HDMI Cables?

[Mr Burns]

My brother laughed when he saw I was using scart leads on my Xbox, I've no idea why...

He suggests I purchase an HDMI cable instead, again I've no idea why...

On eBay these cables can be bought for as little as £1.70 posted, I'm guessing I avoid these?

As my brother is of little help, could someone shed some light on this? As you may have gathered technology isn't one of my favoured topics lol.

 

[DrR]

Even the cheap £1.70 ones will see epic improvements over scart.

 

[treemanx]

Lol, hdmi cables have been around so long now they're dirt cheap now.

 

[DrR]

I'm sure my ones where £1 each ages ago, as in years ago.

 

[Mr Burns]

So I just buy a £1.70 one off the bay? How about a £5-£10 one, will that be better still?

 

[DannyR]

All the same unless testing in a machine etc...

Just make sure it's HDMI 1.4

 

[mace¬]

Surely HDMI is a digital signal and therefore quality of transmission shouldn't be an issue as it is only transmitting 1's and 0's

I think the expensive ones are just for will waving although I may be completely wrong.

 

[MarkCup]

I get all my leads from www.kenable.co.uk

Available for pennies and they also accept PayPal so you don't have to get f***ed off dealing with r****d eBay sellers.

 

[George@RTR_Parts]

Can get half decent ones on amazon for a few quid. As said you will see the difference.

May be obvious, but check if your xbox has an hdmi out as iirc some of the early ones didn't.

 

[DrR]

http://www.techradar.com/news/video/why-you-dont-need-to-spend-more-than-2-on-an-hdmi-cable-1071343

 

[SC03OTT]

Asda. 90p. Done.

 

[Mr Burns]

Cheers folks, it does have an HDMI out... This could be the cheapest modification I make this year lol.

 

[Gouldy]

I think I paid a fiver for most of mine.

 

[treemanx]

Gadget show did a test years ago with expensive ones vs cheapo ones and they found no difference.

 

[Lal B3N]

Tesco sell them, about £5. Saves waiting for it then too.

Makes me laugh when you see PC world flogging them to idiots for over £60.

 

[Al_G]

Buy as cheap as possible, you're only paying for the quality of the cable.

 

[Gouldy]

Tesco sell them, about £5. Saves waiting for it then too.

Makes me laugh when you see PC world flogging them to idiots for over £60.

One of the labourers at work came in the other week and told me about his new TV. He told me about how amazing the picture was with his gold plated HDMI lead that cost him £50.

I had to walk away to stop my self laughing in his face.

 

[GBH14]

Unless your running distances over 10m or something then you will see 0 noticeable difference in a £1 cable and a £50 cable

 

[Darren S]

Cheers folks, it does have an HDMI out... This could be the cheapest modification I make this year lol.

And does your TV have HDMI In?

D.

 

[clio37]

I have a £40 gold oxygen free hdmi from phillips in my bedroom was a huge improvement from scart even chaper hdmi's
But last Christmas when bestbuy was closing down I got a BLACK/Red monster hdmi cable for £59 reduced from £140 so the label suggested.
Glad I didnt pay 140 cause it didnt seem any diffrent to my phillips amazing online reviews but no benefit. ..
After about £20 I think all cables are the same


All in your mind

 

[Lal B3N]

One of the labourers at work came in the other week and told me about his new TV. He told me about how amazing the picture was with his gold plated HDMI lead that cost him £50.

I had to walk away to stop my self laughing in his face.

Flol!

 

[B00mer]

Bought a cheap hdmi from amazon for me blu ray player and after 20 mins viewing it would start to flicker. Put my Xbox one on it instead no problems.

So I would say you get what you pay for.

B00m.

 

[MarkCup]

I have a £40 gold oxygen free hdmi from phillips in my bedroom was a huge improvement from scart even chaper hdmi's
But last Christmas when bestbuy was closing down I got a BLACK/Red monster hdmi cable for £59 reduced from £140 so the label suggested.
Glad I didnt pay 140 cause it didnt seem any diffrent to my phillips amazing online reviews but no benefit. ..
After about £20 I think all cables are the same


All in your mind

Flol!

 

[GBH14]

I have a £40 gold oxygen free hdmi from phillips in my bedroom was a huge improvement from scart even chaper hdmi's
But last Christmas when bestbuy was closing down I got a BLACK/Red monster hdmi cable for £59 reduced from £140 so the label suggested.
Glad I didnt pay 140 cause it didnt seem any diffrent to my phillips amazing online reviews but no benefit. ..
After about £20 I think all cables are the same


All in your mind

You seriously have spent £99 on 2 hdmi cables??

 

[SamP]

Jesus christ. Its a digital signal, it either works or it doesn't. There is no difference in image quality. Analogue was almost infinitely variable, therefore cable quality effected image. Did you use a payday loan to pay for them?

 

[guysy]

^ +1

Same as what I have read and been told time and time again, there is no real difference, it either works or it doesn't.

However gold plated ones can reduce or stop oxidation on the contacts is also what I have read.

I bought 2 on a hot deal a few weeks back for £1.49 each gold plated and braided. One works perfect, another doesn't. Is there any way it can be repaired by me or no?

 

[clio37]

Sadly yes. The first phillips one was only beacause I was buying a bluray player (i have 4 now so lets not go into that)a
nd it didnt have one listed on the box so I thought I better do it justice and get a good cable.

The Monster cable was me thinking if they charge nearly £150 it must be somthing special... and i wouldnt in my dreams spend that much so i had a good go only because it was Reduced + I hadnt long had a new tv so again fooled myself into thinking it would make it amazing.... no difference

 

[GBH14]

Jesus christ. Its a digital signal, it either works or it doesn't. There is no difference in image quality. Analogue was almost infinitely variable, therefore cable quality effected image. Did you use a payday loan to pay for them?

In simple term your right, but over a certain length and near magnetic fields you will hit problems. Most people at home will only run about 3m hdmi leads so it will never be a problem - a £1 cable would be fine.

When your running legths of say 25m you will have problems. rather than me explaining how, this does a good job...

As the length of the cable increases, not only does the signal strength decrease but so does the differentiation between each subsequent bit. If the signal quality is so bad that the machine at the other end cannot tell where one bit starts and another ends, it can guess (based on the signal strength) an incorrect value. The resulting signal is still digital, is it not? And yet it is incorrect. A poorly constructed cable’s signal degradation is affected by this problem, while high-quality cables often have active boosters. Thanks to this the signal strength stays at values that can be properly read (as a 1 and a 0) and will not blend with their neighboring bits.

 

[Cr33do]

^correct. Why do you think Ethernet copper links have cable length restrictions also. But I agree that nominal length hdmi cables for most tv installs offer equal performance.

More to the point has your Tv got a hdmi port? If so how long has it taken you to work out to buy hdmi?

 

[DannyR]

In simple term your right, but over a certain length and near magnetic fields you will hit problems. Most people at home will only run about 3m hdmi leads so it will never be a problem - a £1 cable would be fine.

When your running legths of say 25m you will have problems. rather than me explaining how, this does a good job...

As the length of the cable increases, not only does the signal strength decrease but so does the differentiation between each subsequent bit. If the signal quality is so bad that the machine at the other end cannot tell where one bit starts and another ends, it can guess (based on the signal strength) an incorrect value. The resulting signal is still digital, is it not? And yet it is incorrect. A poorly constructed cable’s signal degradation is affected by this problem, while high-quality cables often have active boosters. Thanks to this the signal strength stays at values that can be properly read (as a 1 and a 0) and will not blend with their neighboring bits.

I'd love to see a HDMI at 25m that works

 

[Mr Burns]

^correct. Why do you think Ethernet copper links have cable length restrictions also. But I agree that nominal length hdmi cables for most tv installs offer equal performance.

More to the point has your Tv got a hdmi port? If so how long has it taken you to work out to buy hdmi?

Yes, they both have HDMI ports. I explain myself in the first post... I just don't go near technology if I can help it, but I occasionally have a go on Forza when I'm really bored. If I can improve the picture for a quid I will!

 

[Al_G]

I have a £40 gold oxygen free hdmi from phillips in my bedroom was a huge improvement from scart even chaper hdmi's
But last Christmas when bestbuy was closing down I got a BLACK/Red monster hdmi cable for £59 reduced from £140 so the label suggested.
Glad I didnt pay 140 cause it didnt seem any diffrent to my phillips amazing online reviews but no benefit. ..
After about £20 I think all cables are the same


All in your mind

All cables are the same regardless of price.

The only thing you're paying for is cable quality.

 

[Dan519]

This has just prompted me to order an HDMI cable. I've just used Scart for years becuase I had it. Not sure why a new xbox (mines less than 12 months old) doesn't come with an HDMI lead if they're £1!!!

 

[Cr33do]

If you guys are running a standard scart lead (not component lead) the main difference you will notice is playing stuff in high definition surely?

The quality of a particular hdmi cable will be insignificant compared to that change.

 

[Gouldy]

I'm amazed at how many people appear to be still using scart leads.

 

[Amos91]

The difference is going to be like night and day for you guys.

 

[Padso]

Lol at paying silly money for a hdmi cable! We used to buy the 1m cables in china for £1.30!

I near cried paying £12 odds for a flat 10m hdmi cable for the projector.

 

[yellowbelly]

When I bought my TV from Currys the chap in there was trying to flog me HDMI leads for like £80. Said I'd need tthem to view 3D.
Lol nob

What alot experience is that (i think I'm right in saying) Sky+ boxes don't have HDMI ports so its Scart only, whereas the Sky+Hd's do

 

[C.J]

I buy £5 HDMI cables.

I use them for the PS3/Xbox/ATV/Amp. They work fine with 3D and full 1080p.

 

[*Badger*]

I've got loads of these and they are brilliant, I've used £50 cables before and these are just as good, what hi-if best buys too.

http://www.thatcable.com/product/HDMI-Male-to-Male-Cable-Type-A-(Standard)-Version-1-3BHDMI-1.3b