HDMI cable - £5 vs £55 (discussion)

Marty_J

I see....the two models I was looking at were the Panasonic Viera TH-46PZ85U and Samsung PN50A550.

Where's the best place to look for reviews?

aliEnRIK

Sorry Marty. As im only interested in items that work in the uk, ive no clue about the US (Though id guess they must be similar)

Marty_J

OK, will keep searching then. Thanks anyway! :beer:

yelowee

I got a £45 HDMI cable for half price with my telly it seemed like a good deal, but after a move around I needed one a bit longer, £3.66 from an eBay shop and 5 times the length and I can honestly say that on my 1080p 42" TV there is no loss of picture quality what so ever, even if you stand right up close and inspect the picture!

cosmicveg

The only difference is for the clowns that spend thousands on their AV equipment and constantly find themselves new imaginary problems with their picture to give themselves another project for the weekend. stick with basic cables they work absolutely fine.

Leopard

Marty_J wrote: »

Well, would you go for excellent black levels, or excellent colour accuracy?

Is not black level part of colour accuracy?

Anyway, without wishing to get sucked into the long-standing debate, over many threads, between Marty J and aliEnRIK upon the subject of whether or not anything is to be gained from buying elaborate and expensive cables, I'd just like to draw the attention of those Money Savers who do seek something better than a 50p HDMI lead from a market stall that, with a little Googling, it is possible to buy excellent QED Qunex HDMI leads (awarded 5 Stars by What Hi-FI? magazine) new and directly online at greatly cheaper prices than some people pay for them, second-hand, on eBay.

Check out this link: http://www.qed-cable-shop.co.uk/

All I'll add is that I found a 2-metre QED Qunex Performance HDMI lead (RRP £58.89) for even less money online (£33.48 including shipping) at A1 Sound in Sheffield.

And yes, on a 52" Sony LCD it indeed produces a better picture, with more detail and richer colour, than a cheap lead I bought as a temporary measure on my way home from the Richer Sounds sale on Boxing Day. This is not only my own perception but that of my companion, whose eyes are younger and sharper than one of mine at the moment, when subjected several times to comparative tests, on a proper basis, without her knowing which cable was which.

I shall be putting the cheap leads up for sale on eBay.

aliEnRIK

Amazon have the 1 meter version for 25 quid

aliEnRIK

"Is not black level part of colour accuracy?"

No. Black levels mean that in dark scenes a tv that can produce better black levels will look a whole lot more detailed.
Colour accracy just means that its accurate throughout whatever scale it DOES produce (Meaning its black level may not be so good)

Leopard

But, unfortunately, a one-metre cable wouldn't have been long enough for the particular need we had.

And the two other HDMI cables that I bought needed to be 5-metres long.



From all that I've read, it seems that for one-metre HDMI leads and a medium-sized television a simple cable can be good enough but once you start getting up to larger televisions and cable lengths of five metres there is indeed something worthwhile to be gained from more sophisticated leads.

The whole subject is one over which there is great dispute - much of it heated - and, to be honest, my own attitude was that I wasn't going to devote £150 of my time researching whether or not it would be a false economy to save £100 on cables to use with a £2,000 television and £700 of additional kit with 1,080p HDMI outputs. So I bought respected cables with which I figured I would definitely be safe - but I used Money Saving tactics to get them at a good price.

And I was very grateful to you for all the advice that you gave me, aliEnRIK. :A

PS. You've lost me on the "black level" argument. Don't understand why better black level is not a part of colour accuracy - surely the detail is derived from being able to render different hues of black accurately? Never mind; we're mighty pleased with both the colour and detail of our Sony 52w4000 (now) and I'll leave the technicalities as to why that is to those whose profession it is!

aliEnRIK

Sorry

I mean as follows ~

A poor tv will look completely 'grey' throughout, whilst a tv with decent 'black levels' will show shades of grey through black (Until completely black)
LCD screens in particular struggle with true black levels due to the backlight needed for the screen to work (Though theyre a hell of a lot better these days)

Pioneers KURO plasmas are state of the art at displaying true blacks (Which you would appreciate in very dark scenes)

Hope you understand it a little better now:p