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Old 13-07-2009, 14:01
Tinker7
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I've just purchased a Sony Blu-Ray S360 player to compliment my Humax Freesat+ and Sony 40W5500.
Unlike the the Humax Freesat+, the Sony S360 comes with no HDMI cable.
The shop avised me to get a good quality Cat2 V1.3c cable for my s360.
This brings me to my question - What is the specification of the HDMI cable supplied with the Humax Freesat+?
Also, has any seem any quality changes using any other hi spec cables?
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Old 13-07-2009, 14:15
Snoods
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I use 3 of them on my various setups, they are all cheapies from ebay. My neighbour bought a "Good" one from the high street at £20 needless to say it's no better.

HDMI cables work or they don't work, there's no difference in quality.

I even use a cheapy ebay 10m (not really recommended) HDMI cable to connect an xbox to a bedroom, and it works great, cost me £8

Don't be ripped off, whatever you decide.


There's tons of the little blighters on the online tat bazzar.

http://electronics.shop.ebay.co.uk/i..._sopZ15QQ_scZ1
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Old 13-07-2009, 14:30
Nigel Goodwin
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The shop avised me to get a good quality Cat2 V1.3c cable for my s360.
They advised you that because they make an obscene profit from it - a £5 HDMI lead will work just as perfectly as your expensive one.
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Old 13-07-2009, 15:08
jwball
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They advised you that because they make an obscene profit from it - a £5 HDMI lead will work just as perfectly as your expensive one.
Seconded. I use the standard one that came with the HDR and have had no problems whatsoever. The only time you will get problems is with a poorly constructed cable leading to signal errors.

As a rule though any HDMI cable should do the job admirably. Don't pay silly money for one though.
A number of people I know have paid £80+ and have developed emperors new clothes syndrome when it comes to picture quality.
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Old 13-07-2009, 15:58
GaseousClay
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I bought 2x 2 metre HDMI cables (Tevion Brand) from Aldi couple of weeks ago... £3.99
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Old 13-07-2009, 16:02
froxfieldrover
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Also, has any seem any quality changes using any other hi spec cables?
I can't see why there would be any difference in image quality. The signal is digital so as long as the cable can send 0s and 1s and is not damaged it will be ok. I've seen them going for 50p somewhere on amazon a while back.. plus post of course but I would have been happy with that - it had good reviews!

.... just edited to include this link.. here is one for a lowest price new of 1p with lots of good reviews!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...sr=8-1&seller=

or a premium GOLD same price...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MicroVillage...m_cr_pr_sims_t

although if you include postage the 68p one looks best buy on the second link.. - I am tempted to get another, I do need one and...... gold!!


Patrick
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Old 13-07-2009, 17:56
Flyer 10
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The expensive cables are a con (the best one Ive seen is £1500 for a standard computer/kettle type cable), the picture will be exactly the same as its digital, either the 1s and 0s get there or they dont.

The only way dearer cables could be of any benefit is if you are getting interference on the cheaper ones.
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Old 13-07-2009, 18:16
Snoods
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The expensive cables are a con (the best one Ive seen is £1500 for a standard computer/kettle type cable), the picture will be exactly the same as its digital, either the 1s and 0s get there or they dont.
Absolute rubbish Flyer 10, i wouldn't buy anything cheaper than that, why ? "Because i'm worth it."

Worth every penny, i say, worth every penny.
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Old 13-07-2009, 20:22
carvell
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The expensive cables are a con (the best one Ive seen is £1500 for a standard computer/kettle type cable), the picture will be exactly the same as its digital, either the 1s and 0s get there or they dont.

The only way dearer cables could be of any benefit is if you are getting interference on the cheaper ones.
Wot he said.

If a £3.99 one works, then an expensive one will be no better.
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Old 14-07-2009, 00:31
Flyer 10
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Absolute rubbish Flyer 10, i wouldn't buy anything cheaper than that, why ? "Because i'm worth it."

Worth every penny, i say, worth every penny.
The guys website was hilarious, he said youd be able to hear the difference if you used it on your amp,

Eventually he got taken to trading standards and had to town down the claims. I wish I still remembered the url of it.
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Old 14-07-2009, 11:48
Meister
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The Gadget Show on Ch 5 tested HDMI cables some time ago using a cheap one and a very expensive one in a side by side test. No one was able to tell the difference for everyday use.

I think they concluded that the expensive ones are not worth the money but not sure as I was distracted by Suzi Perry
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Old 14-07-2009, 19:23
snaithg
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The guys website was hilarious, he said youd be able to hear the difference if you used it on your amp,

Eventually he got taken to trading standards and had to town down the claims. I wish I still remembered the url of it.
Is this the one you were looking for ?

http://www.russandrews.com/product.a...HRMSXUDYBJCLSZ

I can highly recommend the 2m version, I use it on my Toaster, makes wonderful toast.


Graham.
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Old 14-07-2009, 20:44
goggled
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Hilarious surely has to be russabbott not russandrews?
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Old 14-07-2009, 21:24
Flyer 10
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Is this the one you were looking for ?

http://www.russandrews.com/product.a...HRMSXUDYBJCLSZ

I can highly recommend the 2m version, I use it on my Toaster, makes wonderful toast.


Graham.
Thats the one, I bet you can really taste the difference! Only morons would buy that, the sad thing is there are enough morons in the world to make a site like that successful.

Personally I think it must be footballers buying crap like that.
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Old 18-07-2009, 21:44
Bob_Cat
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Old 18-07-2009, 21:46
Bob_Cat
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Slightly off topic, but in my previous life I would spend up to £1500 per meter on coax cables, but they came with:
* a calibration certificate
* a calibration chart generated from a RF network analyser

They were made with special metal alloys (including precious metals) and could be hand made to the length I ordered. But in my defense they were calibrated to 18GHz for reference measurements and I did use them for SHF work!

I never could justify the thousands for the calibrated torque spanner set for RF connectors (SMA, etc) from Agilent.
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Old 19-07-2009, 09:42
germanycalling
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Thats the one, I bet you can really taste the difference! Only morons would buy that, the sad thing is there are enough morons in the world to make a site like that successful.

Personally I think it must be footballers buying crap like that.
Spot on! Unbelievable! I've never read such a load of Cods before, and I'm not talking Cash on Delivery here! ............

"silver conductors insulated with Teflon for very low resistance" Personally I prefer PVC () as it has quite a high resistance which stops me from getting 230 Volts up my arm should I touch it etc.etc.etc. I would have a guess that it was Bankers (Cockney rhyming slang) who bought that stuff.
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Old 19-07-2009, 12:39
Pugwash69
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I think I had this argument with someone about optical audio cables once. And about CD-R. It will never end!
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Old 19-07-2009, 16:19
Flyer 10
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Someone said different CDRs make the sound better than others?

Analogue cables get better with the more you spend but most people wont notice the difference except when they upgrade the bellwire.

With digital, either the 1s and 0s get there or they dont.

Audiophiles are complete freaks when it comes to outlandish claims.
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Old 19-07-2009, 17:09
Pugwash69
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Well better quality CDR's can handle high speeds of read/write and work in more/different hardware, but if you can get your music onto one and play it back, it's a digital replication same any other CDR.
I think it was an audiophile that insisted otherwise, even if I could demonstrate this with a binary comparison.
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Old 20-07-2009, 17:14
Badvok
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LOL, I love reading threads like this. All the jealous fools who can't afford to spend ridiculous amounts of money on their system, calling those that do, offensive names.
If I could afford to spend £1,000s on my system I would definitely buy the very best cables available just to get the absolutely best sound/picture possible. Unfortunately I'm not that rich On the other hand, for those who don't really think silly little things like RFI or CDR can make a difference (albeit slight) I suggest you read up on 'Jitter' - go on - you know you can FWSE it. Lastly, don't forget that in electronics there is no such thing as 'true digital', it is ALL analogue. To transmit a perfect digital signal on a wire you'd need a cable with infinite bandwidth (a square wave is the sum of an infinite number of frequencies).
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Old 20-07-2009, 17:32
sadbiker
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Slightly off topic, but in my previous life I would spend up to £1500 per meter on coax cables, but they came with:
* a calibration certificate
* a calibration chart generated from a RF network analyser

They were made with special metal alloys (including precious metals) and could be hand made to the length I ordered. But in my defense they were calibrated to 18GHz for reference measurements and I did use them for SHF work!

I never could justify the thousands for the calibrated torque spanner set for RF connectors (SMA, etc) from Agilent.
Bet in that previous life someone else was footing the bill for the cables and the test equipment..... Spectrum analiser ?
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Old 20-07-2009, 20:26
Pugwash69
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To transmit a perfect digital signal on a wire you'd need a cable with infinite bandwidth (a square wave is the sum of an infinite number of frequencies).
You only need to be able to distinguish between either side of a threshold though, so you have one massive range of signal representing a one or a zero.

I can afford a £100 HDMI cable, but when it's the same as a £3 I'll spend the money on a few bottle of bourbon instead. My loss.
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Old 21-07-2009, 07:59
sadbiker
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When I went out to buy a HDMI cable I looked at the so called expensive cables in the shops.

The reason why I spent £20 on a ok cable was simple non of these cables actually had on the boxes any real specifications. ie frequency cutoffs, max length etc not even a frequency graph. So have to say spending £100 on a cable just because the box says its better than a £20 cheaper cable simply doesn't cut.

Personally for the small lengths we are using for most connections at home <2m in length I would suggest there will be no noticeable difference. Its when you are using longer lengths you will need higher quality. But I like to know that the cable I am buying is actually worth buying first.
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Old 21-07-2009, 09:31
Nigel Goodwin
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I can afford a £100 HDMI cable, but when it's the same as a £3 I'll spend the money on a few bottle of bourbon instead. My loss.
Your gain!
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