Have your say & ask the experts

Without wanting to get into the theory of blind and double blind testing and the theory of factorial experimental design let me just say this.

The best way to do any experiment is to vary one thing at a time. That way if there is an observable difference then it is likely - not certian but highly probable to be down to the thing that changed. So a cable would best be tested by just swaping the cable. Two TV's side by side connected to 2 DVD players but using different cables playing the same DVD is a poor test as there are too many of what are called external variables.

Re blind testing - it's widely accepted by the scientific community as being the most effective way to test something where the results may be subjective or partly subjective. That's why it's used in drug testing where the control group will be given the placebo but they won't know it's the placebo. That way when 30% of them tell you they feel better you know it's nothing to do with the drug. This is all to do with people wanting to believe something. It's due to the way our brains are wired up not much to be done about it really but it does help if the subjective can be eliminated.

But as I said if you feel that you can see a difference between one cable and another and one gives you a better picture then that's great. If you want to come on here and say that QED cables are brighter than IXOS cables then you are entitled to your opinion and I would defend to the death your absolute right to give voice to it.

Just so we're clear though. Unless theres something inherantly 'wrong' with the cable (id assume some of the VERY cheap hdmis are prone to failing and ive seen pictures of entire portions of the screen dissapearing!), even a bog standard one that 'works' is going to look great. Just that the better made cables look better :D

Also of course, dont just buy one EXPECTING it to perform better just because it cost more. Look for reviews on it or someone whos had actual experience with it. (Personally I NEVER trust what the 'dealers' tell me as some will try to flog you anything!). some of the pricier cables are of course just 'rip offs'.

Other general factors are how close you sit to the tv. (Freeview has quite a lot of 'artifacting' in but if your a little further from the screen its hardly noticeable. The tv AND source have to be upto scratch and it helps if theyre fed with decent mains cables. Finally, that the mains 'signal' is as clean as you can get it. Any of these will change how the screen looks more than any hdmi will (Save perhaps the sources mains cable)

heres a fairly good explanation of hdmi and errors ~

Check out from 'the cliff effect' and onwards

http://tapeconnection.dk/Media/MediaArchive/tmcgifaoewisnhcj.pdf

http://www.lenbrookamerica.com/images/downloads/HDMI_Cables.pdf

 So is there any actual conclusion that many/most will agree on....

For longer distances (10m+) and very top spec set-up (50" tv, blu ray, projector, av receiver etc), hdmi quality differences are noticeable, and generally the QEDS, Chords etc are preferable for best picture and sound due to minimal loses.

For short distances (1-2m) and medium spec set up (ps3, 26/32" tv, dvd upscaler), cheaper £20 cables are up to the job and big branded stuff will offer tiny minable gains at best, if any at all.

Does that sum up?

That said, should the second set-up have noticeable gains with a £15-£20 hdmi like this compared to a £0-5 hmdi like this right? Or on medium spec, any v1.3b will be fine?

Sorry if this has already been posted, but the following article should pretty much end this discussion...

 http://www.audioholics.com/education/cables/long-hdmi-cable-bench-tests

In short, lenght of cable and quality do matter, but it is currently very hard to see significant differences even in 1080p at 10m lenght. Things will be more obvious as bandwidth increases with more bit depth for instance.

Cheers,
Bernard

Octopo:

That's why we have to make up our own minds and stop arguing about it.

Octopo:

That's why we have to make up our own minds and stop arguing about it.

No worries, my 10m Panasonic HDMI cable works fine and I don't find the image quality on my 720p projector to be objectionnable at all, which happens to be inline with the conclusion of the article linked above.

Either way, I tend to be a lot less demanding about image than I am about sound... strange for a photographer isn't it?

Cheers,
Bernard