van den Hul Flat HDMI (3m)

I have to agree with Dazmb.

Some background I work as Data Network Engineer and have an HND in Electronics hence I understand the science behind good quality analogue interconnects and the massive difference a good set can make to a system.

However like most others I really could not see what difference in performance an expensive HDMI cable could make with digital the signal is encoded by the transmitter into 1's and 0's or voltage levels in copper or light on light off in optical. As long as the reciver can recognise the difference between the 1's and 0's the signal is reconstructed. So unless you have long runs eg 5M plus why bother?

Hence I recently spent over £1K on a home Cinema Set Up 1080p 100Hz Sharp 32" LCD Panasonsic BD-35 Blu Ray Marantz SR5003 AV Amp and Tuefel 5.1 Speaker Set. With my £10 ebay HDMI leads I was happy pictures fantastic from Blu Ray source and sound great.

But even though I was greatly cynical of any improivement. I had the niggling doubt either What Hi Fi and other's are part of an industry scam to sell us kit which in the digital age will make no difference, or there might be something in it! The speed of the 1's and 0's on HDMI is high in data terms. If errors occur the reciver has to make best endevours to reconstruct the gaps in the signal based on assumptions. When this happens the reconstructed signal is degraded and is no longer an accurate representation of source.

So I took the plunge paid the cash and the result was a definate improvement most noticablly in the sound the dynamics are far better (on my system) The picture is still great ;) read into that what you will.

Was the cable worth the extra cash? For me yes I have removed the nagging what if, the sound is better, next step is to upgrade the Sub Cable 6M run analogue will this make a diffence? definately.

A good system is the sum of its parts some upgrades make a huge improvent, others are more subtle and some are placebo!

I have to admit i got sucked into yet another purchase by buying one the above (VDH HDMI FLAT cables )These outlandish claims from hi fi home cinema review folks in my honest opinion are completely made up. The above cable has made no difference to my cheap Ebay special cable. £12 delivered. Mum would say (more money than sence)I have no argument to offer. £55 pounds spent on a HDMI cable. what a fool i am.

Sorry, but have to disagree with the 'flat earthers'. As an IT chap I know all about 0's & 1's and how in theory a digital cable shouldn' make a difference. But, it does. It's not a placebo effect with me either. I watched the same dvd chapter over and over to get image colours & clarity drummed into my head using a cheap freebie HDMI cable with a disc I knew to be poorly authored or just poor quality filmed (that's Paul McCartneys's bonus feature St Petersburg concert on Moscow Live DVD btw - which I know is lousy quality having also watched it over and over on my old Arcam DV78 using it's stella component analogue output), and then changed cabel to the VDH Flat and watched same chapter again. I'm not saying it was night and day difference. But it was better quality image and colours were brighter. Maybe it's the display device error correction making a difference I don't know for sure. With A/V signal sends it's not like TCP vs UDP data packets with data integrity guaranteed on the latter, so maybe that's what the difference is with better quality cables requiring less. I don't know! And don't care to be honest. The VDH cable produced better images than cheap cable.

Having said that, the cheap cable was just that! Really cheap thin £5 special. Whether VDH cable would be better than a half the price QED HDMI-P cable? Maybe not.

Sorry, but have to disagree with the 'flat earthers'. As an IT chap I know all about 0's & 1's and how in theory a digital cable shouldn' make a difference. But, it does. It's not a placebo effect with me either. I watched the same dvd chapter over and over to get image colours & clarity drummed into my head using a cheap freebie HDMI cable with a disc I knew to be poorly authored or just poor quality filmed (that's Paul McCartneys's bonus feature St Petersburg concert on Moscow Live DVD btw - which I know is lousy quality having also watched it over and over on my old Arcam DV78 using it's stella component analogue output), and then changed cabel to the VDH Flat and watched same chapter again. I'm not saying it was night and day difference. But it was better quality image and colours were brighter. Maybe it's the display device error correction making a difference I don't know for sure. With A/V signal sends it's not like TCP vs UDP data packets with data integrity guaranteed on the latter, so maybe that's what the difference is with better quality cables requiring less. I don't know! And don't care to be honest. The VDH cable produced better images than cheap cable.

Having said that, the cheap cable was just that! Really cheap thin £5 special. Whether VDH cable would be better than a half the price QED HDMI-P cable? Maybe not.

Dont forget the different versions of HDMI cables.  Not all HDMI cables are the same version.

Also, what was the sound like?  

Was it going through a 5.1 surround amp with the HDMI lead?

See below (taken from the Keane electronics website)

HDMi is specified with a rather confusing series of numbers, there are different versions for HDMI itself and also for the HDCP copy protection system.

HDMI v1.0 was the launch version (2002) providing for 1080p with digital audio.

HDMI v1.1 added support for DVD Audio.

HDMI v1.2 added support for SACD and provided for better PC connectivity

HDMI v1.2a really marks the time somebody realised it would be a good idea to have this stuff tested and certified to make sure it all works with each other!

HDMI v1.3 increased bandwidth to 10.2Gbps to support forthcoming HD devices with higher frame rates and rather amazingly, provides for over one billion colours.

v1.3 also saw the arrival of the mini-HDMI connector, provides for lipsync error correction and is compatible with Dolby TrueHD & DTS-HD lossless audio.

HDMI v1.3a introduced various minor technical changes for things like timing and capacitance.

HDMI v1.3b is the latest (at time of writing) testing specification, which includes certification for two categories of cable:

Standard (category 1) cables are rated to perform up to 75Mhz, which is the equivalent of a 1080i signal.

High Speed (category 2) cables are rated to perform up to 340Mhz, currently the highest bandwidth of 1080p signals with increased colour depths and/or increased refresh rates.

Note - all versions should be backward compatible with each other, although the picture & audio settings will be limited to that of the oldest HDMI version equipment.

Not all HDMI equipment is capable of producing a 1080p signal.

I went to buy an HDMI cable for my PS3 at the local tech store and the sales assistant tried to sell me one for £70 and I asked why. He told me that the picture quality would be better than the £10 cable. I have a background in video editing and I knew this to be untrue so I walked away with the cheaper cable, knowing it would work perfectly fine. Which it did.

I'm disappointed (and somewhat angry) with this article. I can't believe that a reviewer on 'What Hi Fi' could say ???it's soon apparent that this cable is special. Images boast amazing clarity and there's hardly any trace of noise??? about an HDMI cable. Special? Only in its pricing!  This comment alone indicates that the reviewer doesn???t understand the fundamental differences in how HDMI (digital) cables and traditional audio/visual (analogue) cables function. ???It's enshrouded in a Hulliflex jacket and is fitted with gold-plated contacts??? Yes, this type of fitting will affect analogue cabling, but it will have no affect on the HDMI cable nor on the output of the image/audio quality for most users. It???s a concern that the reviewer thinks otherwise. The only time a more expensive cable would be required is for those situations when longer cables are needed eg 10m+, only then is it worth the investment for buying an expensive cable. Gizmodo have a great series of articles about this issue (search for Gizmodo + monster cable + truth). The series of articles include a technical overview of how HDMI cables should work with different equipment as well as real world testing and results.

???What Hi Fi??? is typically a trusted source of information, which is why I???m disappointed and angry at this article. The reviewers should be informing readers accurately, not recommending unnecessarily expensive equipment. No one needs a £65 one meter HDMI cable!!

My mate paid £80 for a 1M hdmi to get the best video and audio from his hd-player.

However, after trying my £10 5M hdmi cable from Hong Kong he was a bit annoyed.

Maybe these cables are for people who spend £5000 on a cinema system.  Like spending £80 on a glass but the water will still taste the same.