Browse Forums Home Theatre & Automation 1 Mar 22, 2009 8:46 pm My Denon DVD player (DVD-800) bit the dust last week. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, I have since learnt that they are definitely the weak link in the Denon family. It was about 8 years old, did an admirable job, but it has ceased to be. I have replaced it with the soon to be superceded Panasonic Blu-ray player (DMP-BD35) for the nice price of $399. It matches my Panasonic 1080p telly. The shock to the system came with the purchase of a HDMI cable. Safe with the knowledge that any HDMI cable is better than the normal AV cables supplied, did I do the right thing in spending $170 on a cable (Monster 700, providing 4.95 Gbps and 8-bit colour), or maybe it was overkill, or maybe I didn't spend enough? I also bought a fibre optic cable for the sound, I couldn't believe the difference! Geoff - Decophile. Re: Did I do the right thing? 2Mar 22, 2009 8:54 pm Golden plated HDMI cables is what you should buy. Any 2M cable that cost you more than $50 is a rip off unfortunately. I bought a couple of them from eBay few months ago and they're working fine. I think HDMI cables are ridiculously overpriced. Re: Did I do the right thing? 3Mar 23, 2009 2:23 am Cables are unfortunately one of those things where people generally don't know better and are lured into spending big bucks for no observable benefit. HDMI's are particularly notorious for this. I don't know about Australia, but over here in North Ameria the Monster brand have a reputation for being over-priced and having aggresive sales tactics. So unfortunately while it looks like it is too late for you (unless they are still in the packet?), for everyone else's benefit here's a couple of pages that I've found quite informative... http://www.audioholics.com/education/cables/the-truth-about-interconnects-and-cables http://www.audioholics.com/education/cables/allContents?b_start:int=0 http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/hdmi-cables.htmhttp://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/03/audiophile_deathmatch_monster_cables_vs_a_coat_hanger-2.html http://www.hometheaterfocus.com/home-theater-canada/future-shop-monster.aspx The way I see it is that the bottom line is if you think ANYTHING (not just cables - receivers, speakers, projectors etc.) is over-priced, ask to do a live in-store comparison between the two (or better yet, take them both home - a good independent store will let you trial something at your house!). It's all subjective - if YOU can't tell the difference in the picture or the audio then don't bother spending more money than you need to! After 2 false starts, a year living overseas, two more world trips and 3 years of uncertainty we are now starting the build process again - hopefully for real this time! Re: Did I do the right thing? 6Mar 23, 2009 12:22 pm www.ezyhd.com.au best bang for the buck cables..... i bought about 5 from them already and can vouch that they rock. btw, why are u using optical output when u have hdmi? toslinks are things of the past IMO. ---->Some say that a recession is when your neighbour loses his/her job while a depression is when you lose yours!<----- Re: Did I do the right thing? 7Mar 23, 2009 2:43 pm smeagol http://www.ezyhd.com.au best bang for the buck cables..... i bought about 5 from them already and can vouch that they rock. btw, why are u using optical output when u have hdmi? toslinks are things of the past IMO. The lower end amps do not support audio over HDMI. I know because mine doesn't support audio over HDMI Re: Did I do the right thing? 8Mar 23, 2009 3:35 pm Well there you go, I wasted some money on a cable, but at least the player was $100 less than RRP. ed. smeagol btw, why are u using optical output when u have hdmi? toslinks are things of the past IMO. The lower end amps do not support audio over HDMI. I know because mine doesn't support audio over HDMI My amp is a Denon 1602, first generation of the digital amps, but not low end! It's just old, that's all, and doesn't have a HDMI input. it still performs exceptionally well though. Geoff - Decophile. Re: Did I do the right thing? 9Mar 23, 2009 3:45 pm paid $17 for a 2m cable.. and it does the job... Kodiak Data Cabling onFaceBook Consult*, Design and Installation Data, TV, Home Theatre/ AV Cabling, Multi Room Audio, IP CCTV and Door Intercoms Ask for a Quote. *DIY DATA Cabling Is Ilegal Re: Did I do the right thing? 10Mar 24, 2009 8:25 am Eager Well there you go, I wasted some money on a cable, but at least the player was $100 less than RRP. ed. smeagol btw, why are u using optical output when u have hdmi? toslinks are things of the past IMO. The lower end amps do not support audio over HDMI. I know because mine doesn't support audio over HDMI My amp is a Denon 1602, first generation of the digital amps, but not low end! It's just old, that's all, and doesn't have a HDMI input. it still performs exceptionally well though. Sorry I meant the low end current generation models No wonder people are being conned in to $100+ HDMI cables! http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/23/mons ... lectronic/ Re: Did I do the right thing? 11Mar 24, 2009 2:39 pm Eager Well there you go, I wasted some money on a cable, but at least the player was $100 less than RRP. Yeah, we've all done it. I'm not ashamed to admit that I got conned into buying Monster Cables for my first plasma setup. Live and learn and all that. Re: Did I do the right thing? 12Mar 24, 2009 9:40 pm Yep it is a big con... selby www.selbyacoustics.com.au sell excellent quailty cables and you could have got 1.5m for $29.95.. but you don't need us to keep rubbing it in.. Re: Did I do the right thing? 14Mar 25, 2009 1:51 pm I've bought items form selby acoustics (went there and bought a projector screen on the weekend), and I've bought cables from Academy TV (www.academytv.com) who are local to me. Both are excellent businesses, and offer good product for a good price (so far anyway!) Cheers Re: Did I do the right thing? 15Mar 25, 2009 8:38 pm Yes, I'm sure the 70 min drive to Selby would have been well worth it. Especially considering that I haven't even watched a Blu-ray on my new player yet, and probably won't until at least Sunday night. Still, is there any appreciable difference in the quality delivered by the cable compared to one of lower specifications? Geoff - Decophile. Re: Did I do the right thing? 16Mar 25, 2009 9:23 pm Eager Still, is there any appreciable difference in the quality delivered by the cable compared to one of lower specifications? I'd like to say yes to make you feel better... but no... Why don't you take the cable back? Re: Did I do the right thing? 17Mar 26, 2009 7:15 am Wow. Glad I stumbled across this thread before I went and bought our TV and blu-ray. Building Vancouver 33 - My Thread https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=89689 Re: Did I do the right thing? 18Mar 26, 2009 8:50 am Ryan Oliver Wow. Glad I stumbled across this thread before I went and bought our TV and blu-ray. When you go to buy them and they inevitably try and push a cable onto you, simply say you plan on buying one for, say, $30, and if they will match the price you will buy it from them. They will shut up fairly soon, or, some will go into ****** about all sorts of things. EG interference, RF, etc. I have a cheap HDMI cable that runs all over power cords, speaker cabling, transformers, etc. and there is ZERO drop in quality. Re: Did I do the right thing? 19Mar 26, 2009 10:05 am Eager Still, is there any appreciable difference in the quality delivered by the cable compared to one of lower specifications? If there was any difference in the actual specifications of the cable then there probably would be a difference (some really cheap, thin HDMI cables - often included in the box with some Blu-Ray players - are not up to the challenge of transmitting full 1080P. I've seen them fail), but I think you've used the word specifications when you should have used the word price. In the example of the very affordable Selby HMDI cables (eg. a 1m Selby HDMI cable is $24.95), they are exactly the same spec - HDMI 1.3b certified - as much more expensive cables (eg. 1m Monster HDMI cables start at $120 and go as high as $380!) and to the naked eye give exactly the same result. If you had spent tens upon tens of thousands of dollars on your audio visual system then it is an acceptable arguement for spending the bigger dollars on these small cables (as with that much tech and investment you might actually see the difference), but for those of us with modest systems (say <$20K even) I just can't see where anyone would see or hear the difference and therefore justify the larger cost... Re: Did I do the right thing? 20Mar 28, 2009 7:29 am Thanks Rod, I appreciate your expert opinion. Sales spin was certainly a factor on the day, "This cheaper version of the cable is only good for 780p. See, it says so on the packet!" etc. Live and learn, I guess. Now, can I hijack my own thread? Like any blu-ray or dvd player, mine can also play cd's, but is it recommended? Again, sales spin on the day, from several different stores, is along the lines of "Don't play too many cd's on it, you'll damage the laser." True or false? We don't play many cd's at all, maybe a few per week, but now we're slightly paranoid about playing any at all. Geoff - Decophile. 1 361 I'm putting a new floor in my kitchen, slate flagging on a standard concrete slab. I have allowed for a bed thickness of up to 20mm to accommodate the different… 0 17539 They using concrete or timber sleepers? Timber or steel uprights? Any drainage behind sleeper? 3 5877 |