HDMI Cables

[Y3k Bug]

Originally Posted by rded

Y3k: Let me ask you a fair question- Have you tried out different brands of HDMI cables and tried to ascertain if there are difference in AQ and PQ? Its just that your statements are so authoritative and final as if you had gone through all the battery of test yourself.

Very fair question. I have tried "some" different brands of cable. But I mainly base my arguments on the math (I'm a mathematical/logical kind of guy).

Logically, IF the cable is all digital, AND it is capable of carrying the signal (i.e. the cable isn't so long, or so poor quality the 1's and 0's blend into .5's)
then the EXACT same information will come out of it that goes in.

So any cable that meets those requirements (I will admit there are fringe circumstances where it might not be so, such as EXTREME interference) then the EXACT same information will come out of them. There is NO where possible for any change to the 1's and 0's in the cable itself.

Xneox and I were just having a friendly chat and I merely recomended alternative brands to him.... As far as my experience with hdmi cables: i have 3 freebie monster cables connected to BDP-receiver-tv and 1 rocketfish and 1 Generic($7) hdmi from frys. For the longest time, I was using the monsters and rocket fish(cablebox-receiver) but bought a BDP for the room so got me the genwric cable and first thing I noticed was WTF! What a degraded signal...Now does that merit that I get a better Hdmi cable? My answer is no because its just for cable viewing and am not that meticulous about it!

and I don't begrudge you making a recommendation if you are happy with your cables, but I do bristle when you try and say they're "better" when there is no way for them to be.

...the genwric cable...

Out of curiosity was this a cheaply made cable? Because there are instances when a poorly made cable isn't capable of doing it's job. It's just that there is no correlation between well made and high price.

In any event, it's all good. I certainly hope I'm not coming off as "unfriendly".

[Y3k Bug]

Originally Posted by xneox

I saw something that I, at the time, perceived to be a decrease in quality, when I expected to see no change, or hoped to see a positive change. Certainly I did not want, nor expect, to see a decrease in quality...and yet, there it was (or so I thought). For perception alone to become an individual's reality, there must be a certain level of expectation, desire, or fear (fear being a form of expectation)...and in this case, it was the opposite. Your argument has no merit under these circumstances.

you forgot your subconscious...for shame. Who knows what it might want/expect

If it makes you feel better, get more expensive cables...just don't try and convince me that my reality is wrong. As we all know, my reality is the real reality.

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by Y3k Bug

Very fair question. I have tried "some" different brands of cable. But I mainly base my arguments on the math (I'm a mathematical/logical kind of guy).

Logically, IF the cable is all digital, AND it is capable of carrying the signal (i.e. the cable isn't so long, or so poor quality the 1's and 0's blend into .5's)
then the EXACT same information will come out of it that goes in.

So any cable that meets those requirements (I will admit there are fringe circumstances where it might not be so, such as EXTREME interference) then the EXACT same information will come out of them. There is NO where possible for any change to the 1's and 0's in the cable itself.

You may be more logical and mathematically inclined than I am. I have Grad degrees in both Geology and Ecology/Zoology. I have been trained to do scientific testing and have done so for amongst other things my thesis.

However, I do not necessarily agree that HDMI cables are digital only 1s and 0s and it is quite possible that the HDMI organization is not totally correct in understanding what is going on with the cable designs. So, just as with other cabling, it is quite likely that materials, designs, shielding, damping, etc. may actually come into their own and influence the performance of these cables. There is so much in science and engineering that we just do not know and understand at the present time. Additionally many things in science and engineering at present may not be able to be measured or understood because we have not asked the right question or are not sure of what needs to be measured. We are constantly learning.

Rich

[crackinhedz]

By the time you guys power down and go behind your TV's, receivers, speakers etc...change connections, power back up, find the same scene/track/position etc...Your visual and echoic memory memory is gone. In the matter of seconds. Any comparison you make is pretty much guessing, or in many cases, Placebo.

You would need an ABX switcher for on the fly change.



Not to beat a dead horse...and which I try to mainly stay out of these 'which cable is better' threads...but many of these "tests" people do are flawed/biased.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

By the time you guys power down and go behind your TV's, receivers, speakers etc...change connections, power back up, find the same scene/track/position etc...Your visual and echoic memory memory is gone. In the matter of seconds. Any comparison you make is pretty much guessing, or in many cases, Placebo.

You would need an ABX switcher for on the fly change.



Not to beat a dead horse...and which I try to mainly stay out of these 'which cable is better' threads...but many of these "tests" people do are flawed/biased.

By the time they do all of that, I will have watched a couple of Blu movies, listened to a few SACD albums, gone to dinner, and will have had a few drinks.

Hey guys, stop arguing over things that are meaningless and enjoy your movies. I used to enjoy movies on late night shows with awful commercials on an 11" B&W TV.

[xneox]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

By the time you guys power down and go behind your TV's, receivers, speakers etc...change connections, power back up, find the same scene/track/position etc...Your visual and echoic memory memory is gone. In the matter of seconds. Any comparison you make is pretty much guessing, or in many cases, Placebo.

Not to get into a back-forth that will never end, but I bristle when people try to tell me what I did and/or did not see.

Nothing was powered down. The player was paused on one particular scene. The tv was left on. One cable was unplugged, the other plugged in. Repeat behind the other device. The change was not instantaneous, but took a matter of seconds.

There was a distinct difference. Period.

[xneox]

And in all of this crap about people telling me what I have/have not seen, one of my questions for the open-minded has been lost.

Is it likely that I will lose any improvement through the necessity of using a right-angle adapter?

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by Y3k Bug

In any event, it's all good. I certainly hope I'm not coming off as "unfriendly".

Not at all Y3k Bug! Discussions such as these are healthy and should take place. We're all entitled to our own beliefs and we all have different experiences. As long as the discussions don't get personal...it's all good, as you say.

Here's my opinion. I'm a huge believer in speaker cables, interconnect cables and power cables making a difference to one's system. The debate about HDMI is not one I'm familiar enough with to formulate an opinion on, but I can say this. One needs to have components with a level of quality that is somwhat above the general run of the mill set-ups we see so often, in order for upgraded cables (pick one) to have a perceived and demonstrable effect. Unless your playing the game in that ballpark, you're most likely not going to get anything out of the investment. Having said that, I would not jump at a $500 cable of X-type from X-brand simply because it was proven to be better. Maybe that "better" is just not worth the difference for the additonal expenditure I need to make.

I suppose all of this is about balance and finding that middle-ground whereby a good-quality upgrade of any sort makes a good value investment.

John

[Hammie]

Personally, I think cable construction is the biggest part of the difference one may or may not see or hear. Dealing with cabling in my job, there are certain cables that will be used in the core of the network versus the end user edge, especially when designing for HEMP sites.

The metals used, the amount of twists, the type connectors used, the amount and type of sheilding, and lengths all play a part in how the cable performs. Oh, by the way, all I work with are ones and zeros in both the data and voice worlds.

However, I also believe the hardware plays more of a part in the differences one may hear or see.

[xneox]

Flame on

[Chizzap30]

Originally Posted by John72953

Not at all Y3k Bug! Discussions such as these are healthy and should take place. We're all entitled to our own beliefs and we all have different experiences. As long as the discussions don't get personal...it's all good, as you say.

Here's my opinion. I'm a huge believer in speaker cables, interconnect cables and power cables making a difference to one's system. The debate about HDMI is not one I'm familiar enough with to formulate an opinion on, but I can say this. One needs to have components with a level of quality that is somwhat above the general run of the mill set-ups we see so often, in order for upgraded cables (pick one) to have a perceived and demonstrable effect. Unless your playing the game in that ballpark, you're most likely not going to get anything out of the investment. Having said that, I would not jump at a $500 cable of X-type from X-brand simply because it was proven to be better. Maybe that "better" is just not worth the difference for the additonal expenditure I need to make.

I suppose all of this is about balance and finding that middle-ground whereby a good-quality upgrade of any sort makes a good value investment.

John

EXACTLY.

[rded]

Originally Posted by Y3k Bug

Out of curiosity was this a cheaply made cable? Because there are instances when a poorly made cable isn't capable of doing it's job. It's just that there is no correlation between well made and high price.

In any event, it's all good. I certainly hope I'm not coming off as "unfriendly".

Yk3: just by occular inspection, the generic cable from frys does not have the same build and quality vs the monster and rocket fish and i believe this is the reason why the signal degradation.

[Chizzap30]

I wouldn't ever recommend purchasing the Rocket Fish or the Dynex HDMI from Best Buy a.k.a. Best Try for reason that Best Try owns both brands and the cost on them is ridiculously small for Best Try. Especially since they attempt to charge close to the same as they charge for some monster cables.

[rded]

Originally Posted by Chizzap30

I wouldn't ever recommend purchasing the Rocket Fish or the Dynex HDMI from Best Buy a.k.a. Best Try for reason that Best Try owns both brands and the cost on them is ridiculously small for Best Try. Especially since they attempt to charge close to the same as they charge for some monster cables.

I wouldn't buy them unless its FREE

[cinefan indian]

Guys some really insightful discussions in here...

I just came across this one...would it be worth a buy?
Bec they selling this one originally priced at $ 125 for just $ 22.49



http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...condition=used

[xneox]

Originally Posted by cinefan indian

Guys some really insightful discussions in here...

I just came across this one...would it be worth a buy?
Bec they selling this one originally priced at $ 125 for just $ 22.49



http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...condition=used

Huh.

Comments: BRAND NEW IN SEALED RETAIL PACKAGING- AMAZON WILL NOT ALLOW TO BE LISTED AS NEW. TOP OF THE LINE MONSTER HDMI CABLE WITH 1000HD AND ULTRA HIGH SPEED 10.2 GBPS BANDWIDTH. SHIPS WITHIN 48 HOURS OF ORDER

[xneox]

Originally Posted by John72953

One needs to have components with a level of quality that is somwhat above the general run of the mill set-ups we see so often, in order for upgraded cables (pick one) to have a perceived and demonstrable effect. Unless your playing the game in that ballpark, you're most likely not going to get anything out of the investment.

Displays, maybe. But any BD player worth its salt should be capable of showcasing a better quality connection, no?

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by xneox

Displays, maybe. But any BD player worth its salt should be capable of showcasing a better quality connection, no?

Perhaps and you'd have to try it on your own player for comparison. Like I said in my post, I have not formed any opinion on upgraded HDMI cables as I have yet to try it myself, but it could very well be that any BD player or HDMI enabled DVD player worth its salt could benefit.

John

[cinefan indian]

Originally Posted by xneox

Huh.

So is it worth a buy or not???

Xneox what wud or anyone here suggest? I need to order it quick as next week my cousin leaves from LA to Mumbai, India so i can get them along with him

[xneox]

Originally Posted by cinefan indian

So is it worth a buy or not???

Xneox what wud or anyone here suggest? I need to order it quick as next week my cousin leaves from LA to Mumbai, India so i can get them along with him

If I could use the straight-in style, I would have ordered two already at that price.