[k.jacko]

Hi,
rather than hi-jack another thread, i thought it better to start my own?

I've watched the hdmi video, but also read a post stating

Well nearly right. It won't or shouldn't impact on the video signal being trasmitted if the cable is well built and designed. Whether thats a budget cable or not. But the important thing is that the more you want from your system, such as new BD players doing upsampling of 8 bit video etc, you need a cable that has the required bandwidth to meet the demand. So, what Jeff is ultimately saying is that look for a cat 2 certified cable at the very least, check its build quality and ultimately look to see if DPL have rated it. You should then have a better understanding of what to look for and avoid issues in the future with cables suddenly packing up or just not working at all.

I have a LG 42 PQ6000 linked to a LG DVX492 upscaling dvd player via hdmi. Now i don't know what variant of cable it is, 1.2, 1.3 etc, but it only cost me £4 for 2m (it has swivelled connectors on each end for ease of use ).
The reason i'm curious is despite good reviews of the tv AND the upscaling player, i'm not altogether convinced of the pq on dvd's like Van Helsing and Last Samurai (only 2 i've watched so far). They're perfectly watchable, but i'm not getting the upscaling wow factor i imagined. The player is set to 720p (my tv's, max res.) When i get fairly close to the tv, it seems a little grainy.

So could it be that i've got an older compliant cable and maybe need a newer 1.3 (?) standard to give me better upscaling results? I also bought a 2nd 1m cable for £1
I don't mind spending a little more or even making sure i get the correct 'standard', but today i saw a '3m blu-ray hdmi cable' for £69.00

Thanks for any help offered.

[MarkTaylor]

No, changing the cable is not going to help.

At 720p you would not be stressing the cable whatever it is.

If you are seeing a picture that is free from 'sparkles' or image drop out then you are seeing as much as your source and display can deliver.

Do remember that 720p is not a major leap up from normal SD material at 576i and if your TV has a decent scaler/deinterlacer then there is not going to be much of a 'wow' factor compared to the SD material.

[andy1249]

They're perfectly watchable, but i'm not getting the upscaling wow factor i imagined.

Thats the key point here , if the picture is fine , albeit not as good as you expected , then the cable is fine , if you were having bandwidth problems with HDMI cables , you dont get a lesser quality picture , you get some very obvious and very unwatchable faults. Like complete breakup or no picture at all.
The very least you could expect are sparklies , which again a really annoying and not watchable.

Short cables ( thats less than 10m ) whether they be certified for cat 1 or cat 2 will all pass 1080p fine.

Cat 2 certification is way more expensive to get than cat 1 , so a lot of companies will just do the cat 1 certification just to keep the final price down , that doesnt mean the cable wont pass cat 2 , just that it hasnt been tested at cat 2.

For short cables the majority will pass both tests no problem.

but today i saw a '3m blu-ray hdmi cable' for £69.00

Yes I know , completely crazy , and offers no benefits in terms of picture quality over cheaper cables , if they work they work.

[k.jacko]

Thanks guys, thats reassuring to know.

[Joe Fernand]

Hello k.jacko

Its very unlikely that a replacement cable will improve your image quality.

I'd instead look at your video settings on both the Source and Display.

It looks like your display is an 'HD Ready' 1024x768 pixel device - therefore if your up-converting your R1 and R2 DVD's to 720p in the Player the signal is being re processed at the Display - it may be preferable to turn processing Off at the player and let the TV do a 'once only' conversion to fill its 1024x768 pixels.

I'd also switch off any image enhancements options on the TV and use some form of video set-up disc to try and arrive at an optimal set up on the TV.

Going up close to the TV will reveal image defects that are not apparent at normal viewing distances.

Joe