HD Cables.....
Thread Starter
GASH!
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 7,776
Likes: 0
From: UK
HD Cables.....
I need to buy a HD cable for my dvd player to TV, and ive seen a couple for different prices. Tesco do a gold plated one, for £20, but ASDA do a Phillips 24carrat gold jobbie, with braided cable for £40. Am i really going to see a difference between the 2? Or shall i just go for the cheaper one?
Cheers
Mike
Cheers
Mike
and hdtv blows me away..i cant see why spending more will get a better picture 
Trending Topics
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 21,268
Likes: 147
From: The Dark Side of the Moon...
PLease tell me where you got a HD-DVD player for £50, as the Toshiba E1 (only current HD DVD player in the UK) is several hundred!
What you probably have is a normal (SD) DVD player, that upscales via HDMI output - same thing I have (tho I don't use the HDMI out as I don't have an LCD/plasma TV, so I just use component). These don't play HD DVD discs, they only play normal DVD's, and the point of the HDMI output is to upscale the DVD picture from 576p to either 720p or 1080p - dependant on your TV res. Tho do remember, that even connected via scart, your TV will actually upscale the incoming image (be it Sky, NTL, Freeview, Analogue TV, DVD, VHS, etc) to the max res of the screen anyway (probably 720p, as most are) without the need of an external scaler. The point of a upscaling DVD player tho, is that the scaler in the int DVD player MIGHT be better than the one in the TV. If the TV is getting fed an already scaled pic, then it is recieving the 720p/1080p pic already, so it might portray the pic as better than if it had to scale it itself....
Back to cables - a super expensive cable won't give a much higher quality in terms of picture etc.. Digital cables don't suffer the same degrade of quality like analogue cables do, so over short lengths (ie, less than 5m) you wno't likely notice the difference between one that cost less than a tenner, and one that costs £40-£50. What you might notice tho is quality in terms of build. You are likely to get a better build cable from a proper cable company (like Monster Cables etc) than a cheapo ebay special, but you will have to pay for it. Cheapo cables can suffer flex degradation (bend em too much and the cheap internals get damaged) or inside the end plugs the internals become disconnected etc....
And you don't
What you probably have is a normal (SD) DVD player, that upscales via HDMI output - same thing I have (tho I don't use the HDMI out as I don't have an LCD/plasma TV, so I just use component). These don't play HD DVD discs, they only play normal DVD's, and the point of the HDMI output is to upscale the DVD picture from 576p to either 720p or 1080p - dependant on your TV res. Tho do remember, that even connected via scart, your TV will actually upscale the incoming image (be it Sky, NTL, Freeview, Analogue TV, DVD, VHS, etc) to the max res of the screen anyway (probably 720p, as most are) without the need of an external scaler. The point of a upscaling DVD player tho, is that the scaler in the int DVD player MIGHT be better than the one in the TV. If the TV is getting fed an already scaled pic, then it is recieving the 720p/1080p pic already, so it might portray the pic as better than if it had to scale it itself....
Back to cables - a super expensive cable won't give a much higher quality in terms of picture etc.. Digital cables don't suffer the same degrade of quality like analogue cables do, so over short lengths (ie, less than 5m) you wno't likely notice the difference between one that cost less than a tenner, and one that costs £40-£50. What you might notice tho is quality in terms of build. You are likely to get a better build cable from a proper cable company (like Monster Cables etc) than a cheapo ebay special, but you will have to pay for it. Cheapo cables can suffer flex degradation (bend em too much and the cheap internals get damaged) or inside the end plugs the internals become disconnected etc....
And you don't
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 21,268
Likes: 147
From: The Dark Side of the Moon...
boXXer - I'd spend £10-£15 on one from a cable company/cable retailer, but can't see any advantage of going higher than this (unless you need a cable over 5m in length...
If it was me, I'd buy the first one listed here;
http://www.cutpricecables.co.uk/hdmi.html
If it was me, I'd buy the first one listed here;
http://www.cutpricecables.co.uk/hdmi.html