Component vs HDMI

I've used mainly Monster cables for my home cinema set up, but there's no way in hell I'm buying them in this country!

Monster Video 3 Component Cable 1 metre, UK cost £90, US cost £37, shop around in the US, £25.

Build quality of the cables is excellent, but I'd agree that the UK price is a complete rip-off.

Hav
 
Tesla said:
Apparently there is a differene in quality of HDMI leads.

I am unsure how this can be as all that is sent along them are some 0's and 1's.

Anybody care to enlighten me?
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Data is not sent down the cable as 0's and 1's. If I remember correctly the data is sent as analogue differential signals, which are then reconstituted into the digital values first before being processed into images.

So the quality difference that can be found in cables is significant.
 
scart can improve with money, hdmi wont. imo they are trying to trick people who think 'Remember those awesome gold plated scarts?, LOOK theres gold plated hdmi ones!' also i don think hdmi will be around for 30 years im willing to bet there will eb super hd of something in 15 years.
 
Eliot said:
scart can improve with money, hdmi wont. imo they are trying to trick people who think 'Remember those awesome gold plated scarts?, LOOK theres gold plated hdmi ones!' also i don think hdmi will be around for 30 years im willing to bet there will eb super hd of something in 15 years.
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Over short distances (< 2m) this may be true, but try using a cheap 10 metre HDMI lead. Quality of the cable is definitely an issue then.
 
Eliot said:
scart can improve with money, hdmi wont. imo they are trying to trick people who think 'Remember those awesome gold plated scarts?, LOOK theres gold plated hdmi ones!' also i don think hdmi will be around for 30 years im willing to bet there will eb super hd of something in 15 years.
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Yes I have to ask why we are still using cables, could blue tooth or wifi the lot. Be much easyer to setup your new kit, and would look much neater.
 
Toothpick said:
Yes I have to ask why we are still using cables, could blue tooth or wifi the lot. Be much easyer to setup your new kit, and would look much neater.
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There'd be at the moment, unless you can send power through Bluetooth/WiFi too :)

Hav
 
Eliot said:
scart can improve with money, hdmi wont. imo they are trying to trick people who think 'Remember those awesome gold plated scarts?, LOOK theres gold plated hdmi ones!' also i don think hdmi will be around for 30 years im willing to bet there will eb super hd of something in 15 years.
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Cable quality in HDMI is even more important than it is in e.g. component.

Read the following article for an insight: http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/dvihdmicomponent.htm

The section 'The Role of Cable and Connection Quality' is relevant to this.

Cheers,
Hav
 
Toothpick said:
Yes I have to ask why we are still using cables, could blue tooth or wifi the lot. Be much easyer to setup your new kit, and would look much neater.
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Bluetooth is out of the question, theres nowhere near enough bandwidth.

As for wireless in general, theres always interference or compatibility issues or something that makes it not perfect.
 
Jez said:
I honestly cannot tell the difference between ~£200 component cables spanning to my projectors, and home made ones using cat5e

Cables are a total farce :/
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Indeed like clothes cables are the designer dressing of AV.
To an extent like clothes a good brand will be better than a budget option but eventually you reach a level of quality/price thats going to please the masses.

Those that want designer "optimal" can have it but dont be fooled into thinking miricales are performed, your system is only as good as its weakest link.
 
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Mr Latte said:
Indeed like clothes cables are the designer dressing of AV.
To an extent like clothes a good brand will be better than a budget option but eventually you reach a level of quality/price thats going to please the masses.

Those that want designer "optimal" can have it but dont be fooled into thinking miricales are performed, your system is only as good as its weakest link.
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You have a lot of decent kit, most of it far better than mine, would you say that you can tell the difference? :) Maybe its just my system not being of a high enough quality to take advantage of these ultra expensive cables.
 
Eliot said:
scart can improve with money, hdmi wont. imo they are trying to trick people who think 'Remember those awesome gold plated scarts?, LOOK theres gold plated hdmi ones!' also i don think hdmi will be around for 30 years im willing to bet there will eb super hd of something in 15 years.
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imo thats a stupid point of view - not only has scart not existed for that long but look at how low quality the normal tv signal has been until very recently. We havnet needed anything better than scart so why spend money on developing it.

There will always be some "loss" involved in transporting a signal using one medium or another , its all about managing that loss and getting back any errors at the other end.

If your present TV lasts even ten years I would be surprised, and if you are willing to change a major componant then why shouldnt you replace a cable?
 
Perplexed said:
Data is not sent down the cable as 0's and 1's. If I remember correctly the data is sent as analogue differential signals, which are then reconstituted into the digital values first before being processed into images.

So the quality difference that can be found in cables is significant.
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Yes that is correct, however, how likely is the signal going to degrade over say upto 5metres. Not at all, wether you send it along a chepo cable or a so say amazing one.

If you start getting very long lenths then you could run into issues with resistance but I cannot really think of anything else which would cause problems.

chaparral said:
Guys make sure you buy a few of these cheap power cables for your HD set ups..

http://www.russandrews.com/lookup/1...t-NEW-The-Silver-Signature-PowerKord-1049.htm

Being nice and cheap you could buy a few spares ones as well.
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I don't understand these, they claim to work and magazines claim they work, however, in my house the wiring is just bog standard stuff as are all the sockets, switchs etc... Hey, the cable buried under the road is just a normal main feed cable as used all over the country too! So why the hell would this 1m bit of cable between my amp and wall socket make wonderful things happen?
 
Matblack said:
Another big tumbs up for Mark Grant here

MB
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And another.

I have a Rel Studio II connected with Mark Grant RCA's - my previous cables resulted in a low earth hum emitting from the sub - changed to the MG leads - hum gone. :)

IMHO - expensive cables are a marketing ploy, and exploited to fool people into parting with huge amounts of cash. But, for once, with my sub cables anyway - they worked wonders.
 
Tesla said:
I don't understand these, they claim to work and magazines claim they work, however, in my house the wiring is just bog standard stuff as are all the sockets, switchs etc... Hey, the cable buried under the road is just a normal main feed cable as used all over the country too! So why the hell would this 1m bit of cable between my amp and wall socket make wonderful things happen?
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Exactly, designed for complete idiots with too much money :) Fair play to the people that manage to flog them i guess!
 
Jez said:
Exactly, designed for complete idiots with too much money :) Fair play to the people that manage to flog them i guess!
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Do you speak from personal experience of trying some ???

Would agree there is a lot of hype and creative pricing, but to tar all with the same brush without testing is some what narrow minded.....

Using a RA yello on my Pioneer 575 DVD player improved the picture on the screen...... The wife could tell as well !

Using Mark Grant video cables improved my picture, I don't consider his stuff over priced.

A £200 Linn Silver Inter connect sounds better than the £75 ones which are supplied as standard.

If you have mains problems a power lead change can help.....
You have to take each product on it's own merits, some work, some don't. You don't have to understand how or why it works to gain the improvement !!!
 
My advice on cables is simple.

It all depends on your equipment and personal ability in evaulating several options. Some people swear a difference while others may not see much or any.

Can i put forward the suggestion if considering an expensive cable component you compare it with something about 1/2 the price and also your current cable. Best to have several options and be in a position a cable can be returned if disatisfied.

Blind testing with a friend and switching between is usually a good way to benchmark. Hey, gees make it a quiz for demoing cable 1,2,3 but i guarntee you if done the results will still be inconsistant and decisions in measuring performance gains in most cases are incorrect for the "cable in question"

Speakers and audio components/cables can from previous experience be a more personal choice and show larger advantages than video but as said earlier you reach a stage where you get a noticable improvement but trying to gain more after this spending "designer label" wont gurantee you anymore performance.
 
Going back to the theme of the original thread - taking aside the image quality, HDMI is more desirable, due to the fact that driven by the studios, HDCP will rear it's ugly head sooner or later, and component, no matter how good, can't deal with it.
 
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