[ReDsHiFt1]

Hi I need some advice on which HDMI cable to buy for my new Optoma HD65

I need a 5m cable and have about £50 to spend.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[un1eash]

Any cheap well made cable should be fine for 5m, i'd only look to spend £10-20 as my 5m dvi-hdmi cable only cost me £5 and works fine with 1080/24p

[ReDsHiFt1]

Being an audio engineer, I always have believed that your equipment is only as good as your cabling.

Would'nt a higher quality cable produce a better image?

[Lewis93]

Originally Posted by ReDsHiFt1

Would'nt a higher quality cable produce a better image?

I would have thought so..

I just bought a 'Monster Cable Advanced 1000EX 10.2Gbps Cable for Life Guaranteed' lol

£80 for 1M

[Alan Mac]

Originally Posted by ReDsHiFt1

Would'nt a higher quality cable produce a better image?

No, it would not!


Alan

[ReDsHiFt1]

Could someone explain in a bit more depth why a more expensive cable would not be better, just so I get an understanding.

And any suggestions on some good cables brands?

[HDMIHead]

HDMI Maestro
should be good enough

[ReDsHiFt1]

Thanks Hdmihead, that looks more like it.

Just stumbled upon these.

http://www.hdcable.co.uk/products/hd-cables/H1007NT/

Anyone used them?

[MarkTaylor]

Originally Posted by ReDsHiFt1

Could someone explain in a bit more depth why a more expensive cable would not be better, just so I get an understanding.

And any suggestions on some good cables brands?

There are a lot of previous threads covering this topic so a search would be advised.

In short, we are in the digital domain with HDMI so you should either get a perfect picture, no picture or one with obvious visual defects (sparkles) what you cannot get is one that is slightly better or worse as alterations to things like colour, contrast etc. would require changes to the data on a scale and consistency not possible due to a cable.

Read the information provided at www.bluejeanscable.com (they also have a UK site).

[Mark Grant]

Originally Posted by MarkTaylor

Read the information provided at www.bluejeanscable.com (they also have a UK site).

Dont forget that Bluejeans export everything from the USA, even though they collect the money in £ GBP

An awful lot of people get a customs clearance fee ( £8 or £13.50 for bigger packages) + 3.7% duty and then 17.5 VAT.

Nice site but not many people realise about the charges.

I receive questions from people that dont believe I am in UK because of this !

Mark.

[Joey2oo8]

Originally Posted by Lewis93

I would have thought so..

I just bought a 'Monster Cable Advanced 1000EX 10.2Gbps Cable for Life Guaranteed' lol

£80 for 1M

You've just spent 75 quid more than you needed to........

[AgentCool]

Originally Posted by Lewis93

I just bought a 'Monster Cable Advanced 1000EX 10.2Gbps Cable for Life Guaranteed' lol

£80 for 1M

Wow, I just bought a 'gold-plated' Masterplug 1m HDMI cable from Sainsbury's for £8.88 (it even includes an HDMI-DVI converter) and it works just as well as the QED HDMI-P cable I bought 3 years ago for £35.

As others have said, there are three results you can get from an HDMI cable. They are:

1: No picture
2: Flawless picture
3: Picture with obvious block noise and random motion issues

I have never had "no picture" and have only seen the third when I tried to run a 1080p/24 signal from an HD DVD player through a basic 2-into-1 HDMI splitter into my dad's TV. The result was like a poor Sky/Freeview signal and would have been obvious to anyone. If you're getting a picture and there's no blocking then you can rest assured you're seeing the best image possible.

[Shockabuku]

Audioholics did some interesting hdmi cable testing recently. Here's a link to the article. In particular, the subjective tests on page three are quite revealing...

http://www.audioholics.com/education...le-bench-tests

Basically, when it comes to short cables, you really do not need to spend silly money like so many places try & charge. Frankly, £80 on a 1m Monster cable is daylight robbery imho. It's not like we're talking analogue scart cables, where quality differences can be very apparent. Just use the freebie hdmi cable that came with your player, or if you need a longer run like 5m+, then look to a trusted decent supplier. Personally, I'm using 10m cables from a supplier who posts on this forum now & again. They cost £20 each and are absolutely fine. Even a mid-brand like QED will charge you upwards of £150 for something similar. As I see it, hdmi is still seen as a new & "premium" technology, and a lot of retailers/manufacturers are taking advantage of this by charging hugely inflated prices. Madness .

[un1eash]

£80 on a 1m cable is mad, think i'll buy a harmony one with the £80 i saved from using the standard "cheap" hdmi cable.

[MarkTaylor]

Originally Posted by Mark Grant

Dont forget that Bluejeans export everything from the USA, even though they collect the money in £ GBP

An awful lot of people get a customs clearance fee ( £8 or £13.50 for bigger packages) + 3.7% duty and then 17.5 VAT.

Nice site but not many people realise about the charges.

The customs/VAT charges are made clear on their site, but it wouldn't be the first time people didn't read what was there

[Dankeech]

5m HDMI cable? Easy - Mark Grant one.

http://markgrantcables.co.uk/shop/in...products_id=96

Ran a 5m one of these alongside a 5m cheap kettle-lead for a friend's install and performs perfectly.
Great build quality too.

Dan.

[Rob D]

Or a Plexus Gold Plated HDMI to HDMI Cable 5m, 1.3 Certified and lifetime guarantee from ebuyer for £8.13 inc delivery!

Need I say more!

[bobtex]

Originally Posted by Rob D

Or a Plexus Gold Plated HDMI to HDMI Cable 5m, 1.3 Certified and lifetime guarantee from ebuyer for £8.13 inc delivery!

Need I say more!

No you needn't! I recommend these to everyone!

[scrufftyguy]

I got myself one of these:

http://www.audiovisualonline.co.uk/d...n/display.html

Great cable, no probs, v happy

Ade

[degeneration]

Does having gold over the general silvery looking metal on the connections make much of a difference with HDMI cables?

[un1eash]

No not really with short cables, gold is just a better conductor. My 1m cable i use with my PS3 isnt gold plated.

[Alan Mac]

Originally Posted by un1eash

gold is just a better conductor.

Gold is a better electrical conductor than nickel but silver and copper are significantly better electrical conductors than gold.

Silver 63 MS / m

Copper 60 MS / m

Gold 45 MS / m

Nickel 14 MS / m

(all at room temperature, 293 K)

Gold plating is used on connectors because it does not tarnish. There is usually a layer of nickel underneath the gold.

Both the socket and the plug need to be gold plated for this anti-tarnishing property to be effective in maintaining a low electrical contact resistance.


Alan

[scrufftyguy]

Originally Posted by ReDsHiFt1

Hi I need some advice on which HDMI cable to buy for my new Optoma HD65

I need a 5m cable and have about £50 to spend.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

How's it goin?

Have you thought what you're gettin? Got one ordered yet?

Ade