Discussion
Ladies and Gents
I am in need of a new HDMI cable as my little lad has broken the cable connecting the PS3/Bluray player to the Plasma screen.
The current cable was about £20 and seemed to do the job just fine , is there really any benefit of spending more on a cable or wil a similar cable be just as good
I am in need of a new HDMI cable as my little lad has broken the cable connecting the PS3/Bluray player to the Plasma screen.
The current cable was about £20 and seemed to do the job just fine , is there really any benefit of spending more on a cable or wil a similar cable be just as good
I have had expensive(ish) cables and very cheap cables... I have noticed absolutely no difference whatsoever. I think as long as the cable doesn't actually fall apart, it should deliver the signal as it should. There is an argument to say if you need a long cable then spend a bit more, but I have no evidence to back this up.
There are differences from cheap cables to expensive ones but they will all work. Usually down to the quality of materials, don't expect the ultra cheap ones to have the longevity or tolerance of more expensive ones. Equally don't expect a £25 one to have a better picture than a £5 one.
rumple said:
Which magazine did a test on these, they found a 20 pound Tesco one performed as well as one costing 160 pounds, id buy one rather than use the one out of the box but i wouldnt spend more than 20 quid on one.
I would happily use the free one out of the box! Like the others said, if it works it works...I guess with something that gets installed and not moved very often like home cinema, the quality of the materials isn't too important either.
I would spend a bit more if it was a cable that was going to be subject to regular movement or plugging/unplugging as clearly this would stress the item a bit more.
NinjaPower said:
I would spend a bit more if it was a cable that was going to be subject to regular movement or plugging/unplugging as clearly this would stress the item a bit more.
Yup. That's the main benefit of good cables. Since HDMI is digital, if you aren't getting any artifacts with a £1 cable a £1,000 cable won't make it any better.
skoff said:
I have had expensive(ish) cables and very cheap cables... I have noticed absolutely no difference whatsoever. I think as long as the cable doesn't actually fall apart, it should deliver the signal as it should. There is an argument to say if you need a long cable then spend a bit more, but I have no evidence to back this up.
I remember reading an article a couple of years ago about technical tests on 10 metre long cables. There were some measureable differences between the super cheap compared to the rest. However when they actually used the cables in actual AV systems they could not see of hear any difference in any of the cables.By the way I bought a short HDMI cable from Toolstation for my Raspberry Pi - £3.48 for 0.5m. The HDMI to DVI converter cost more.
I think I used this company or one very similarly named.. http://www.thatcable.com/category/HDMI-Cables/sub
There are some different specifications for 3D and so on, but I doubt many people play that much 3D and again, a £5 cable will work fine for this.
I think he cables I've got are 1.3b standard or something and they work fine with 1080p Blu Ray and so in. You probably can't get 1.3 stuff anymore - from the website above, it all seemed to be 1.4, which is 3D and 1080p rated.
As others have said if you've got a 1m or 1.5m long cable, there won't be any problem. But if you were (why??) going for a 10m long cable, then you may well have an issue, but again a 1.4 standard cable should be fine and won't be £££.
Thankfully I'd had a look online about cables - the pair in Comet or Currys whichever one, and the salespeople attempted to get me to "only" go for a £65 cable... as opposed to the £130 one.. WTF??? no thanks
There are some different specifications for 3D and so on, but I doubt many people play that much 3D and again, a £5 cable will work fine for this.
I think he cables I've got are 1.3b standard or something and they work fine with 1080p Blu Ray and so in. You probably can't get 1.3 stuff anymore - from the website above, it all seemed to be 1.4, which is 3D and 1080p rated.
As others have said if you've got a 1m or 1.5m long cable, there won't be any problem. But if you were (why??) going for a 10m long cable, then you may well have an issue, but again a 1.4 standard cable should be fine and won't be £££.
Thankfully I'd had a look online about cables - the pair in Comet or Currys whichever one, and the salespeople attempted to get me to "only" go for a £65 cable... as opposed to the £130 one.. WTF??? no thanks
I tend to buy the amazonbasics cables. They are cheap, and as has been said, the only real difference is build quality! I tend to buy the latest spec of HDMI, simply because that's all they seem to stock. I also know with amazon I get free shipping, they arrive next day, and there is a decent customer services if they are broken on arrival.
Depends on the length, at longer lengths cable becomes an issue more. The cable has various electrical qualities including capacitance, at the very high frequencies on HDMI this is an issue.
For short lengths the 0.5m Tesco value £1.99 jobbies work fine, at least they do for me.
Analogue is another matter.......
For short lengths the 0.5m Tesco value £1.99 jobbies work fine, at least they do for me.
Analogue is another matter.......
Digital signals should not be affected by what cable they travel through. The fact is that, they like any signal, are dependent on the material that they transfer through. The problem comes down to whether you can actually notice the difference, the answer to which is often no. I've seen a significant difference to the picture and sound of my parents tv when upgrading a HDMI cable and so did my mum (She was extremely sceptical to say the least) I reckon the cable we had come with the box was shot so I'd go and get a heavy duty one, however keep the receipt if you're not convinced.
HDMI cables are digital, that means they either transmit a 1 or a 0, basically voltage or no voltage, so provided they work there is no benefit to spending more than the cheapest you can find, any b
ks about how xyz is needed because the quality is better is a lie, it will either work or it wont, if the errors reach a level that the processor can't handle it wont work, simple.
ks about how xyz is needed because the quality is better is a lie, it will either work or it wont, if the errors reach a level that the processor can't handle it wont work, simple.Big Worm 1 said:
As stated above, it's a digital signal so isn't affected the same way as an analogue signal would be. I've bought a couple of cables off eBay for around £5 each and they have been absolutely fine.
True but as The Burg says above it does depend on distance.....there is an issue with HDMI technology where it doesn't work over long runs. That does call into question the digital signal argument a bit as it's not like it works absolutely fine at 10m and at 11m it doesn't....there is some degradation or lack of reliability before they stop working. Gassing Station | Home Cinema & Hi-Fi | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff