bassett
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 10:07 AM |
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Recommend me a HDMI cable
Hi, after taking everyones advice on an LCD - bought a new 40 inch 1080p samsung series 5 for £450. Can anyone help the cables - what where and how
much for a good hdmi cable to link the new tv to the xbox.
Cheers
Adam
My MNR Blog Updated Jan 2010 - Track Day Prep Begins!
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UncleFista
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 10:26 AM |
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5m Plexus HDMI cable for only £6 here. It'll be fine for the xbox, and difficult to find cheaper
Tony Bond / UncleFista
Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...
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bassett
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 10:35 AM |
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Wow thats a lot cheaper than i thought. i think i only need 1m but probably best to go for 2m. My friend at PC world who helped me get the LCD cheap
said expect to pay upto £80 for one!!! will quality vary a lot for the cheaper versions?
My MNR Blog Updated Jan 2010 - Track Day Prep Begins!
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hobbsy
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 10:35 AM |
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If its only a short one you need the quality is not very important.
There are loads of places and for a short one you can go cheaper than £6. Hell even home bargains had them for £1.
http://ukhdmi.com/
or eBay...
ebuyers postage can be steep for just one item unless they've changed it?
[Edited on 18/12/08 by hobbsy]
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DarrenW
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 10:40 AM |
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i bought a Panasonic cable from local retailer for about £30. Those above are way cheaper and probs fine. As with the recent threads on hi-fi cables
there is so much bully about paying 3 fortunes for cables. Unless you have broadcast quality kit you probs wont notice any difference.
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neilj37
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 10:40 AM |
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I was told the quality of the HDMI cable doesn't matter if it is only short up to 3m. Beyond that you need to start looking at better quality.
I paid £20 for a decent 3m from John Lewis.
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bassett
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 10:48 AM |
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Ok thats great. Il go for a cheap one for the length i need. If its not great its not a big loss anyway and i can always opt for a better one if i
need the length at a later date.
Cheers
Adam
My MNR Blog Updated Jan 2010 - Track Day Prep Begins!
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Rob Bartley
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 10:57 AM |
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When I bought a plasma a couple of years ago a guy from a really expensive / high-end home cinema installation company advised that so much fluff is
spoken about HDMI cables & he supplied me with one that they use for about a fiver & it works great.
Only thing is if you read up in the mags they are always banging on about spending shed loads on HDMI cables. 
Confusing really!! But I'm not going to worry about forking out for an expensive one. Just enjoy the yummyness of the piccy from my cheapo
cable
I WILL get out again!!
I have a little bit......need more......
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Peteff
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 11:38 AM |
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NOOOoooooo ! You have to have the one with the unobtanium core, solid gold contacts and the low resistance insulation so the signal doesn't
degrade.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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jabbahutt
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 11:38 AM |
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forgive my stpidity but as HDMI carries a digital signal then as long as the signal of 1's & 0's get from one end to the other without
problem shouldn't all the cables provide the same quality?
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Agriv8
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 11:42 AM |
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I am sure someone will flame me for this but its digital signal (on and offs ) and to quote my BT engineer at work you can nearly get a digital signal
down a damp peice of sting. yes quality needs to be good if your switching the signal on an off very quckly. but personally a ( next one up from the
cheepest ) you should be ok
Taller than your average Guy !
Management is like a tree of monkeys. - Those at the top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces. BUT Those at the bottom look up and see a
tree full of a*seholes .............
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Rob Bartley
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 11:44 AM |
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Wow! If i could get the unobtanium core version as opposed to the cheap tri-plexi-corital version i have, my piccy would look soooooo much better
Thanks for the heads up Peteff.
I WILL get out again!!
I have a little bit......need more......
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hobbsy
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 04:17 PM |
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One of my faves is directional speaker cable.
Wonder if they do directional HDMI cables too? Make sure you plug it in the right way around! 
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neilj37
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 04:25 PM |
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HDMI 1.2 works up to 1.65Gbps. The 165MHz is the pixel frequency. There are 10bits/pixel (using the standard 24bit color - 8 bits per RGB lane, then
TMDS coding that adds 2 more bits per lane). Note that the minimum 20% to 80% transition time for HDMI 1.2 is 75 picoseconds. So even HDMI 1.2 can
contain some very high frequency energy.
So the characteristic impedance (Z0) of a transmission line is the square root of (L/C). Using a large gauge only increases the capacitance minutely.
Capacitance is related to the closeness of the two wires, the dielectric constant of the material between the wires, and the amount of surface area
where the electric field developes. Increasing the gauge only increases the surface area component, and increases capacitance. But note that
increasing the gauge decreases inductance. Inductance relates to the area between the wires, the dielectric, and the current density flowing down the
wires. When gauge is increased, the inductance would decrease as long as the spacing between the wires was kept the same. So to keep the
characteristic impedance the same (100ohms differential for HDMI TMDS pairs) the spacing would need to increase (to reduce capacitance). since
inductance would decrease with the larger gauge.
So for the 10 gauge example. You could run high frequency signals down a 10 gauge cable if the geometry creates a matched impedance. This of course
would require a large amount of dielectric material. Speaking of this situation. Imagine the transmission lines that run to television antennas. These
are huge gauge "cables" that carry thousands of watts to the antennas. Check out:
http://www.dielectric.com/broadcast/catalogs/FLEXLine.pdf
No idea what it means but sounds good
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greggors84
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 06:17 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by jabbahutt
forgive my stpidity but as HDMI carries a digital signal then as long as the signal of 1's & 0's get from one end to the other without
problem shouldn't all the cables provide the same quality?
I read somewhere that the input device sends 2 signals down the cable. When they get to the other end the output device pieces the 2 together, works
out what is missing by comparing the 2 signals then fills in the information lost on the way through interpolation. The better the cable the less the
telly has to interpolate.
Im guessing thats why it doesnt matter so much with short runs of cable as not as much info is lost.
Edited to say: Where you get that telly for £450? Or was it through mates rates? Littlewoods direct had a 42" Samsung 720p for £440 then with
the 15% and using quidco cashback (if it comes through) it came out at £345.
Was too late though and they sold out!
[Edited on 18/12/2008 by greggors84]
Chris
The Magnificent 7!
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iiyama
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 07:15 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by jabbahutt
forgive my stpidity but as HDMI carries a digital signal then as long as the signal of 1's & 0's get from one end to the other without
problem shouldn't all the cables provide the same quality?
Yup! Pay a little more if you want a cable thats better built. However I wouldnt pay more then £20 for one.
Good reading here :-
http://www.avforums.com/forums/hdmi-cables-switches/831330-hdmi-cables-just-facts.html
If its broke, fix it. If it aint broke, take it apart and find out how it works!
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bassett
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| posted on 18/12/08 at 07:39 PM |
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Luckily at the moment i rekon i need a 1m cable so will go for something cheap and basic as at tv is on a unit but may go on the wall at some
point.
gf's brother who i pretty much live with works in PC world and this tv was on a great online one day special down from £650 to £500 and he got
me the extra 10% discount. He called me up told me bout the deal and i really couldnt say no as i had considered a brand new LG 37 1080p 100hz for
£690 a few days earlier for a £240 difference im well happy
[Edited on 18/12/08 by bassett]
My MNR Blog Updated Jan 2010 - Track Day Prep Begins!
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liam.mccaffrey
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| posted on 20/12/08 at 02:06 PM |
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18 months ago i got a good quality 37" lcd tv in the states for £280.
very good exchange rate at the time
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