually we have a treat at the end.

Tonight for the closing song we sang "If you chance to meet a frown" a favorite Mormon primary song that the kids love. I spontaneously I kept singing and made up a new verse.

If you chance to meet a clown
Do not let him stay
Quickly kick him out the door
And scream all the way.
(cause clown's are creepy of course, especially if you chance to meet him in your house)

As you can imagine this got the whole family laughing because it is supposed to be a cute song:

If you chance to meet a frown
Do not let it stay
Quickly turn it upside down
and smile the frown away

Leave it to me to get the kiddies all wound up and irreverent right before the closing prayer.

We are now making chocolate chip cookies to take to a couple neighbors.

Gotta run!

Until Next Time
The Cable Guy
www.professionalcable.com

Frenchy Food - My favorite recipes

I loved my time living in France. I especially loved the food. I have a hand written recipe book that I had kept back in 1991-1993, and it's getting worn. So this post is simply my recipe book. Feel free to try them. I wouldn't have written them down if I didn't like them. There is a mix of recipes that I discovered in France, and recipes that were sent from home of things that I missed. You really start to crave things that you took for granted back home. (Like peanut butter). Some have European measurements and others U.S. I’m just copying them the way they were written.

Never Fail Pie Crust

4 cups flour
2 cups shortening
1 cup boiling water
1 Tsp baking powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
Add hot water to shortening and then add flour, salt, and baking powder, then mix.

Snicker Doodles
2 ¾ Cups Sifted Flour
½ Tsp. Salt
1 ½ Cup Sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 cups soft butter
2 eggs

4 tsp. Cinnamon
5 Tbsp Sugar

Mix and sift flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cream the butter (mix it) and add 1 ½ cup sugar gradually making it fluffy.
Add beaten eggs and mix
Add sifted dry ingredients, gradually mixing in.
Chill in refrigerator
Mold dough into small balls
Using mixture of cinnamon and sugar, roll dough ball in it.
Bake about 2 inches apart on un-greased baking sheet at about 400 degrees for ab0ut 10 minutes
Store and hide from companion.

Root Beer

Root beer is generally legal in the Mormon Faith, but Elder Johnson and I made a huge batch that started to ferment. It was an accident that it started to ferment on us and we tried to drink it all very quickly, but the fermenting root beer combined with us drinking large quantities was probably not a good idea. Now I’m not saying we got drunk, but I’m not not saying we did either. It was more of an innocent root beer tipsiness.

2 ½ Cups Sugar
¾ yeast cake
½ bottle root beer extract
1 gallon water
Mix together
Set in warm place for 4 hours
Then get it into the fridge (the part we didn’t do because we had mass produced many gallons and had a small fridge)

Rochers
3 egg whites
250 grams of sugar
250 grams of almond powder or coconut powder (or half and half)
first add sugar then the egg whites in the sauce pan and mix well
Stir over low flame constantly until sugar dissolves
Take off flame
Do not let whites cook
Add substance (almond powder, etc.) and mix well
Form balls
But on buttered sheet
Cook at low temp. in oven for 15 minutes

Chi Chis
2 cups of flour
add hot water to make thick pate
Deep fry in long shape like a hot dog
Roll in cinnamon and sugar

Poubelles
Fry hamburger
Cut up green pepper, onion, (red and yellow peppers if available) and fry with hamburger
Add in Vache Qui Rit (laughing cow cheese) about 10 triangles
Add in tomato paste, water, salt, and pepper
Mix it all together in the pan
Cut a baguette (French bread) in half and hallow out the middle
Put the mix into a hollowed out baguette

Lovey Truc (Elder Loveland’s stuff)
Put oil into fry pan, enough to cover the bottom of the pan
Heat the pan
Break up spaghetti noodles and brown them in the pan in the oil
Add hamburger and onion or ham
Add rice and cook until the rice is white
After all is cooked, add a can of corn and simmer for 1 minute
Then add to cans of water (you haven’t added any water till this point)
Continue to add water until rice is cooked
Let is simmer
Remove lid, let water boil out
Mix 1-2 eggs together in a separate bowl
Pour over stuff in pan and mix until cooked
Serve with chop sticks, soy sauce

Breakfast truc (breakfast thing) from Sister Ray
Cook some rice
Add sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla and stir into rice
Cook for 8 minutes with rice
Mix in peaches.
Serve hot or cold

Another Breakfast truc from Sister Ray

Smash up some fruit like peaches(1/2 cup or so)
Add to fat free fromage blanc or fat free yogurt
Mix in some cinnamon and sugar to taste

Rice a Roni a la Elder Rusch

1 cup rice (cook it)
1 cup small broken up spaghetti noodles – fry in butter on the stove until browned
Add 2 cups of water to browned noodles
Add a bouillon cup (chicken or beef)
Boil till water evaporates in pan
Add rice in before the water has completely evaporated
Mix and serve with some salt and pepper

Rice Crispis
½ cup butter
1 package of marshmallows (try finding these in France)
5 cups of rice crispies (try finding these in France)
Melt butter in large saucepan
Add in marshmallows
Stir constantly until melted
Remove from heat
Add rice crispies
Spread on to buttered pan
Cool and cut

Meat Loaf (Grandma Alldredge)
1 package of hamburger
1 egg
1 small onion
½ cup bread or cracker crumbs
Mix all together & put in a baking dish
Cover with tomato sauce and bake

Spanish Noodles (Mom)
Brown 1 lb. of hamburger
Add 1 medium onion cut up
Add 1 bell pepper cut up
Then drain off grease
Mix in ½ cup chili sauce
Mix in ½ water
Top with 2 cups of noodles
Add 1 large can of tomatoes (1 quart)
Add 1 teaspoon of parsley flakes
Add ¼ cup grated cheese
Cover, cook until noodles are soft (1/2 hour)

Potato Salad for 2 people (Grandma Alldredge)
4 potatoes cooked & chopped
1 tsp. salt
Boil 2-3 eggs (hard)
1 small onion chopped
1 cup mayonnaise, enough to cover potatoes
1 tsp. mustard mixed with mayo

Macaroni Salad (Grandma Alldredge)
1 ½ cup macaroni cooked and cooled
2-3 hard boiled eggs
1 small onion diced (this might be a green onion)
Add baby shrimp or tuna
Add Mayonnaise with some mustard and mix into salad

Potato Cheese Soup (Gavin Duckworth, though I often took credit for this soup because I added hamburger to it to J-manonize it – and to make Gavin mad)
6 potatoes in a pot
1 tsp salt
Peal and cut into chunks
Boil until tender
In another pan while the potatoes are cooking, make the sauce
1 Tablespoon salt
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup butter
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp onion salt
Melt butter & stir in the other ingredients (the potatoes are still cooking in the other pot)
Add enough milk until it makes a thick gravy.
Turn off burner and add 1 ½ cups of grated cheddar cheese
8 oz. of sour cream
Stir until the cheese is melted
Add the sauce to the potatoes, water, and all. Stir till blended and creamy.
That’s all. You’ll love this soup.
Now if you want to J-Manonize it, you also add in some cooked ground hamburger. It is better that way, in my humble opinion. Though most things on earth are better with either hamburger or bacon.

Best Brownies On Earth – Elder Sim
(dry ingredients)
2 cups flour
1 cup cocoa (Nestle Quick is preferred in France. It’s not real dark)
1 ½ tsp salt
1 package of the pink package chemique (I’m pretty sure this is baking powder)
Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl.

(wet ingredients)
4 eggs
1 ½ cup oil (melted butter tastes the best)
2 cups of sugar
1 package of vanilla (probably the same as a teaspoon in the U.S.)
Mix all wet ingredients in one bowl
Slowly stir in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring constantly to avoid clumps.
Pour into baking pan and bake
Cook at 4 ½ for ½ hour (In France 4 ½ is probably 375 degrees)

Yogurt Cake – Elder Johnson
Mix each time you add something. Use the yogurt cup for measuring everything else.
Add 1 Yogurt (personal Yoplait size) (whatever kind you want, plain, strawberry, blueberry, etc.)
½ Yogurt cup of oil
½ yogurt cup of milk
3 eggs
a pinch of salt
2 full yogurt cups of sugar
1 package of vanilla (1 tsp. vanilla)
3 heaping yogurt cups of flour
Package of levre chemique (baking powder, maybe 1 tsp.)
Grease pie pan/cake pan with butter and sprinkle flour over greased pan
Bake on # 6 (probably 350-400 degrees in the US)
Add fruit, coconut, etc. for flavor
No frosting required. They don’t do that in France really.

Les Crepes – J-Man’s crepes taken from several comps. and added my touch
1 ½ cup flour
Tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
Mix dry ingredients
Add to wet ingredients
2 cups of milk
1-2 eggs
Mix wet ingredients in separate bowl before adding dry ingredients
After ingredients are mixed well (stirring constantly as you add the dry ingredients to avoid lumps) grease the crepe pan (or regular frying pan)
I use a paper towel and fold it up, and dip it into a little bowl of olive oil, then grease the pan with the paper towel. I do this between every 2 crepes.

Use a ½ cup to poor the batter onto the hot crepe pan, tip the crepe pan to cover the entire pan. Watch the crepe to see when the one side is slightly browned/cooked. Loosen the edges with a butter knife or spatula, and then flip it. (You can try to turn it with the spatula, but it wouldn’t be the French way) Cook is slightly on the 2nd side. Put onto a plate and add toppings such as Nutella, fresh strawberries, whip cream, butter, and sugar.

Rice Salad
Cooked rice, chilled
2-3 tomatoes cut up
1 avacado cut up
1 can corn, drained
3-4 boiled eggs
Add all the ingredients together. Pour Vinaigerette sauce over it.

Vinaigrette Sauce (Elder Stokes)
½ Tsp Mustard (tres fort) Stronger the better
½ Tsp pepper
Add vinegar and olive oil to taste, about ½ and ½

Now I’m hungry after copying these all down. I think that I'll make dinner.

Bon appetite
The Cable Guy
www.professionalcable.com

The ins and outs of HDMI cables

The most common question I get asked is, "Is there a difference between all the HDMI cables out there?" This is often followed by, "It's so confusing because there seems to be such a variety in the costs." If you are frustrated and confused by the myriad of HDMI cables on the market, stay tuned.

The answer to the question is simply, "Yes." There is a difference to all these cables when it comes to HDMI. If you are talking about a PS/2 keyboard cable, or a DB9 serial cable, there are a few differences, but generally, whatever you get will work because there is not a lot of date being transferred. However, HDMI is a very complex, high-speed, high-tech cable designed to carry a lot of data, both video and audio simultaneously, and there are certain characteristics which need to be met in order to comply with HDMI specifications. HDMI has specified how an HDMI cable should be manufactured. If you comply with these specifications, you should be OK. However, there are factories that try to cut corners by using less shielding or thinner wire gauges. This is when you run into trouble because you will not get true HDMI performance from these cables. So, in this sense, you get what you pay for. Does this mean that you need to go buy the most expensive cable you can find to get the best performance? No. This also is not necessary. You’ll get great performance from cables like “Monster” at the big retail outlets, but you are paying for a lot of fancy packaging, marketing, and “fluff” or “bling” that does not affect performance. Unless you’ve got money to burn, your cables don’t need bling.

As an AV installer, or a professional audio video integrator, you simply want to make sure that you are consistently getting the best quality cables at a fair price (the best value for your money). You need to partner with a manufacturer like Professional Cable that manufactures pro-grade cables, without all the extra gold monster “bling”. If you are looking to connect an HDTV at home, you can turn to WhataCable! for your cable needs. Both Professional Cable (for resellers, distributors, and professional installers) and WhataCable! (for home users) offer a lifetime warranty on high-quality HDMI certified cables.

We ran into this same problem back in the 90’s with SCSI cables. There were only so many short-cuts you could take with a SCSI cable before it affected the performance. Then later you had factories trying to use really thin wire on USB cables, and they couldn’t obtain true USB 2.0 speeds because of poor shielding or sub-par components or wire gauge. There are a lot of things that go into the quality of the cable during the manufacturing process. These are copper cables, so the copper must be of good quality. They have to meet the AWG that is specified for the technology. They are susceptible to EMI (interference from electricity) and data loss because of poor shielding. They require an aluminum foil shield and in addition to that, a copper braided shield. This is all very costly, especially with the shortage of copper and rising costs of copper and PVC. So again, factories will try to take short cuts. Aluminum braiding can replace the copper braid shield, but strict testing and quality control must take place to make sure that there is a sufficient shield to pass EMI testing.

Hopefully this clears up the question, “Is there a difference between HDMI cables?” and “Which HDMI cable should I buy?” You don’t want to be left with a fuzzy screen or loss of that crisp clear picture that you saw at Circuit City when you bought the HDTV. At the same time, you don’t want to pay the outrageous price for a tricked out HDMI cable that will give you no more clarity than the one that costs half the money at http://www.whatacable.com/ After all, these are the cables that the professionals are using to install the mega-home theaters that you see in the homes of the Rich and Famous. If it’s good enough for the professionals, it’s good enough for the home users, and you’ll have plenty of money left over for popcorn.

Until next time
The Cable Guy
http://www.professionalcable.com/