# Reccomend an HDMI lead



## tmitch45 (Jul 29, 2006)

I've recently got myself some new audio visual goodies inc. new 4K TV, Blu-Ray player, PS4 and new AV Amp receiver. I need to invest in some new HDMI leads (each around 3m) to connect the lot up. I have an existing PS3 and Humax PRV so think I need 3 new leads. Can anyone recommend a reliable lead that performs well but wont break the bank bearing in mind I need 3 of them???


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## Dode (Jun 13, 2013)

Search on the What hi fi website. That cable do a very reasonable cable for a very good price.

http://www.thatcable.com/product/High-Speed-HDMI-Cable-With-Ethernet-V1.4


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

These are good quality:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neet®-Black...=UTF8&qid=1416686120&sr=8-24&keywords=hdmi+3m


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## Will-S (Jun 5, 2007)

I got a philex one from Amazon. It was cheap and the quality is very good. Unless you have a very keen eye don't waste your money on expensive cables. The difference in picture quality is virtually impossible for the human eye to discern.


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## J306TD (May 19, 2008)

Do make sure you use the correct version also


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## Will-S (Jun 5, 2007)

^^^^this

I got one that was Ethernet compatible and got black screen, so obviously not compatible with my tv


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## James_R (Jun 28, 2007)

Dode said:


> Search on the What hi fi website. That cable do a very reasonable cable for a very good price.
> 
> http://www.thatcable.com/product/High-Speed-HDMI-Cable-With-Ethernet-V1.4


I've got some of these on my system
Like kettle cord cable on mine, very different.

I think I bought some that were 2m long and you couldn't wish for better quality.
I got bamboozled into buying some expensive ones a few years back and these for £10 or whatever they were (£5 for a 1m one) are brilliant.

Forgive me if there is a difference in 4k tv though, I haven't got a 4k tv


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## -Jamie- (Nov 6, 2012)

Will-S said:


> I got a philex one from Amazon. It was cheap and the quality is very good. Unless you have a very keen eye don't waste your money on expensive cables. The difference in picture quality is virtually impossible for the human eye to discern.


LOL, Its a digital signal so these cables that cost ££££'s make hee haw difference.....


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## macca666 (Mar 30, 2010)

Agree with Dode. I've bought a few cables from thatcable and never had any issues. I personally wouldn't spend a fortune on a cable and can't see how there could be a discernable difference in the picture or sound quality.


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## Dode (Jun 13, 2013)

macca666 said:


> Agree with Dode. I've bought a few cables from thatcable and never had any issues. I personally wouldn't spend a fortune on a cable and can't see how there could be a discernable difference in the picture or sound quality.


Yep, never had any issues. I bought a QED one once and imo these are just as good.


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## Guest (Nov 22, 2014)

As already said, it's a digital signal so the cable will either work or it won't. Price makes absolutely no difference whatsoever. A £5 cable will do exactly the same job as a £100 cable.


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## SteveTDCi (Feb 8, 2006)

-Jamie- said:


> LOL, Its a digital signal so these cables that cost ££££'s make hee haw difference.....


I agree, just buy a cheap sable, quality and shielding only comes into in on long runs.


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## 4d_dc2 (Mar 28, 2008)

It's quite funny this thread is. You're all saying a cable is a cable so no point spending lots on one right? Isn't that just like saying a wax is a wax so there's no point spending lots on some? :wall:


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## ferted (May 7, 2011)

4d_dc2 said:


> It's quite funny this thread is. You're all saying a cable is a cable so no point spending lots on one right? Isn't that just like saying a wax is a wax so there's no point spending lots on some? :wall:


An HDMi cable is just that,£5 or £50 won't make any difference
Waxes maybe waxes but different blends may have better durability,shine and other factors,so you'd expect a £50 wax to be better than a £5 wax
(though this is not always true!!)


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## -Jamie- (Nov 6, 2012)

4d_dc2 said:


> It's quite funny this thread is. You're all saying a cable is a cable so no point spending lots on one right? Isn't that just like saying a wax is a wax so there's no point spending lots on some? :wall:


Lulz.

No its totally different.

A digital signal is a digital signal, Thats just basic stuff.

Waxes can be and are made up of loads of different types and formulas


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## 4d_dc2 (Mar 28, 2008)

Maybe so but a £1000+ pot of wax is not £950 better than an awesome pot of wax. Vic's concorse for example. Until somebody can prove it by doing a 50/50 on a Bonnet showing a vast difference then it's just bonkers branding. Mainly the people that say it is true have bought some and are trying to justify it to them selfs.


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## tmitch45 (Jul 29, 2006)

J306TD said:


> Do make sure you use the correct version also


Thanks for all the replies guys and its incredible the huge difference in price of these and other cables. The main think I wanted to ask now is what people mean by you need to get the right HDMI cable? Last time I got one there was only one type?


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## Dode (Jun 13, 2013)

tmitch45 said:


> Thanks for all the replies guys and its incredible the huge difference in price of these and other cables. The main think I wanted to ask now is what people mean by you need to get the right HDMI cable? Last time I got one there was only one type?


Have a read of this, should help.

http://www.thatcable.com/info/hdmi-faqs-differences-between-hdmi


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## tmitch45 (Jul 29, 2006)

So with the PS4 possibly offering 4K resolution in the future and the Amp and Blu-ray player up scaling to 4K does this mean I need to get a 4K HDMI compatible lead like below to get the full quality and experience?

http://www.hdmicable4u.co.uk/3m-HDMI-Cable_Ultimate-Blue-4K-p885.html


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## DJ X-Ray (Sep 2, 2012)

Have to agree here, a digital signal is a digital signal. Speaker/audio cable different story. Wax, no comment...apart from nothing to see here, move along, move along


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

I got cheap as I could find for my cinema room and they were 10m. No issues at all.

Just pick your size.


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## macca666 (Mar 30, 2010)

SteveTDCi said:


> I agree, just buy a cheap sable, quality and shielding only comes into in on long runs.


Agree to an extent however I bought a 15m cable and have split the signal from my Sky box in the living room so it serves the living room and into our dining room/kitchen which is all open plan. Bought it from thatcable and cost around £25 a couple of year ago. Picture quality is excellent even though its travelling through 15m of cable.


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## chp (Jul 22, 2011)

macca666 said:


> Agree to an extent however I bought a 15m cable and have split the signal from my Sky box in the living room so it serves the living room and into our dining room/kitchen which is all open plan. Bought it from thatcable and cost around £25 a couple of year ago. Picture quality is excellent even though its travelling through 15m of cable.


As has been said above, HDMI carries a digital signal. Unlike analogue, this is all or nothing. The signal either makes it correctly through the cable or it doesn't. Provided the signal gets through then the picture (and sound) quality will not be affected by the length, price, or type of cable. You will not get a "sharper picture" or "better colours" with a more expensive cable.

If the digital signal genuinely can't make it through, for example, a very long cable run then you will either get complete loss of picture or gross corruption in the picture and / or sound. You won't just find things a bit blurry, or see ghosting like you might with an analogue system.


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## james_death (Aug 9, 2010)

These were tested and found no difference in the £60 ones to the £5 ones.


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## Dode (Jun 13, 2013)

tmitch45 said:


> So with the PS4 possibly offering 4K resolution in the future and the Amp and Blu-ray player up scaling to 4K does this mean I need to get a 4K HDMI compatible lead like below to get the full quality and experience?
> 
> http://www.hdmicable4u.co.uk/3m-HDMI-Cable_Ultimate-Blue-4K-p885.html


http://www.crutchfield.com/S-lRAcf5s4xNy/learn/learningcenter/home/cables/hdmi.html

Says here v1.4 would work but v2.0 is the newest version

More info

http://www.techradar.com/news/television/hdtv/hdmi-2-0-everything-you-need-to-know-1180242

I suppose it depends on content availability to take advantage of v2.0


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

-Jamie- said:


> Lulz.
> 
> No its totally different.
> 
> ...


You obviously don't work with high speed digital signals. Digital signals no longer behave like digital signals at high speed so you have to consider the system as a traditional transmission line. Therefore cable characteristics - characteristic impedance, cable capacitance, connector impedance mismatch, reflections etc as just as important as ever.

To say it's a digital signal so it doesn't matter what cable you use is naive beyond all belief. :wall::wall:


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## -Jamie- (Nov 6, 2012)

And how many home users would actually notice a difference between a 5 quid cable and a 50 quid cable? Not many if any


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

I've just this weekend installed the new curved Samsung 48" led 3d uhd (4k) tv complete with Samsung uhd 3d bluray dvd player, the hdmi lead I used was one free one supplied with an old hd sky box. The picture quality is unreal, and its just a cheapo hdmi cable.

Personally i don't like the thick chunky hdmi cables especially on wall mounted tv's, as you find a lot of the time the can push the bottom of the tv out from the wall and then even break the hdmi connection inside the tv unit (depending on mount type).


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## Oldsparky (Jun 18, 2014)

SteveyG said:


> You obviously don't work with high speed digital signals. Digital signals no longer behave like digital signals at high speed so you have to consider the system as a traditional transmission line. Therefore cable characteristics - characteristic impedance, cable capacitance, connector impedance mismatch, reflections etc as just as important as ever.
> 
> To say it's a digital signal so it doesn't matter what cable you use is naive beyond all belief. :wall::wall:


Can you suggest what we should be using? I must confess I've never paid out for expensive cables but I'm a power engineer not a comms one so all this high speed data is a bit of a mystery to me.


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

Oldsparky said:


> Can you suggest what we should be using? I must confess I've never paid out for expensive cables but I'm a power engineer not a comms one so all this high speed data is a bit of a mystery to me.


You should be using one that meets the correct HDMI standard. The trouble is, a lot of the cheap ebay specials haven't actually passed any tests and are poor performers. You'll find these cables cause data errors on the screen which may manifest as blocky or freezing of the picture if something nearby emits wideband noise e.g. a vacuum cleaner or hairdryer.

There's nothing to stop a good cable being cheap, so indeed there is no reason to spend £50 on a short cable. Generally speaking, if you stick to a known brand and it meets the HDMI standard of your equipment, you'll be fine.


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

As a side note, a decent TV should be able to display the bit error rate of the HDMI input. High frame rate sources will show the artefacts more than others, so perversely, 24P BluRay films can play fine whilst normal TV from an upscaling receiver can look worse with a cable that doesn't meet the spec.


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## 20vKarlos (Aug 8, 2009)

I used to sell MONSTER cables at Comet about 8 or nine years back when they had just become all the rage over here...

The only reason I would sell them was to people that had more money than sense, or that came in and tried to belittle me due to them 'Being of upper class' 

I knew they were a con, and 90% of people just got sold the standard £5 cable, they are not different.


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

20vKarlos said:


> I used to sell MONSTER cables at Comet about 8 or nine years back when they had just become all the rage over here...
> 
> The only reason I would sell them was to people that had more money than sense, or that came in and tried to belittle me due to them 'Being of upper class'
> 
> I knew they were a con, and 90% of people just got sold the standard £5 cable, they are not different.


Most of the Monster cables are overpriced, but they do some budget cables which have far better build quality and a higher number of insertion cycles than the cheapest cables which may influence you if you're using the cable for a portable device.


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## tmitch45 (Jul 29, 2006)

One of the old HDMI cables I was using broke so just ordered one of these;-

http://www.thatcable.com/product/High-Speed-HDMI-Cable-With-Ethernet-V1.4

I called into my local Currys for easy to try and get one and they were £70 for the cheapest one they had in stock! lol people are really being duped into spending loads on these cables where as mentioned I doubt the average person (I include myself in this) would not know the difference.


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## tigerspill (Nov 28, 2015)

tmitch45 said:


> One of the old HDMI cables I was using broke so just ordered one of these;-
> 
> http://www.thatcable.com/product/High-Speed-HDMI-Cable-With-Ethernet-V1.4
> 
> I called into my local Currys for easy to try and get one and they were £70 for the cheapest one they had in stock! lol people are really being duped into spending loads on these cables where as mentioned I doubt the average person (I include myself in this) would not know the difference.


With HDMI - no one will notice the difference as there is no difference. The cable does not carry an analogue signal that is subject to cable quality. It carries the zeros and ones of a digital signal. There is no possibility of that changing with the various error correction algorithms.
What may change is the quality of say the connectors that may fit better and hence are less subject to problems when moving the cables - unlikely the you are watching TV.


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## leehob (Jul 9, 2014)

I work for the uk leading aerial and satellite distributor company and can say that a standard HDMI lead 1.4 4K will do just fine.:thumb:


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