Currys Panasonic TH42PX60B 42" High Definition TV £899

gromituk

fwhorn wrote:

Gromit,
1 My friend is not a scientist.

Is he even an engineer? Does he understand the principles behind transmission lines, for example?

2 The yacht in question was having a audio/visual fitting, so that what has to do with the question of cable/leads. Do you know any owners of yachts or people of serious money who can give you a blind test?

Sorry, I don't understand your point. To expand on mine: your friend would make a cut on the cables so it would be in his interests financially to use the most expensive cables he thought he could get away with, and with that sort of customer, good luck to him!

3 How can I be duped if I get things for free.

You can still be duped by thinking that you get better results with operpriced cables, but I agree, it's good you don't lose out from it financially like the average punter.

4 Are you saying that there is no difference in leads full stop.

No, absolutely not, but herein lies the problem. Vendors of overpriced leads try to extrapolate the difference between something truly awful and something which works but is cheap, to something which is vastly overpriced. Moreover, it is really very hard to make something that carries line-level analogue audio a foot or three between hifi components that is truly awful. That sort of signal really isn't peturbed by anything better than damp string, and I would challenge anyone in a double-blind test to be able to tell the difference. Video contains much higher frequencies which results in it being more susceptible to cable problems - hence you may really see a difference between the cheapest SCART leads and those which contain coaxial cables - just as you have quoted from Wikipedia. But that does not mean that once you are using coaxial cables you can continue to make great performance leaps by using more expensive materials and printing Burberry check on the sheath.

5 I havn't done a blind test with 2 of the same tvs, but have swaped a cheap scart to decent scart and sorry to say, the decent scart won hands down.

I don't disagree with that - see the above. But, once again, you can't extrapolate, either to more expensive cables, or to cables for other situations.

Read the thread and not one person agrees with you. Why would he waste his time on you, you are quite happy with your £1.00 scarts.

I politely request that you read the thread, to avoid putting words in my mouth. I use SCARTS containing coaxial cables - which do not usually cost £1.00, but if I saw one that did, I wouldn't be put off buying it...

fwhorn

Gromit,

are you saying that some leads are better than others, and you are against the price, that some companies charge.


"It's probably because you are non-technical that you are asking that question: looks like you have been persuaded by marketeers that you need to spend silly amounts on silly bits of wire with silly names and silly appearances. You don't. They are the successor to the overpriced extended warranty con."

Just so you dont have to go through the thread, this is what you put. The way you have wrote it says that a cheap one is decent, and a £1.00 jobie will do the job.

You posted about piximania not being part of DSG, then edited it and admited that was wrong, so I take it you will admit when you are wrong. Which some people wouldn't, so I take my hat off to that.

No where in my thread do I refer to price, your first post attacks me about the pricing. As for my mate, why do I have to ask him anything, seen the difference when he changed some leads. You have not substantaited anything you have said. Even though what you are saying maybe right.

This how I started.

"I am not technical, but are you using decent leads?"

Dosn't mention price anywhere. Does it?

Please dont put words into my mouth.

gromituk

deanos wrote:

The old one was fully wired, the new cable definately improved the picture

But did the old one contain coaxial cables or 21 identical wires? I'd also be interested to know how long the cables are.

deanos

gromituk wrote:

But did the old one contain coaxial cables or 21 identical wires? I'd also be interested to know how long the cables are.

I'm sorry but i ain't cutting up a scart cable, the picture has definitely improved and thats all I'm bothered about :cool:

MonkeySaving?

gromituk wrote:

But did the old one contain coaxial cables or 21 identical wires? I'd also be interested to know how long the cables are.

Watch this guy, if he had it his way we'd all be watching "swisstech" plasmas with £1 SCART cables lol. :rotfl:

Nickygoat

fwhorn wrote:

Please feel free to read the rest of the passage, or is wikipedia and all the people who have stated that they have changed scart leads and got better results, WRONG.

:rotfl:

Wiki is quite often incorrect. Take anything you read on there with a pinch of salt.

Peer review. :rolleyes:

I have to agree with Gromit here.

fwhorn

Low cost cables sometimes only have some of the pins connected, which gives just basic sound and video transfer capabilities. The more expensive, fully wired cables can handle component Red / Green / Blue video signals, and also special signalling pulses which can automatically switch the TV to widescreen when a widescreen transmission is detected at the satellite box.

Not Wiki :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/scart.html


I disagree with the price angle. But there are good leads and bad leads, and that was my point.

Timmy

gromituk wrote:

But did the old one contain coaxial cables or 21 identical wires? I'd also be interested to know how long the cables are.

A few years ago a bunch of us played around with an unbranded (but fully wired) basic scart, a £25 lead (Profigold I think) and a £50 Ixos all 1 metre length. We took it in turns swapping the cables about but using the RGB input each time and everyone in the room picked the Ixos as best everytime. I personally thought £50 was little to pay for such an improvement when using a £1000 tv but one of the guys in the room at the time went out and bought the £50 Ixos cable the next day to use on his portable £300 Sony telly in his bedsit as he was so impressed with the improvements! My point is, if we were all picking the Ixos out as the best of the three EVERY time then it's gotta tell you something surely?

gromituk

Timmy wrote:

if we were all picking the Ixos out as the best of the three EVERY time then it's gotta tell you something surely?

That you weren't doing a double-blind test.

gromituk

deanos wrote:

I'm sorry but i ain't cutting up a scart cable, the picture has definitely improved and thats all I'm bothered about :cool:

You don't have to - the internals of all conventional SCART leads can be examined simply by unscrewing the cable clamp on one of the plugs and gently prising it open. You can also release all the terminals with a small screwdriver and then you can pass the cable through smallish holes without resorting to a soldering iron.