Thread: HDMI cables

Hi all i just want to know peoples opinions on hdmi cables as there is a lot of conflicting information about where some are saying they are all the same and others are saying they are not. I understand how the digital signal works so i can see why people say they are all the same but im not entirely convinced there is no difference at all. The main reason i am asking is my ps3 the graphics are good but i think they could be better they are slightly sparkly its the same on two seperate tvs and ps3s but the same hdmi cable i havnt changed tvs or ps3s to try and solve this problem lol. Iv also set the tvs up properly and the ps3 to no avail the tvs are both 1080p the cables are only 1m length and im not looking to spend £100 on a cable unless it makes a difference lol. Has anyone changed their cable and noticed a difference between cables and which one do you have? Thanks

Qed, can't go wrong...

Originally Posted by idjbell

Qed, can't go wrong...

Iv looked into these before there not overly priced either thanks.

Van Den Hul FTW

Originally Posted by N8

Van Den Hul FTW

I didnt have a clue what this was at first lol. I looked them up though good reviews and prices thanks.

They won best HDMI about 2 years ago for the money, picture is immense

Cheers i will get one of these

No worries Bengali

I'm in two minds on this topic actually. I have been playing blueray discs using a £90 QED HDMI for quite a while, and when my sky box came along a couple of years ago I stuck to the standard "out of the box" HDMI that came with it. Now i've switched the cables around a few times and i really can't tell a difference in sound or picture, which surprises me as it can make a huge difference with speaker cable, analogue interconnects and the like, maybe there is less difference that can be made with digital signals?

Ofcourse theres less of a difference, thats the whole point of a digital signal....

The box sends out 1001100011 and 1001100011 pops out the other end. If for some reason 1001100010 popped out the error correction would notice and fix it. If the cable was properly **** and there were tonnes of errors then yes eventually the error correction wouldnt be able to keep up and you'd get a degraded signal (think of what happens to your freeview or sky feed if the signal gets a bit ropey)

Claiming theres a difference would be like trying to claim your hard disk stores clearer data because you've hooked it up with a £99 SATA cable rather than a £1 one.

I will probably notice a difference when i get a new one as i think my cable has seen better days so i cant really do a fair comparison and im not buying two to compare as i have got better things to do lol. But i still think there will be a difference between a low end cable and a high end cable but its probably not as much as they claim it to be imo.

Originally Posted by aragorn

Ofcourse theres less of a difference, thats the whole point of a digital signal....

The box sends out 1001100011 and 1001100011 pops out the other end. If for some reason 1001100010 popped out the error correction would notice and fix it. If the cable was properly **** and there were tonnes of errors then yes eventually the error correction wouldnt be able to keep up and you'd get a degraded signal (think of what happens to your freeview or sky feed if the signal gets a bit ropey)

Claiming theres a difference would be like trying to claim your hard disk stores clearer data because you've hooked it up with a £99 SATA cable rather than a £1 one.

Thats what I thought. In that case I'd not bother spending anymore than a tenner on one next time round. Save the extra for upgrading the blueray player perhaps.

Ok i see there is a good argument against the more expensive cables. I am no expert hence me asking the question in the first place but alot of people have suggested using a better quality cable for longer distances so if this is true surely that would make no difference but please enlighten me.

* FactionOne e-fives aragorn *

...And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the correct answer. In ye olde world of analogue, cabling made one hell of a lot of a difference; so spending a small fortune on it was not only forgiveable, it was positively encourageable. It's an entirely different story with digital interconnects though; as aragorn points out, it's all about ones and zeros. They're not like a waveform which can be interfered with and distorted; they go in at one end, and so long as there's a sufficient electrical connection between either end, they come out at the other end. They come out in the same order, at the same values. They don't come out as 0.91, 0.04, 0.86, 0.89, 0.06; they come out as 10110 etc. That's all you need. There's no way to improve on the fidelity of the video and audio broken up into those binary digits by using 50mm dia. platinum multicore reinforced in kevlar and caviar. If you opt to pay megabucks for cable like that you'll get exactly the same stream of ones and zeros as you would using something which is just 'good enough'.

Again, full credit to aragorn for hitting the nail squarely on the head on an issue which, due to massive media and trade misinformation, really winds me up.

Rob.
(ASN Admin who doesn't know much about his car)
but
(TV Research Engineer, working daily on a plethora of AV equipment)
(Computer Hardware Engineer of more years than I care to remember)

A £2 asda cable it is then lol.

I got one off the bay for £2 ish and its fine, got to get a splitter box for my dad as he has 1 hdmi on the tv but 2 hdmi units now

Yeap I also concur, its all a con, cheapo will do same job end of.

Originally Posted by NHN

Yeap I also concur, its all a con, cheapo will do same job end of.

correct.My mate used to work for pinnacle, and a £10 scart lead had a manufature cost of about 15p.Massive mark up on cables...loads of ******** like oxygen free gold plated etc.It criminal that monster can charge £80 for a hdmi cable.

lol i work in retail. and that was an interesting read. now feel for me when i have to sell them to customers :P there can be a difference i believe as ive seen it. but the difference between a 15 quid lead and a 100 quid lead. enough to warrant the huge price diff? perhaps not