HDMI Cables

[Mark Wild]

I just bought a 50 inch plasma for my living room and need HDMI to HDMI cables for connecting things to it, just wondered if anyone knows which ones will suffice as they vary quite alot.

Thanks in advance :D

Mark

[Paul S]

Hi Mark,

As HDMI is a digital signal it is not affected as much by signal loss like older analogue signals. You do not need to spend out on "Monster" gold plated cables, a Tesco's one will suffice.

Depending on how you plan to mount the TV, some come with pivot ends so you can get them close to the wall etc, these will obviously cost slightly more than the cheaper ones.
More expensive will mean more durable, however if you're planning to install the screen with the plan of not moving it regularly, then buy a cheap one.

Time to hide from the audiophiles tho.... :sofa:

Cheers

Paul

[Mark Wild]

Thanks mate, the T.V won't be from the BT Vision box or DVD player so 2 metres should be fine.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

I spent about 60 quid on mine Mark and I was shocked how much it cost, only to be even more shocked about how much better the image was.

Ive too have a 50inch plasma and it looks awesome with hdmi but I would suggest after spending all that money dont cheap out on a cheap hdmi cable.

Got my xbox hooked up to mine with 5.1 surround sound and its awesome!

[BeerFunk]

An HDMI cable is a digital cable, so a cheap cable will suffice for a short length. If you need a long cable run though, you'd be advised to invest in quality cable, as there will be more signal loss (signal loss resulting in error correction)

[UltraBeat Entertainment]

Better quality cable = Better quality picture

It does make a noticeable difference. If you've just spent £500+ on a plasma whats an extra £50 to get the unit working to its full potential?

[BeerFunk]

Better quality cable = Better quality pictureThat doesn't quite apply to a digital signal though. That is far more applicable in an analogue signal, although you can suffer signal loss in a digital signal (compensated by error correction processes) - but it's very unlikely in a short cable run.

[Marc J]

Expensive (better quality) SCART cables would give better quality pictures. Usually because they have better shielding, with gold connections etc....

BUT a £2 HDMI cable will give just as good a picture as a £50 HDMI cable! As has been said before - it's a digital signal :bang:

[kilmeedyman]

Nothing worse than having spent 3 grand on a 50" Pioneer Plasma and home entertainment amp etc. to have to sit and watch football on sky hd which jumps every so often.

Who would have thought (obviously not those who don't know) that the cheap HDMI cable that came with sky hd was the cause. Poor quality cable can cause a slowdown in throughput of a digital signal - especially over anything more than a short distance, as Beerfunk said.

Simple solution - Belkin PureAV Blue and £18 later I have picture perfection.

I expect I'll be called an audiophile now :eek:

[kilmeedyman]

BUT a £2 HDMI cable will give just as good a picture as a £50 HDMI cable! As has been said before - it's a digital signal :bang:

Oh dear!

[Adam_F]

A good friend of mine who's a manager of a SuperFi branch showed me the difference between a £5 HDMI and an £80. Anyone who thinks there's no difference needs a trip to Spec Savers. If in doubt, go to a local dedicated retailer and ask to be shown the difference.

[djgordyp]

Anyone who thinks there's no difference needs a trip to Spec Savers.

I have seen a couple of programmes in HD and I can't see what all the fuss is about (that's after visiting specsavers :D ). Even on the SKyHD demonstrations in Tesco I could see nothing to make it worth the extra subscription cost. Sorry I've gone off topic a bit but I would agree with those who say a cheap cable would suffice.

[rob1963]

I have seen a couple of programmes in HD and I can't see what all the fuss is about (that's after visiting specsavers :D ). Even on the SKyHD demonstrations in Tesco I could see nothing to make it worth the extra subscription cost. Sorry I've gone off topic a bit but I would agree with those who say a cheap cable would suffice.

There is a noticeable difference with HD television, but probably not enough difference for most people to want to pay extra for.

I have a feeling that HD television will be free for everyone soon, regardless of how you receive your television programmes.

This is because freeview is introducing FREE HD next year, so I can't see how the likes of Sky or Virgin will be able to charge for it for very long after that.

[Mark Wild]

There is a noticeable difference with HD television, but probably not enough difference for most people to want to pay extra for.

I have a feeling that HD television will be free for everyone soon, regardless of how you receive your television programmes.

This is because freeview is introducing FREE HD next year, so I can't see how the likes of Sky or Virgin will be able to charge for it for very long after that.

There are free HD channels already on Freesat I think you'll find.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

makes the world of difference watching football I can tell you that for nothing.

Anyone whos seen planet earth and similar programmes would enjoy it alot more with the improved HD picture.

[rob1963]

There are free HD channels already on Freesat I think you'll find.

Yes, but they are not available to the masses, but when Freeview launches it's free HD channels it WILL be available to the masses, which is why Sky & Virgin will find it hard to continue charging for it.

To hightlight what I mean, a quick check has showed that only 350,000 households have the Freesat you refer to, whereas many millions have Freeview. That's why the Free HD which will become available soon on Freeview will cause a much bigger problem for Sky & Virgin then the Free HD channels currently available to the relatively small number of Freesat users.

[Mark Wild]

makes the world of difference watching football I can tell you that for nothing.


:agree:


Yes, but they are not available to the masses



Of course it's available to the masses, anyone can get freesat and receive free HD channels ;)

[rob1963]

Of course it's available to the masses, anyone can get freesat and receive free HD channels ;)

:bang: :bang: :bang:

I mean Freesat is not ALREADY used by the masses, but Freeview IS.

I thought the second part of my previous post made that clear.

[Marc J]

Well, I stand by what I said earlier....cheaper HDMI cables are just as good as expensive ones (over shorter (<2m) distances, as has been mentioned). That's my experience and I've yet to see otherwise.

[Jiggles]

I agree with Marc here. I have a 5M £15 HDMI cable and its perfect. My friend has a rather expensive 2m one that cost him £50 and it was worse!

[Marc J]

AVForums (http://www.avforums.com) has this same question asked many times.

Sticky on the subject: http://www.avforums.com/forums/hdmi-cables-switches/831330-hdmi-cables-just-facts.html

And here's some clever dude's take on it: -

YouTube - HDMI Event Part One

Fast-forward to 2:22 to hear him say "the likelihood of the picture looking different is null" etc. etc... :bang:

[BeerFunk]

A good friend of mine who's a manager of a SuperFi branch showed me the difference between a £5 HDMI and an £80. Anyone who thinks there's no difference needs a trip to Spec Savers. If in doubt, go to a local dedicated retailer and ask to be shown the difference.So you believe the people who are actually charged with the task of selling these cables? They're probably about 70% profit.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Well, I stand by what I said earlier....cheaper HDMI cables are just as good as expensive ones (over shorter (<2m) distances, as has been mentioned). That's my experience and I've yet to see otherwise.

Why I dont doubt your knowledge and experience could I ask why if that is the case is there expensive ones on the market if they arent better quality?

[Jiggles]

There are so many gullible people out there that want the best of everything with there home Entertainment system and believe all what is said about the difference and then go out and get it.

[Marc J]

Why I dont doubt your knowledge and experience could I ask why if that is the case is there expensive ones on the market if they arent better quality?


There are so many gullible people out there that want the best of everything with there home Entertainment system and believe all what is said about the difference and then go out and get it.

Exactly. Some people ask on forums first before buying....others just go out and buy the expensive ones anyway :eek:

[Twinspin]

Belkin Pure AV are decent cables for HDMI probably one of the best.

[jeff wood]

I used to work for high end Hifi manufacturing company ( LFD Audio ), and part of my job was making cables.

Now speaker cables and interconnect cables do make a difference to the sound, definatly.

But with digital cables, ie the ones we made to connect a cd transport to a d to a for example, well I couldnt tell any difference at all between one that we made and sold for £100, or a cheapo one for £2.99.

What you have to remember here, is the power of the magazines like What Hifi etc

Basically, if a company spends enough on advertising, then that company will be rewarded with an amazing review.

Its just a game to them basically.

But back to HDMI cables..

I personally doubt theres any difference between a "good" cheap one or an expensive one.

There will be a difference between a poorly made cheap one, maybe its got poor fitting connectors, even wired incorrectly.

You'll probably find that the Hifi shops have found some very poorly made examples and use them to compare with a properly made cable like Ixos or something..

And thats why you might see a difference. They might have even "doctored" a cheap one....

The cables Ive bought for my VJ set up are from ebay, and have to say Im very pleased with them.

Yes I know about selling Hifi too, done that also :)