HDMI cables. Whats the benefit of spending more money?

[admin_exported]

Hi.

Im getting set up in the worls of HD. I have a nice 1080p TV and a BluRay player. Now its time to buy some cables.

HDMI is a digital standard encoding and analogue signal into digital packets. Encoding and decoding takes place within the two terminal equipments (TV and BR).

How can a cable produce a better picture?

I need 1m cables. Will i actually see any difference in picture quality if i spend £3 on ebay or buy a £70 QED cable?

And if so why? and how?

 

[Messiah]

Just search the forum for threads on this topic. There are many threads with many opinions.

Best thing will be to try some leads out and come to your own conclusion.

 

[Anonymous]

I searched by 'HDMI' and could find no relevent posts.

I was never any good at drawing.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Our search function's throwing a wobbly this afternoon - apologies for that, we're on the case.

In the meantime, as you mention QED, here's their take on all things HDMI

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for the link. hmm, its interesting to read their view on what makes their cables worthwhile.

 

[pioneer7]

 

[Anonymous]

Apologies to the regulars.

I had to go back to page 7 on this board to find a good discussion on the subject and some 'interesting' opinions.

But through all the posts i read, i saw no real argument from 'the believers'. Just that it makes a difference.

As a communications engineer i understand cable properties, interference, etc. and i feel that as long as it is a well made cable with wire capable of delivering the correct frequency to support the relevent standard, one wire will make no differnce compared to another.

Any thoughts?

 

[Anonymous]

I have a Cheap £8 10meter HDMI off Ebay quad screening large condutors etc gold plated plug. used it for a while then took the plunge and bought a Chord 1.3 15 meter HDMI for about £80.

I was not convinced on the digital signal being affectedd by cablese but the fact is that it does.

The cheap cable made and slow pans on my projector laggy as hell but i though it was my new projector.

THe new cable although 5 meters more it was all gone and so smooth now

Also the colours were a lot more viberant.

Plus i used a similer 1 meter cable from my PS3 to reciver and swaped it out also for a Chord.

Doing list i did not notice the same differences if any!

so the verdict is they do make a diffrent at long lengths but it 1meter and depening on the expense of your equipment then i dont think it will be too much a a problem.

 

[aliEnRIK]

Its down to how good your equipment is, how well theyre set up and how good your eyes are (Obviously)

You can have the best equipment in the land, but if its fed with a poor mains supply then its never going to work well enough to show the difference between an average HDMI and a great one.

 

[Anonymous]

With regards to HDMI cables I find over short runs, (provided they are laid out carefully to avoid interaction with power cables) differences are very small.
However on longer runs good screening and low inductance cables makes noticeable improvements.

However taking a overall view of the AV / Hi Fi system the largest improvements come from eliminating the 'dirty house mains' followed by good cable management/separation.

Address this area first and your system will be much improved and give you noticeably more pleasure.

 

[aliEnRIK]

What tv do you have Trev?

I have a Pioneer 42" Plasma and all my HDMI cables are 2 meters or less with definite differences

 

[aliEnRIK]

Scratch that ~ just seen it now

 

[Anonymous]

As you can see I have a Samsung LE46M86 full HD TV. A really superb picture. It is fed with a totally clean mains supply plus a RA classic powerkord. (which are fitted to the rest of my system as well, seeing I bought them years ago!) Even the sound off the TV speakers is much improved, a weak point on Samsungs I found.
SB is enjoyed in full HD via the Reon processing in the Onkyo 875 fed from the Sony RDR970 from an excellent Aeriel/125 cable feed.

I do have 2 Belkin Silver Series Pure AV HDMI cables and 1 cheap one, all 1.2mtr lengths linking everything together. I was going to buy another decent cable but on a A/B comparison can see no difference between them on my system.

I suppose I might have got to the position on modifying/tweaking my system that all the gains have been squeezed out

 

[Big Aura]

trevor79:With regards to HDMI cables I find over short runs, (provided they are laid out carefully to avoid interaction with power cables) differences are very small.

really? Eeeek! I was of the view (based on nothing at all, I might add) that distortion from having cables too close together was only a concern for analogue signals. I've got my TV's power cord strapped to the HDMI to "tidy" things up a bit. Guess I should be unbundling them?!

 

[Anonymous]

I think if you havent noticed anything so far, there is no issue. If there was electromagnetical interfernce leaking between cables it would cause bit errors in the HDMI stream, which you would notice as 'sparklys' etc.

I do not think picture quality can be effected.

 

[aliEnRIK]

dognarmit:
I think if you havent noticed anything so far, there is no issue. If there was electromagnetical interfernce leaking between cables it would cause bit errors in the HDMI stream, which you would notice as 'sparklys' etc.

I do not think picture quality can be effected.

My god ~ your RIGHT

I must get my eyes checked.......................

 

[Anonymous]

regular eye checks should make up part of your overall health plan.

 

[aliEnRIK]

They said I have 20:20 vision

What should I do now?

 

[Anonymous]

colonoscopy?

 

[aliEnRIK]

You see dog ~ THATS why no one takes you seriously

 

[Anonymous]

imo,zilch zilch zilch difference of any kind with hdmi cables save cash and buy cheap ones..

 

[Anonymous]

Boring. Again, I'll say can HDMI threads have their own section so we can observe them without getting too close?