Cable advice - HDMI / SCART etc

[StevieB]

Have just become the proud owner of a sony flat screen TV (excellent deal in comet at the moment - £140 off a 40" V4000) and am after some advice on cables to hook up peripherals.

I want to hook up a standard sky box (not plus or HD plus) and a PS3. Mr salesman in comet tried to sell me two HDMI to HDMI cables for £65 each :shock: Needless to say I balked at that price and went online to research cable types and whether it was really necessary to spend £65 to get peripherals talking to each other. Research so far suggests that the three core cable (red, yellow and white connectors) are the worst type, followed by SCART leads with HDMI being (essential?) the best for Bluray or HDTV and PS3 games.

My standard sky box does not have an HDMI cable, and without skyHD I will not get HD channels anyway so a SCART lead is fine there. My PS3 does require HDMI to get the best from it as it acts as a blueray player as well. I know for SCART the cable quality can vary eg gold connectors are better, my question is - is the same true of HDMI cables? Prices for HDMI to HDMI range from £4 to £65. As the signal is digital through an HDMI cable, does cable quality vary? Do I have to hand over a further £65 or will a £4 lead be just as good?

Cheers for any advice!

Steve.

 

[Vormulac]

Prices for HDMI to HDMI range from £4 to £65. As the signal is digital through an HDMI cable, does cable quality vary? Do I have to hand over a further £65 or will a £4 lead be just as good?

Cheers for any advice!

Steve.

They range a lot further than that StevieB! :lol: The cables I was recommended came in at about £95 a metre! I am in exactly the same position of having just bought my first HD tv. As a general rule never buy the cables from one of the electrical sheds, they are massively marked up, and frankly, unless you are running your cable over something like 10 metres, why spend a mental amount of money on it? I ended up buying an HDMI cable and a longer than normal Scart cable from Ebuyer and including delivery the whole lot came in at around £23

 

[Sawdust]

The CPC ones www.cpc.co.uk are fine. I use one of their 10M for this little lot: http://www.avforums.com/forums/members- ... -room.html and have no trouble with it. They do all sorts of lengths but are nowhere near as expensive as you have been quoted.

Cheers
Mike

 

[OLD]

There are two specs for hdmi the best is for a 1080p signal and is v1.3.
good cables improve picture and reduce interference a better scart will do this and can be reused if you go to sky+
I use http://www.audiovisualonline.co.uk/dynamic/eshop_categories.set/ref/8/scart-cables/browse.html
who give fast delivery.

 

[StevieB]

Thanks for the fast responses chaps, didn't think it was necessary to spend £65

Mike - fantastic space you have there, am very jealous of the snooker table :twisted: I would love to have one of those but all I have space for is a pub pool table in the cellar, just as soon as SWMBO can be persuaded :lol:

Thanks again,

Steve.

 

[newt]

I agree with all that is said, but would like to add that scart cables are a pain, they seem to be unstable at the plug, probably due to the weight of the cable. Also how much better are gold plated, the sockets in the tv I suspect not gold plated. Does anyone know of and definitive independent testing that has been done to demonstrate an improved visual experience when using gold.

 

[Sawdust]

I agree with all that is said, but would like to add that scart cables are a pain, they seem to be unstable at the plug, probably due to the weight of the cable. Also how much better are gold plated, the sockets in the tv I suspect not gold plated. Does anyone know of and definitive independent testing that has been done to demonstrate an improved visual experience when using gold.

Couldn't agree more about SCART cables - horrible things in every way.

The AV (and HiFi) world still seem to be split down the middle about cables. Some claiming they transform a system and others that providing they are thick enough and of half way decent quality then anything is fine.

Arguments seem to blow up on Hifi and AV forums about cables in much the same way as they do about Dado cutters on here!

I've never found anything definitive one way or the other. There are plenty of reviews saying one cable sounds better or improves the picture but as for measurements or any truly rigorous test - there isn't much.

My setup needs 10M vables and I have found the mid priced ones from CPC to be fine, both for component video and HDMI. I also have a 10M S-Video cable but don't run anything of quality through it so can't really comment if it is any good or not.

Cheers
Mike

 

[yo_chuci]

hi all... first post but in my sort of area so...

scart cables.

as long as they are fully shielded AND fully wired then that should normally do but as it is dealing with an analogue signal then the better the quality of cable and connector the better but only up to a point as you have no idea the quality of the cable in the TV and the Sky box.
The one supplied with the Sky box is fully shielded and wired normally and as the pic from a sky box aint brilliant then it will do fine. if you do want to upgrade the Scart the i wouldn't spend more than about 30-40 quid for a 2m length... lots of them are for sale for about reduced to 15quid from ixos,thor etc.
also look for one's with spring type grips in the connector itself as less likely to fall out...

HDMI's

now these technically don't have to be as good a quality due to the fact that a digital signal is being sent thru the cable so i always look for a good connector and a decent weight of cable. yes if you are sending a signal over 10m then a better cable should be bought. but i do remember watching the gadget show testing a £120 hdmi against the £5 one in a sky hd box from identical BR players to identical tv's and you could see there was no difference.
but saying all that i would still spend say £20 to £30 for 1m.

hope that helps...

 

[StevieB]

Welcome to the forums yo_chuci and thanks for the advice. I have now purchased a cable so fingers crossed I am sorted!

Cheers all,

Steve.

 

[newt]

While we are on the subject. I am thinking of scrapping my sky system and going for freesat with HD. I believe I can just use the sky dish and connect to the freesat box with out any modifications. I have been told that there is a facility to have the sky box and the freesat box running from the same dish, although I cannot see how the LNB would react with two 5 volt supplies and the effect it would have on each box.

 

[andycktm]

I read thee other day that there is no channel 5 on free sat!!!

 

[GrahamH]

I read thee other day that there is no channel 5 on free sat!!!

At last a compelling reason for freesat.


(sorry just couldn't resist it)

 

[OLD]

newt
I have this sky+ two cables and freesat one cable from a 4way lnb on standard sky dish it all works fine with good pictures and great hd.
http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.html

 

[yo_chuci]

as OLD says you just need a quad LNB

satcure or
the bay

or if you don't wanna get one from there i can get you one just pm. (if thats allowed mods)

you can then run 4 cables in a number of ways. a std HD freesat box requires 1 feed. a PVR HD freesat box requires 2 feeds.
the lnb will be a straight swap with the existing lnb you might just have to run extra cable's etc. the hardest part is getting the cable into the house as most people don't have a long enough drill bit.

channel 5 is not yet on freesat due to contract agreements with Sky still but they should be on freesat by january (i think)
but not sure how long or if it will be sooner for five us and fiver etc.
remember tho that freesat will only grow in theory as more people buy boxes more channels might go to the freesat platform too.
this might happen sooner with the current financial climate and people wanting to save money.

for the full current freesat channel list just click

 

[newt]

Yo-chucki, thanks for the info. Do you know if there is a twin feeder cable that is about the same diameter as a standard cable. The reason I ask this is that, my TV is on an internal wall with a terrestrial and sat cable and there is no room for another cable. I don't fancy having a visible cable running down the wall.

 

[yo_chuci]

yup sky use it. it is called siamese i think. they started using it because it was the same thickness as a std cable and so only 1 hole in the wall was required (less chance of making a mistake/mess) but it is normally expensive so the best bet i would think would be collar a sky eng and see he will give/sell you 20m or whatever PLUS the f connectors for the end (as they are different to cope with the cable)
but this cable is not as strong etc as std ct100/wf109 normal sat cable and should'nt be used on runs over 20m and definately not thrown over a roof or laid in guttering.
it seems to not last as long and water gets in much quicker than normal, and as the center of the cable isn't foam then the water has a direct path to you sky box. by the time you notice faults with the box its already in need of repair.
where ever pos i would just run 2 std cables for better signal strength and quality...

 

[newt]

Yo-Chcui, what I was thinking of doing was to take some of the twin from the two boxes into the loft 4 meters (bungalow) then connect two normal cables to the LNB.

 

[yo_chuci]

i think i understand that and yes you can join cable's it is best to do it with the right connectors tho...

f to f connectors... how to fit f connectors and f to f connectors and cable so you can see the type of connector i mean.
you don't have to buy it from there but they are a good reference.

hope that helps.

 

[newt]

Yo-Chuci, thanks

 

[yo_chuci]

have just found some of the siamese cable / twin satellite cable.

maplin

you will also need 4 f connectors and a couple of f to f connectors.

f to f

f conn

what you will need to ask / check is that you get the correct f conn. the part that screws onto the cable is a smaller size just like the cable. the shop will know which on you want.