Lost for Leads

[admin_exported]

I'm about to buy a Sony BDP-S760 to team up with my Panasonic 42PZ800, coz I feel my movie experience (colour depth, edge definition, and especially motion handling) is being let down by my PS3.

I was hoping if you guys got any suggestions on the HDMI lead to get most best over all preformance £40-£120. I slightly value picture quality (black details, edge definition, rich colours) more.

Chord Company Supershield £50, Chord Company Active £115, Van Den Hul Flat HDMI £105 ?

All suggestions welcomed

 

[Anonymous]

Any of these will be fine. I personally use Chord HDMI Silver Plus and it's been great!

 

[Anonymous]

How's the picture quality with this particular lead?

 

[Anonymous]

It is very good. It was an award winner in 2008 I think. I have compared this to the Van Den Hul HDMI Flat and I think the VDH has a slight edge over this - colour is slightly more vivid and the sound is slightly better too....very slight differences that some may notice while others may not.

 

[Anonymous]

That's great, thank for your input 🙂

 

[Anonymous]

No problemo. I'm sure others will come along to offer more views, especially with the newer Chord cables.

 

[Anonymous]

How long a cable are you thinking of?

 

[Anonymous]

around 1.5m to 2m

 

[Anonymous]

Over a short distance like that there isnt much difference between spending £100 and £30.

A business contact of mine is the manager of a well known high street audio visual retailer, not currys. After speaking to him and his area manager one day about HDMI cables they told me that both use Blue Jeans cables at there homes and swear by them, considering their occupations and the prices of the products available to them from all the popular players, QED, Chord, Van den Hul etc etc.

The blue jeans cables are great value for money, its worth a shot, and these 2 guys do know their stuff. The blue jeans are american made cables, not chinese. Here is a quick description from their homepage

As a general rule, HDMI cables are nearly identical to one another in
their internal structure. Blue Jeans Cable offers the only cables on
the market with a fundamental structural difference: the BJC Series-1 and Series-F2 Bonded-Pair HDMI cables.
Unlike other "American" brands which are simply Chinese cable stocks
rebranded with an American name, these HDMI cables are built from
American-made custom cable stocks, unique to Blue Jeans Cable, and
incorporating Belden's patented bonded-pair technology, which
stabilizes pair spacing for tighter impedance control, lower return
loss, better high-frequency performance and, ultimately, better
reliability over distance. That reliability is attested both by our
longer-than-the-competition HDMI testing certifications and by in-use
experience; we have run 1080p video in the Series-1 cable 125 feet
without information loss, with no booster or EQ unit required.

Have a look for your self, and let me know what you think or decide.

£10 - £12 for a 1.5m - 2m cable sounds pretty good.

http://www.bluejeanscable.co.uk/store/hdmi-cables/index.htm

 

[Clare Newsome]

Andrew's blog on the Chord Active is worth a read, too

 

[Anonymous]

How will this stand against the Van Den Hul Ultimate, Clare?

 

[Clare Newsome]

The vDH simply isn't applicable in this case; it's a real high-end cable that only someone with a top-level projector/massive screen and high-end speakers/receiver is going to benefit from. The Chord, however, is something we've found benefits the higher-end of real-world system (if that makes sense!)

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, thank you. So, it's the Chord Active for 'mere mortals' then....🙂

 

[Anonymous]

I definately back the Chord Active Silver Plus, i have recently upgraded to this cable for my blu ray player from the Van Den Hul Flat. The Chord does have a edge over the VDH Flat but only by a little as the VDH is a great cable but for the mere difference in price between the two, i would opt for the Chord. The Chord also does sound cleaner to me as it has the noise filter integrated in the cable itself which is a clever touch.

The Chord Supershield is a great buy too but ive used one of those on my Sky+ HD box as i wanted the best out of my blu ray player using the Active.

Regards> M

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys !

So the Chord Company Active it is then !!