I was wrong about HDMI cables!

[hammill]

Can someone explain why this cable has a chip in it? It might be a reason that the picture / sound are different, though I can't immediately think of why it would be necessary.

 

[duaplex]

It's a noise cancelling chip.

 

[michael hoy]

As I''ve said if you use CERTIFIED cables they wont make a difference.

If this is aimed at my post, then the cable was certified.

 

[michael hoy]

I have been using the Chord active cables for a long time 2x 3m and 1x 2m and am extremely happy with them.

I did have a HDMI cable a while ago that truly irritated me with the way it changed the colours when in use.

Swapped it between different devices along with a different cable, the same cable changed the colours no matter what device it was plugged into.

The colours became more vibrant but not in a good way.

So I do believe cables make a difference, and good luck with the Chord cables.

Sounds like a faulty cable. A non faulty HDMI cable will look and sound the same as any other non-faulty cable. Just like the moon is in fact smaller than the sun.

The cable was not faulty, from a technical point of view.

 

[iJoe]

Found the free chord copper cable from WHF a few years ago to be considerably worse in terms of sharpness compared to an expensive monster cable that my mum got sold from comet (Who gave her the wrong TV btw - a poorer LCD rather than the chosen Plasma |( ).

Paused and changed cables, as well as watched full scenes.

 

[iceman16]

For years I have argued how the cheap HDMI cable was no different to an expensive version.

However, today at the Bristol show I purchase 3 Chord Active Silver cables and it totally blew me away. For bluray playback or fir anything where data is being read actively from a disc, there is a massive boost in sound quality, the sound was sharper, crisp and punchier. Picture was also warmer, deeper in colour and rich. I am still reeling from the shock, I fully expected there to be no difference and to a certain degree I was right... Using it with sky, no difference, PC, no difference. However, bluray yes, music yes and even gaming.

My wife walked in and said "the tv looks better and sounds better". She was unaware of the test I was conducting, so that was unbiased from a non audiophile/videophile.

Hi..Do you realy have to care what other people(unbelievers) say? It's your own hard earned money and ears that enjoys.

 

[Alec]

I have been using the Chord active cables for a long time 2x 3m and 1x 2m and am extremely happy with them.

I did have a HDMI cable a while ago that truly irritated me with the way it changed the colours when in use.

Swapped it between different devices along with a different cable, the same cable changed the colours no matter what device it was plugged into.

The colours became more vibrant but not in a good way.

So I do believe cables make a difference, and good luck with the Chord cables.

Sounds like a faulty cable. A non faulty HDMI cable will look and sound the same as any other non-faulty cable. Just like the moon is in fact smaller than the sun.

The cable was not faulty, from a technical point of view.

What does this mean?

 

[relocated]

It's rated by What HiFi because:

"Pictures are more stable and motion more assured, while even colours are a little more vivid and exact. Sound has more scale and detail, too."

Which is cobblers, of course.

Come on Alec, don't beat about the bush, get off the fence and say exactly what you mean.

You're absolutely correct of course.

 

[michael hoy]

I have been using the Chord active cables for a long time 2x 3m and 1x 2m and am extremely happy with them.

I did have a HDMI cable a while ago that truly irritated me with the way it changed the colours when in use.

Swapped it between different devices along with a different cable, the same cable changed the colours no matter what device it was plugged into.

The colours became more vibrant but not in a good way.

So I do believe cables make a difference, and good luck with the Chord cables.

Sounds like a faulty cable. A non faulty HDMI cable will look and sound the same as any other non-faulty cable. Just like the moon is in fact smaller than the sun.

The cable was not faulty, from a technical point of view.

What does this mean?

Exactly that, physically the cable was not faulty and met the technical spec for it to be certified.

In use it exhibited the issues (to me) i stated.

 

[Alec]

I have been using the Chord active cables for a long time 2x 3m and 1x 2m and am extremely happy with them.

I did have a HDMI cable a while ago that truly irritated me with the way it changed the colours when in use.

Swapped it between different devices along with a different cable, the same cable changed the colours no matter what device it was plugged into.

The colours became more vibrant but not in a good way.

So I do believe cables make a difference, and good luck with the Chord cables.

Sounds like a faulty cable. A non faulty HDMI cable will look and sound the same as any other non-faulty cable. Just like the moon is in fact smaller than the sun.

The cable was not faulty, from a technical point of view.

What does this mean?

Exactly that, physically the cable was not faulty and met the technical spec for it to be certified.

In use it exhibited the issues (to me) i stated.

Yes, but the issues themsleves mean that all was not well somewhere along the line...

 

[bigboss]

Can someone explain why this cable has a chip in it? It might be a reason that the picture / sound are different, though I can't immediately think of why it would be necessary.

It's a noise cancelling chip.

No, the chip is meant to boost signal.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57540275-221/still-more-reasons-why-all-hdmi-cable-are-the-same/

 

[duaplex]

Shows how much the Chord rep knew about his own product, gosh :O

Thanks BB.

Michael is right the cable from a technical point of view was fine, with Digital cables they will either work or not, there is no in between.

 

[duaplex]

For years I have argued how the cheap HDMI cable was no different to an expensive version.

However, today at the Bristol show I purchase 3 Chord Active Silver cables and it totally blew me away. For bluray playback or fir anything where data is being read actively from a disc, there is a massive boost in sound quality, the sound was sharper, crisp and punchier. Picture was also warmer, deeper in colour and rich. I am still reeling from the shock, I fully expected there to be no difference and to a certain degree I was right... Using it with sky, no difference, PC, no difference. However, bluray yes, music yes and even gaming.

My wife walked in and said "the tv looks better and sounds better". She was unaware of the test I was conducting, so that was unbiased from a non audiophile/videophile.

Hi..Do you realy have to care what other people(unbelievers) say? It's your own hard earned money and ears that enjoys.

You are 100% right, this thread is just me admitting I have switched sides on the argument. Also, so I don't sound like a hypocrite later on for those that know me

 

[hammill]

Can someone explain why this cable has a chip in it? It might be a reason that the picture / sound are different, though I can't immediately think of why it would be necessary.

It's a noise cancelling chip.

No, the chip is meant to boost signal.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57540275-221/still-more-reasons-why-all-hdmi-cable-are-the-same/

Thanks BB. So not required on a normal length cable, another con.

 

[bigboss]

I won't comment on whether it's a con or not. The OP is obviously happy with his £40 purchase, this is all that matters. One size never fits all.

 

[landzw]

I had mentioned this some time back now and was completely over looked.

I have had many HDMI cables, enough to start my own shop and i have found alot of the cheaper cables to be very much the same and i've had a couple that have failed after a short period, i have also noticed now i have a plasma the cheaper cables are less shielded.

I also had a chord silver HDMI cable and the first thing i noticed was the sound was a massive improvement and that was just with standard TV speakers so i would love to hear a propper surround sound systems difference, though i cannot comment see any difference on picture quality there might of been if i had looked for it but in this case i could not.

 

[davidvann]

hi all,i have had a chord active silver cable for some years,and i agree it is much better than the cheap cables,that you get out of the box,when i bought mine some years ago it was £95 ,i have always been trying to get the best out my tv and dvd player so tryed to take up notch and bought myself a silver starlight hdmi cable from wireworld which cost me £300 pounds,i swaped the cables back and forth to see which was the best for sound and picture and there was no question in my mind that the chord was better,so it's not always about the price.i have always believed that when you pay a lot of money on your home cinema, that a five pound lead out of a box is going to get the best out of your system.i think we before we knock something high or low price,lets give it a chance before we pan it.i dont wish to cause a fight it's just my view,when i first started out with my hi-fi and home cinema i was a non beliver of high priced cables ,but i was prepared to give it a go to see for my self.cheers david

 

[duaplex]

I'm glad more people are posting about their experience and confirming for the rest what I'm trying to point out. The cable brings something else to the equation and sound quality is a marked improvement.

I would never suggest we all start spending £300 on cables (unless analogue) because for that money you could buy a power amp and REALLY see a huge difference. For the price and what this cable has given me its a nice improvement.

 

[Frank Harvey]

I had been testing out a more expensive HDMI cable over the past few months, and I'd recently put my normal one back in (Chord Active Silver Plus). I had meant to try a few familiar Blurays but didn't get round to it last week. Now too much time has passed, so I think I'll need to loan it again...

I was recently talking to Audioquest and they tell me they won't willing.y use any 'active' components in their HDMI cables as their testing found that it actually degraded quality. I haven't been into the details of this yet, but I'm just passing that on for those who are interested. If I recall correctly, Audioquest are working on longer cable runs that won't need an active component in order for it to work properly.

 

[Cyruszaydan]

I was at the sound as vision show today and picked up a three Atlas HDMI cables (Atlas Hyper High-speed HDMI). The original RRP was £90 /£80 and having checked online, you can now pick up the 2m ones I bought for £54 from a number of shops. I paid £20 for 2 metre cable and £15 each for the 1.5 metre versions.Now given that I'm going to connect the cables to more than £3000 worth of AV equipment, not including my speakers, if the cables make little or no improvement isn't going to lose me any sleep.(I haven't connected them yet). I think that is the main point - given the amount of money many peope spend on AV equipment, a 'reasonable' outlay on something that may improve picture quality or sound seems a worthwhile enterprise, even though many people would disagree.Thereore, i think the cables were worth the punt at the price I paid.

We'll done duaplex for giving the new cables a go and writing about your findings even though you probably knew some people would try to ridicule your statement. I'm sure my new cables will give the 1s and 0s the kick they need :cheers: ...oops

 

[bigboss]

You can argue that the more expensive your AV system is, the better it is in performance. It is then less likely for cables to bring significant improvements.

FWIW, I've spent £6500 on my AV equipment (including installation but excluding furniture), & I haven't noticed any improvements with expensive HDMI cables (QED Profile & Chord Active, along with £5 ThatCable).

 

[ellisdj]

I posted heavily years ago about how the chord active made a big difference to sound and picture, people shun you.

i recently upgraded my system and needed longer HDMI runs -I put a cheap and nasty freeby in for a few days between virgin and direct to the Kuro - the least links in the chain so the best way possible and my mrs the first night commented on how bad the picture was, what had I done to it, it's all blurry! She was unaware of any physical changes. I couldn't stand the picture with the cheap HDMI it was terrible and all I had changed was the HDMI.

i bought the newer chord active with the blue plug tested against the older with the black plug and there is a difference between them 2. Not huge but better motion and better areas or shadow detail in scenes with the blue plug.

There is a clear difference is sound as well between the chord active and el cheapo and others. I have tested it against the WHF award winner Audioquest Pearl that I own as well and there are big differences

 

[Sliced Bread]

OK here’s a question:

Let us say that HDMI certified cables are measured to less than 1-bit per billion.

I am *assuming* that this is measured under the most flattering conditions possible for the cable (i.e. virtually no interference) as the manufacturer wants the certification.

Does a cable that had exactly a 1-bit per billion error rate, have exactly the same error rate when stuffed under the hi-fi rack, curled up and crossing several power cables, a power block, speaker cables and interconnects many many times over in very close proximity as most of us stuff the cables out of site.

I’m not sure how interference effects the signal of a HDMI cable, but it is likely that it will increase the error rates *another assumption*. *If* true then better insolation / booster chips etc may make a difference for some people, *if* their system is revealing enough *and* there are issues of interference.

This is more a question than a statement.

 

[BenLaw]

OK here’s a question: Let us say that HDMI certified cables are measured to less than 1-bit per billion. I am *assuming* that this is measured under the most flattering conditions possible for the cable (i.e. virtually no interference) as the manufacturer wants the certification. Does a cable that had exactly a 1-bit per billion error rate, have exactly the same error rate when stuffed under the hi-fi rack, curled up and crossing several power cables, a power block, speaker cables and interconnects many many times over in very close proximity as most of us stuff the cables out of site. I’m not sure how interference effects the signal of a HDMI cable, but it is likely that it will increase the error rates *another assumption*. *If* true then better insolation / booster chips etc may make a difference for some people, *if* their system is revealing enough *and* there are issues of interference. This is more a question than a statement.

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/certified-hdmi-cables.htm

I don't know how up to date that information is, but it seems to mean that any certified product may not in fact be individually certified, certainly at longer lengths

Thing is, though, individual and random errors in data are just that, they aren't richer colours, deeper bass, an increased top end or whatever else was claimed. You see them in blocking / sparklies when they get too much. At most, one can imagine a single pixel during a single frame may be unpredictably the wrong colour. But none of the stuff that is claimed about these digital cables.

 

[Alec]

What Ben said.