The No. 1 Home Entertainment Tech Resource
Has any Elite owners tried using a better HDMI cable than the freebie version?
- Thread starter Sandy 8oy
- Start date
Brogan
Prominent Member
Why do you consider QED and Ixos to be better quality?
Because they're more expensive?
Unless your existing cable is causing picture break-up, ghosting or sparklies, a different cable will make no difference at all.
A cable cannot improve a signal, it can only degrade it.
As HDMI is digital, if you have no degradation of signal then you can try 20 different cables and the image will be exactly the same with each one.
M
melonman
Guest
Don't open the old HDMI cable can of worms!
Cheap cables work just as well over short distances (up to 3 meters) as expensive ones. I'm sure the mugs that were convinced by the bloke from Currys to spend hundreds of pounds on platinum coated, 15 carat gold, nuclear blast shielded HDMI cables will try and shoot me down but there have been lots of tests done and there is no difference in the quality of the signal carried by a 1.5meter £10 HDMI cable and that carried by a £100 HDMI cable of the same length.
A digital signal does not degrade in the same way as an analogue signal. Where there is a good reason to spend a bit more money on good quality SCART cables etc. there is no real reason to spend wads of cash on HDMI cables. A digital signal either works or it doesn't. If you see 'sparklies' (little coloured or white pixels) appearing on the screen then the HDMI cable is faulty and should be replaced.
The only advantage expensive HDMI cables have is in build quality. They may have a more positive connection with the HDMI socket and be more resistant to wear and tear but other than that you are not going to get a better picture with a more expensive cable. A digital signal is composed of data - ones and zeroes. A gold plated cable will not give you a better combination of ones and zeroes that a £10 cable from Woolworths. It's a simple fact.
As long as the HDMI cable you use has a good solid connection to your device then you don't need to spend a fortune. I wouldn't spend more than £20 on a HDMI cable no matter what the monkeys in suits at Currys try to sell you.
Read the words of CNET
Cheap cables work just as well over short distances (up to 3 meters) as expensive ones. I'm sure the mugs that were convinced by the bloke from Currys to spend hundreds of pounds on platinum coated, 15 carat gold, nuclear blast shielded HDMI cables will try and shoot me down but there have been lots of tests done and there is no difference in the quality of the signal carried by a 1.5meter £10 HDMI cable and that carried by a £100 HDMI cable of the same length.
A digital signal does not degrade in the same way as an analogue signal. Where there is a good reason to spend a bit more money on good quality SCART cables etc. there is no real reason to spend wads of cash on HDMI cables. A digital signal either works or it doesn't. If you see 'sparklies' (little coloured or white pixels) appearing on the screen then the HDMI cable is faulty and should be replaced.
The only advantage expensive HDMI cables have is in build quality. They may have a more positive connection with the HDMI socket and be more resistant to wear and tear but other than that you are not going to get a better picture with a more expensive cable. A digital signal is composed of data - ones and zeroes. A gold plated cable will not give you a better combination of ones and zeroes that a £10 cable from Woolworths. It's a simple fact.
As long as the HDMI cable you use has a good solid connection to your device then you don't need to spend a fortune. I wouldn't spend more than £20 on a HDMI cable no matter what the monkeys in suits at Currys try to sell you.
Read the words of CNET
While we are on the subject of MS's supplied HDMI cable, is there anything different about it?
Reason why I ask is because the cable displays a picture ok when directly connected to my TV's HDMI's input. However when it goes via my Pioneer VSX-1017 amp (HDMI pass-thru) no picture is displayed using the supplied 360 HDMI cable - Use a different HDMI cable (in this case a freebee Toshiba) and its ok!!!
To complicate things even fiurther, the Microsoft HDMI cable works ok with my Toshiba XE1 HD-DVD player connected through my amp BUT not with the 360!
To sum up (using HDMI pass-thru via switchable amp):
MS HDMI cable works with my HD-DVD player but not the 360
Toshiba HDMI cable works with my 360 and HD-DVD player
Reason why I ask is because the cable displays a picture ok when directly connected to my TV's HDMI's input. However when it goes via my Pioneer VSX-1017 amp (HDMI pass-thru) no picture is displayed using the supplied 360 HDMI cable - Use a different HDMI cable (in this case a freebee Toshiba) and its ok!!!
To complicate things even fiurther, the Microsoft HDMI cable works ok with my Toshiba XE1 HD-DVD player connected through my amp BUT not with the 360!
To sum up (using HDMI pass-thru via switchable amp):
MS HDMI cable works with my HD-DVD player but not the 360
Toshiba HDMI cable works with my 360 and HD-DVD player
Similar threads
The latest video from AVForums
Tribit StormBox Blast Bluetooth Speaker: Review Coming Soon
