HDMI cables What's the difference between...

[Johny B Good]

Not if it's the same one I returned as "Not Fit For Purpose" on account the battery compartment didn't hold the 2 AAA cells in place securely enough to stop it losing its hard won setting.

It's actually your duty as a good citizen to return such crap to the pound shop for a full refund (how else will they learn to stop selling those chinese made disposable gas lighters that fail because of an absence of a tenth of a penny's worth of plastic renders them unusable before you've consumed even as much as a fifth of the gas or flint (the consumable items that are _supposed_ to be the life limiting factors on such 'disposable' items)?

That can be true but, hey, just pop the duff stuff in a bag marked £Returns so that the next shopping trip that takes you near to a £ store of the same retail chain, you can pop in and claim your refund (it doesn't have to be the same branch- you _do_ keep hold of your receipts, don't you?).

[Jabba]

Another Dave wrote

One of my local pound shops is selling Belkin branded cables.

[polygonum]

After having lots of problems with microUSB leads I decided to buy an expensive one. Solved all the problems I had.

a) Fits all the microUSB sockets on all the devices I use properly (phones and others) some of which had sometimes been iffy. That is, the physical plug simply fits the hole better. b) All devices seem to charge properly and transmit data happily. Had lots of occasions where devices appeared/disappeared from computer due to lead. At its worst, I was seeing a PC grind to a stop connecting / disconnecting repeatedly every few seconds. Or devices start charging - but stop second after you leave them. c) There was c) when I started typing.... What was it?

It also looks much nicer!

Also went for a short USB-microUSB lead and use a standard USB-USB extension lead as needed to avoid using long lengths of very thin wire. Maybe I wouldn't have needed to with the good lead, but I have found it quite convenient to carry round a selection of USB extension leads.

[Johny B Good]

At that price, probably worth the money then.

[Tim Watts]

I think that you've hit the nail on the head. Beyond basic goodness, digital cables don't vary much. My connectors can go between tin plated s**te to gold plated dimensionally correct. Since the 70's I've always preferred to pay a littl more for a good connector.

3.5mm jacks are notorious for being iffy of cheap.

[Davey]

What does Russ Andrews sell them for? £200?

Ah, here we go (not quite £200, but getting up there:

And his only has silver-plated connectors.

Also, he can upgrade your Humax PVR:

In Russ?s words, the result of the upgrades is a ?leap in p erformance of both sound and picture quality?. When we tested both the Freesat and Freeview boxes, we saw quite clearly an improvement in image clarity, definition and sharpness; the sound was clearer and more dynamic too, with more detail and a more natural presentation. In our view, these boxes make superb radio tuners in a Hi-Fi system as well as great TV set-top boxes in Home Cinema systems.

Note that the cost, £399, does not include the upgraded PVR.

[dennis]

They must be poor cables. The 20m one doesn't work. That's why they are priced at £99k The people that buy this stuff must have inherited their fortune, they aren't intelligent enough to have earned it.

[soup]

'Little' being the operative word. £30 up, nah.

Fair enough paying say £10 as opposed to £2 to get better connectors thicker wires etc but that is for usage improvement NOT higher quality distribution.

[Bill]

In message , Jabba writes

Yes, the 99p shop, and I also found they had Stanley sliding door repair kits. We have 2 sliding doors here which may or may not use these kits, but, hey, I can make tons of stuff for the grandchildren out of collections of little wheels and metal brackets.

But we went back last week for the 2 alarm clocks for 99p, only to find it was now Christmas in 99pland, and alarm clocks are summer holiday items and no longer in the shops.

[Dave Liquorice]

Or it just shows how much mar^H^H^Ha ripoff other retailers are. If a pound shop can sell at a pound and still make a profit...

[Dave Liquorice]

Well there a few HDMI standards, new features like ARC and Ethernet have been added over time and I think the bitrates have been hiked. A cable compliant with an early standard may not support newer features or transmit the higher bit rates cleanly. Rounded edges lead to jitter that can make the reciever have to work harder or use more error correction (assuming the HDMI data streams have some form of error correction).

I'd be wary of pound shop cables but consider that £5 to £10 for a 2

m up to date spec cable "about right".

[Vir Campestris]

I wonder what the acoustic damping material does for the cooling?

Andy

[Vir Campestris]

Unfortunately that neatly demonstrates that you don't get what you pay for.

I think I'd rather buy a cheap one that didn't work than an expensive one that didn't!

Andy

[Peter Crosland]

Only in price!

[tony sayer]

Umm .... TNP starting a Boy band is he;?...

2 M eh?, that won't be much cop for prancing around on a stage now;!// >

[alan_m]

Some of the worst quality cables I've seen have come packed in the same box as the mid/top range consumer electronics.

[Richard Tobin]

Ethernet requires suitable cable, and so do "high speed" (>1080i/720p) and 4k resolution.

On the other hand ARC, which was added in HDMI 1.4, did not involve any change to the cable spec. A cable compliant with any version of the HDMI standard will support it. Of course, this just goes to show that many HDMI cables are not compliant.

See

-- Richard

[Theo Markettos]

Poundland do that. However, I'd look at the SKUs carefully. I don't know for certain but I suspect they're made specially for them. It's a bit like the 'Kodak' batteries they sell - I doubt Kodak had anything to do with them beyond licensing the brand, they're probably made in a random Chinese factory like everything else.

Theo

[Richard Tobin]

That would be an advantage in the case of Belkin.

-- Richard

[Jabba]

Theo Markettos wrote

I can't see either Belkin or Kodak wishing to be associated with substandard products. They'd be pissing away all the money they've spent on their 'brand awareness'.