HDMI upgrade worthwhile?????

Pistol Pete1

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Jan 27, 2008
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Hi all,

Got blu ray and dvd recorder (freeview tuner) connected to the receiver, and then the receiver has one HDMI cable to the tv.

All my HDMI cables are QED HDMI-P (originals)....

Would an upgrade to the Chord Active HDMI be worthwhile as a few places are selling them for around £58 per 1.5 metre?

Any thoughts.....(got Chord Supershield on way too, with new Subscription to What hifi? - [:p])
 

Pistol Pete1

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Jan 27, 2008
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Is that a 'speaking from experience' remark, nads?

Or you just had a bad day?
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A

Anonymous

Guest
I have been thinking about this aswell as i have hdmi-ps also but decided against it, i do need another hdmi for the other room so will invest in a qed reference formerly the "sr" for £22.50 off ebay and just swop one over.
IMO you wont see much difference bearing in mind what you already have to warrant the outlay of 3 new cables but as i said just MO.
 

Pistol Pete1

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Jan 27, 2008
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Thanks Stu....interesting review of the QED Reference HDMI cable on this site.

£125 is said to be expensive...fair enough, but if you read the spec page, it's for a 5m length.

So in effect, your £22.50 off ebay it's as good a deal as you may think? (RRP £50 for 1 metre)

Anyway...that deal for QED Reference is tempting too.....still undecided.....
 

Garth Man

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Dec 1, 2008
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Well What HIFI just generously sent me a Chrod Supershield ( that's 2 I have now)

And to my suprise
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(connected one from my player to the amp, and from the amp to my TV)

It made no difference to my Thatcable HDMI in terms of picture or sound

Don't bother mate, stick with what you got
emotion-21.gif






 

Pistol Pete1

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Jan 27, 2008
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Really?

When I purchased more expensive speaker cable and power cords, the difference was obvious......

I was expecting the same with HDMI cables too?
 

aliEnRIK

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Aug 27, 2008
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Im not getting into a debate over this

But If a tv is fed with 'dirty mains' then any extra detail that a HDMI 'may' help with will probably be masked by the tv struggling to display the picture properly

At a complete (educated) guess, id say over 99% of people dont have clean mains feeding their tvs. Which 'might' account for why they cant see any difference
 

Garth Man

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Dec 1, 2008
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I'm not being fed a dirty mains
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I don't want to get into this debate also, it's your wallet my friend so spend how you please
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But......nah can't be bothered
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Pistol Pete1

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Jan 27, 2008
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Oh dear.....

Opened that can of worms again, it seems......
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All I wanted to find was someone who had done a similar upgrade and ask themn if the upgrade showed a difference........

Strictly no fighting about it on this thread, please......
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Pistol Pete1:
Thanks Stu....interesting review of the QED Reference HDMI cable on this site.

£125 is said to be expensive...fair enough, but if you read the spec page, it's for a 5m length.

So in effect, your £22.50 off ebay it's as good a deal as you may think? (RRP £50 for 1 metre)

Anyway...that deal for QED Reference is tempting too.....still undecided.....

Yeah i think so as when i tried the reference i noticed an improvement over my hdmi-p but i didn't notice anything more when comparing a reference to a chord infact the looked the same to me, just my eyes tho remember.

So from what i can "physically see" i'm paying 22.50 for an essentially comparible cable to a chord if you see what i mean, happy days.

Its like everything isn't it, if you can see an improvement to justify the outlay then great, if you can't then you don't buy it.
As everyone says if you can "try before you buy" you can't go wrong really.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Pistol Pete1:Improvements in SQ or/and PQ from HDMI-P to reference?
emotion-18.gif


Ah sorry in PQ only from the hdmi-p to reference everything just seemed abit sharper nothing noticable in SQ for me tho.
 

Pistol Pete1

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Jan 27, 2008
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Well, I ended up buying a Chord Active HDMI........and have tested against my old QED HDMI-P cable........

I have to say that, without burning the new cable in (Yes, I know some don't believe in that!!!), the new Chord cable is superior to the QED HDMI-P....

I have it connected to my receiver, so i'm only judging this in terms of sound quality, and I have the QED HDMI-P from receiver to tv, so don't expect to see much difference (but there is a little difference!).

The Chord adds depth, substance, and high end detail to the sound, in my opinion. After listening to the Chord for a while, then going back to the QED HDMI-P, the difference is obvious, and the QED sounds a tad 'bland' in comparison.

I'm not saying the QED HDMI-P is poor....it's not! But the Chord is the next level in terms of sound quality.........in my opinion!
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Pistol Pete1:
Hi all,

Got blu ray and dvd recorder (freeview tuner) connected to the receiver, and then the receiver has one HDMI cable to the tv.

All my HDMI cables are QED HDMI-P (originals)....

Would an upgrade to the Chord Active HDMI be worthwhile as a few places are selling them for around £58 per 1.5 metre?

Any thoughts.....(got Chord Supershield on way too, with new Subscription to What hifi? -
emotion-4.gif
)

If the cable coplies with any of the HMDI specificaitons 1.3, 1.3a, 1.3b, 1.3b1 ,1.3c ,1.4 then it will work perfectly

just like any other cable that complies with the standard. Buying a more expensive cable that complies with the same

HDMI standard will not give you a better picture or sound i am afraid. It will be waste of money. You might get a better

looking cable but that will be it.

Cheers
 

Pistol Pete1

New member
Jan 27, 2008
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heathpw......thanks for that, but according to my eyes and ears, your wrong!!

My New Chord Active has given the following:

1) More overall clarity, treble detail and separation with sound/music.

2) Gives more substance to voices/vocals.

3) Offers more colourful/vibrant colours.

4) Creates more detail and colour separation, so the dvd picture being used looks more lifelike, which is heading towards blu ray quality.

These obserations were done as an A/B comparison test with a DVD concert via the blu ray player.

Cheers......
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Pistol Pete1:

heathpw......thanks for that, but according to my eyes and ears, your wrong!!

My New Chord Active has given the following:

1) More overall clarity, treble detail and separation with sound/music.

2) Gives more substance to voices/vocals.

3) Offers more colourful/vibrant colours.

4) Creates more detail and colour separation, so the dvd picture being used looks more lifelike, which is heading towards blu ray quality.

These obserations were done as an A/B comparison test with a DVD concert via the blu ray player.

Cheers......

If the the digital signal is being transmitted over the cable from the source to the TV perfectly

and all the bits are getting to the T.V which it they will be if it complies with any of the HDMI standard I mentioned then you will get the same picture and sound performance every time with any cable. There will be no difference.

I think all these so called magical improvements like "overall clarity" just dont exist and are in your head.

But it could be a magic cable with magical electrical properties.

Who made this magic cable that you speak with all these amazing properties.
 

AlmaataKZ

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Jan 7, 2009
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if you want advice: do not bother with expensive hdmi (or other digital) cables. tehy do not improve quality of sound or image. get the cheapest well-built hdmi compliant cable that you like the look and feel of. it should perform as good as any. there are smarter ways to spend your money

if you want opinion on your observation on improvemetns: this is an illusion, a placebo effect

if you do not want any of the above advice/opinion: just ignore
 

Pistol Pete1

New member
Jan 27, 2008
248
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AlmaataKZ:

if you want advice: do not bother with expensive hdmi (or other digital) cables. tehy do not improve quality of sound or image. get the cheapest well-built hdmi compliant cable that you like the look and feel of. it should perform as good as any. there are smarter ways to spend your money

if you want opinion on your observation on improvemetns: this is an illusion, a placebo effect

if you do not want any of the above advice/opinion: just ignore

So far, everyone can see this 'illusion' I have created.........I'm better than David Blaine at this kinda stuff.....
emotion-19.gif
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Pistol Pete1:AlmaataKZ:

if you want advice: do not bother with expensive hdmi (or other digital) cables. tehy do not improve quality of sound or image. get the cheapest well-built hdmi compliant cable that you like the look and feel of. it should perform as good as any. there are smarter ways to spend your money

if you want opinion on your observation on improvemetns: this is an illusion, a placebo effect

if you do not want any of the above advice/opinion: just ignore

So far, everyone can see this 'illusion' I have created.........I'm better than David Blaine at this kinda stuff.....
emotion-19.gif


What a guy
 

michael hoy

Well-known member
Oct 6, 2008
793
279
19,270
heathpw:
Buying a more expensive cable that complies with the same

HDMI standard will not give you a better picture or sound i am afraid. It will be waste of money. You might get a better

looking cable but that will be it.

Cheers

Your wrong, I have 2 cables that I can plug in to the same system and there is a night and day difference in the PQ, this has been repeatable with 2 different makes of amp.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
michael hoy:heathpw:
Buying a more expensive cable that complies with the same

HDMI standard will not give you a better picture or sound i am afraid. It will be waste of money. You might get a better

looking cable but that will be it.

Cheers

Your wrong, I have 2 cables that I can plug in to the same system and there is a night and day difference in the PQ, this has been repeatable with 2 different makes of amp.

If the cables comply with any of the HDMI standards I mentioned, they will work perfectly and will transmit the signal digital signal perfectly from your HDMI sorurce to the TV so there cant be any difference can there.

Unless you have purchased one these magic HDMI cables with magical properties.

What is PQ??, where do ampplifers come into it.
 

michael hoy

Well-known member
Oct 6, 2008
793
279
19,270
heathpw:michael hoy:heathpw:
Buying a more expensive cable that complies with the same

HDMI standard will not give you a better picture or sound i am afraid. It will be waste of money. You might get a better

looking cable but that will be it.

Cheers

Your wrong, I have 2 cables that I can plug in to the same system and there is a night and day difference in the PQ, this has been repeatable with 2 different makes of amp.

If the cables comply with any of the HDMI standards I mentioned, they will work perfectly and will transmit the signal digital signal perfectly from your HDMI sorurce to the TV so there cant be any difference can there.

Unless you have purchased one these magic HDMI cables with magical properties.

What is PQ??, where do ampplifers come into it.

Picture quality (PQ), the amp comes into it because my cables run into the amp and then to my TV.

The 2 cables give consistant results with the same setup on both occasions (both amps I have owned).
There are no faults with the cables, but one cable gives a brighter / coloured picture.
 

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