HDMI video cable & quality differences

[RBFC]

Here's an interesting review:

http://audaud.com/2012/07/mapleshade-vivilink-hdmi-cable-with-plus-upgrade/

Anybody have any experience that mirrors this?

Lee

 

[amirm]

My read of it is that it is junk science:

"I had just completed most of the video tests on both the Spears & Munsil and HQV Silicon Optix Blu-ray Test Video Discs on my new Panasonic display. The first disc had some hi-def clips shot in the vicinity of Astoria, Oregon. I immediately saw that the struts on the long bridge across the Columbia River connecting Astoria with Washington State were fuzzy and indistinct with the Monster Cable HDMI. With the Mapleshade HDMI everything snapped into perfect focus, and at the same time the shadow detail improved considerably and the colors seemed to sing more. "

He is reviewing video like audio. There is no reason for subjectivity there. He can hit the pause button hook up a meter and show us before and after black levels. If he doesn't have such a meter, shame on him . But he can also take his camera out and take a picture of the "fuzzy" detail before and after and show us that. That's not provided either. These are so easy to do with video yet folks like him don't provide it. If the reviewer can't do it, the cable maker certainly can.

There really is no reason for subjective reviews like this when it comes to video. We have standards which he has in his hands in the form of Spears and Munsil disc. It takes just a few minutes to prove or disprove. Yet we have words instead of measurements.

As to the rest of his points, yes, low qualify HDM cables exist which could go bad. The bigger problem I have had is that I had a cable that damaged the HDMI connector! The connector is poorly designed and very delicate. It is not designed for frequent plugging and unplugging. It uses circuit board traces which can easy wear off and break. Take a flashlight and look in there and you see what I mean. Compare your connectors and if you see wear, you are using the wrong cable.

 

[rbbert]

Although my experience is far from comprehensive, I too have noticed differences in the quality of the HDMI connectors between various cables, not always related to the price of the cable. If the connection is firmly made, though, I've been unable to notice any difference between cables (video only, I don't currently use HDMI for audio).

 

[DonH50]

Gotta' love the manufacturer's comment about too much insulation and wire too thick causing data corruption in all the other HDMI cables out there... Shows a fndamental lack of understanding of transmission line effects in cables. Maybe he was mis-quoted, or taken out of context, or has a technical explanation that makes sense.

One of my primary reasons for buying more expensive cables (e.g. BJC instead of Monoprice's cheapest) has been the quality of the assembly and connectors, much more so than the cable itself (at least for audio and video cables; at microwave frequencies and up, everything becomes important).