HDMI cables

ringo_24601 wrote:

Just got myself a HD ready TV, going to buy an upscaling player soon (I've seen a bargain on pixmania) and was wondering where's cheap to buy HMDI cables.. the one's i've seen on the maplin website are expensive. Even the one I've seen on the richer sounds site is more than that DVD player..

Anyone know where's a good place to get them from?

My understanding is that you may be better off allowing the screen to do the upscaling. Upscaling is such marketing rubbish. You can do little to improve the source material. Rather than try to get a cheap cable you could save money by not going HD until the software catches up (I guess SKY HD is one reason, but I can live without sports and cheap US drama in HD).

I will be sticking with my Pioneer 737 for a few years - astounding progressive picture and great audio.

If you do go HDMI get a good one, your money is being spread thin with such a complex cable (but I spend £90 on 1/2 metre phono interconnects so we may have different perspectives here). Cheap ones will suffer and may compromise the money you spent on the screen (and a cables aim is to maintain the performance of your other gear)

Most upscaling DVD players come with a HDMI cable anyway... of cause they are terribly cheap and you probably loose any advantage that you gained from the upscaling in the first point but then that seems to be what you are looking for

But a HDMI cable is digital, so it should be lossless? ie...If you're using it for both video and audio they should all transfer the binaries exactly as source?
Is the extra cost for higher quality connectors or something?

odowdchr wrote:

But a HDMI cable is digital, so it should be lossless? ie...If you're using it for both video and audio they should all transfer the binaries exactly as source?
Is the extra cost for higher quality connectors or something?

They are not lossless at all.... the 0 and 1 is represented by 2 different electrical impulses, I dont know the correct values so for arguments sake we will say 1v and 2v. In that they will have certain tolerances so say +/- 0.25v.

As with all cables magnetic sources, eg power cables, can induce a charge within the digital cable and also cables are supposed to be 75 ohm after taking into consideration its length... if this hasnt been done correctly it can mean a much higher percentage of 0s or 1s getting to the other end outside of tolerance.

The difference with digital is the fact that if a signal got to the other end with a 1.5v value the other end would simply ignore it as it is outside of tolerance for either value and so it knows it is wrong where as an analogue device would still play it. The theory is that as there is "a lot more" info per noise/ pixel etc that the errors have much less impact than it would have with analogue but it certainly isnt none.

Higher quality cables will have better connectors (and not the gold plated rubbish), higher quality wire inside them to reduce internal problems and increase lifespan and greater shielding from outside interference and be more accurately made to the 75 ohm specification.

Like most things though you will see a big difference between the free cable and a £30 one, a moderate difference between a £30 and a £60 and little difference between a £300 and £330 one. It is obviously also worth looking at the quality of the 2 components you are connecting up... little point in buying a £330 cable to connect up a £30 supermarket special DVD player to a 20" bargain basement LCD screen.