Cryogenically frozen plugs, hundred quid HDMI cables and now...

weegie.geek

RobTang wrote: »

Assuming theres no error checking / correction then the quality of your transit medium is quite important.

True, but when there's no error checking the transit medium is either sufficient or it isn't. Bits reach the other side or they become corrupted. I know there's error correction in DVB broadcasting, but it's closer to what we're talking about than data transferred via SATA.

In DVB broadcasting there are checksums but if something doesn't make it (signal problems) then you'll see corruption on screen, the audio will distort, or whatever. There's no retransmission like there would be via SATA etc.

If the signal's reaching the tuner fine then the signal reaches you in the same state as it was when it was broadcast. Upgrading your cables won't make the colours richer or the detail sharper like some people seem to think.

Digital cables are either sufficient or they're not. Beyond a certain point higher quality/more expensive cables do nothing at all.

bluboy

Well I hate to throw a spanner in the works but I've just copied my CV from my hard drive to a CD using titanium gold alloy SATA cables and I swear my A-level results have improved!

Oh well, if the new boss ever catches me I'll say it woz the SATA wot did it!

rrf494g

Not exactly true

There is a level of distorting audio and of corrupted video that is "corrected" by the final stage of the process - the brain. So that as an AV signal starts to distort in minor ways, the brain will try to correct it, to what "it knows" it should be. Of course, as distortion becomes greater and greater, the brain will lose control of this filter and the distortion will become conscious to the viewer/listener.

Before the distortion becomes conscious the person may experience a "disatisfaction" with the picture/sound because it is literally "hard work" for the brain to keep up this reprocessing. When this background distortion goes away, the person finds the experience more relaxing. (This may be the reason that some (sensible) reviewers come up with weird expressions for the improvements they perceive with various cables)

Again, I am not saying that expensive connecting cables are always needed. Any cable that passes a true signal with no loss/distortion is of course, good enough. However, getting to that state may not be as simple as some have been saying.
regards

dealer_wins

bluboy wrote: »

Well I hate to throw a spanner in the works but I've just copied my CV from my hard drive to a CD using titanium gold alloy SATA cables and I swear my A-level results have improved!

Just sprayed the sip of coffee I was taking all over the monitor. Thats just about the best and funnyest post ive ever read online!!!!

DVardysShadow

rrf494g wrote: »

I don't know, or care, about HDMI cables, but I do know about digital transfers into/out of/ around computers.

It is not all or nothing.

There are extensive error checking and correction systems in play that vary with the connection, the component and the software in use. There are hardware methods, such as parity checking/correction which invove adding extra information into the data stream so that incorrect combinations of bits can be detected and, in some cases, corrected, or methods that detect errors and request a re-send. There are software checking/correction methods that have "reasonableness" logic around the stream of data being sent/received ( eg rates of change at an aggregated level).

So

poor data connections can "survive" and produce "distorted" results where the error corrections carried out, do not exactly re-create the original data stream. Good data connections can then produce a more true reproduction.

This is not to say that high priced connection cables are better - it is to suggest that it is not all or nothing.
regards

So SATA can deliver data with errors and nearly correct it but not quite? Ridiculous.

SATA is used among other things to transfer executable programs from hard drive to memory. The consequences of an error here are totally unpredictable. If you change just 1 bit, the program will not run correctly. A single bit error would be intolerable.

The error correction is done in hardware - it cannot be done by software, because software correction would require a program to be loaded across the SATA link which would require the program to be in place to load itself correctly.

Granted there are error correction schemes which can 'nearly perfectly' correct for substantial media damage on entertainment DVDs and CDs. But this level of damage would render data media useless. This error correction is contained within the media player and does not come into play for the SATA link.

debitcardmayhem

DVardysShadow wrote: »

So SATA can deliver data with errors and nearly correct it but not quite? Ridiculous.

SATA is used among other things to transfer executable programs from hard drive to memory. The consequences of an error here are totally unpredictable. If you change just 1 bit, the program will not run correctly. A single bit error would be intolerable.

The error correction is done in hardware - it cannot be done by software, because software correction would require a program to be loaded across the SATA link which would require the program to be in place to load itself correctly.

Granted there are error correction schemes which can 'nearly perfectly' correct for substantial media damage on entertainment DVDs and CDs. But this level of damage would render data media useless. This error correction is contained within the media player and does not come into play for the SATA link.

Sorry , but not quite true hardware is dumb until it is programmed ie software . Rest of arguments hold more or less true. Off is Off, On is On, but which is Off and which is On is part of software (ie perception) .

Of course binary is based on on/off or +/- but better way to design computers is of course trinary ie detect -5/0/+5 or better still use -~/+~ therefore using infinite states , mind you I won't offer to design the instruction set nor the compiler:D

DVardysShadow

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Sorry , but not quite true hardware is dumb until it is programmed ie software . Rest of arguments hold more or less true. Off is Off, On is On, but which is Off and which is On is part of software (ie perception) .

On and Off are etched into the silicon as part of the gate. No amount of programming has the least influence on that.

Any error correction on the link can only be firmware at best, for reasons already explained.

Trinitrotoluene

The ignorance of some people here over how SATA and hardware works in general is amazing. It doesn't matter how you dress this up or what arguments you use - a SATA cable will have no effect on sound quality, at all, ever. The end.

Reading this thread is like playing a game of "spot the logical fallacy".

JasX

Further discussion

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/that-sata-cable-saga-the-aftermath/9382

googler

With the responses here, I'm not surprised Mr Steward decided to take down the responses to his blog.

So far, he's been referred to as a 'moron', I've been termed a 'village idiot', and in the further reading referred to above, Mr Steward is on the receiving end of more insults, including someone who thinks he should be jailed until he provides a scientific explanation.....

!!!!!!, what's everyone so annoyed about?

Can't anyone discuss the topic with insulting the other side? Why all the name-calling?

Hmm?