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Replace hdmi lead

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grggs9
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hi. just had sky hd installed, can anyone tell me if i change the hdmi lead to either chord company 1.3 or clearer audio copper hdmi, will it make a difference. The sky engineer said that you would not notice. the hdmi lead they give me is probably a basic one and is not even gold plated.

fatboyslimfast
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Re: Replace hdmi lead

Oh my goodness, you have opened a can of worms here!

Some people will say yes, others will disagree. I tend to think that for a short run (less than 2 metres) as long as the cable works, then it works. Because the signal is digital, it will either get there or not.

Now, there are technical reasons why I may be generalising too much, but my opinion is that generally, the standard lead should do just fine.

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SpiceWeasel
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Re: Replace hdmi lead

Yep a big can of worms. Best thing to do is to borrow a lead from a decent shop. You have to leave a deposit but you can then test it out at home and see if it makes a difference or not.

Tallyho
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Re: Replace hdmi lead

In my opinion most HDMI cables up to about the £50 range are no different from one another when it comes to picture quality...after all they are digital cables! You also have to look at the system you have. if its a PS3 with a say a Pioneer 428XD for example why would you wish to spend £100 on an HDMI cable...you don't need to when something along the lines of say a £30-£40 cable will suffice


Mind you if CHORD were to bung me a few £1,000 I'd be more than happy to recommend all of their products without reservation and go so far as to that their cables are the only cables to buy irrespetive of what my head may tell me


Seriously though if you say had something along the lines of a Top of the range Pioneer Plasma 50 or 60 ins TV and say a £2,500 DVD player along the lines of DENON or NAIM then perhaps that would warrant a £100 cable to compliment the internal quality wiring of the above two components....but for people with modest systems a real max of £40 should more than suffice...no need to go crazy

Clare Newsome
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Re: Replace hdmi lead
grggs9:
hi. just had sky hd installed, can anyone tell me if i change the hdmi lead to either chord company 1.3 or clearer audio copper hdmi, will it make a difference. The sky engineer said that you would not notice. the hdmi lead they give me is probably a basic one and is not even gold plated.

Clearer Audio offers money-back guarantee on all its cables, and its HDMI is certainly a good-quality one.

Otherwise i'd ask to try a QED Performance HDMI-P (@£45) or the Chord if you've a larger set or projector.
 

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Tallyho
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Re: Replace hdmi lead
Clare Newsome
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Re: Replace hdmi lead

Indeed, the Wireworld Island 5's not bad (four stars, October 2007), but you can buy better for the money (Cambridge Audio HDMI at £30 for 2m, or the aforementioned QED for a little extra).

 

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Group PR Manager - Computers Unlimited;

Former Group Editor of What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision and Whathifi.com

Twitter: @ClareNewsome