Why Patronizing sponsers is SMART

[JonMarsh]

Next time you're looking for a specialty cable that CatCable doesn't offer yet, think of one of our other sponsers- Parts Express. They carry some of the more difficult to locate items- like DVI-D dual link HDTV video cables. Yes, you might find them recently at your local RS along side the M*nster C@bles, but at RS you'll pay $109 for a 12 ft dual link DVI-D, while the 15 ft PE Part number 181-710 is normally $48.32, currently on sale for $43.61.

Just came across this because I was looking for an additional DVI cable to go from my OPV971 player to Dtronics DVI to RGBHV converter.

I'll probably be ordering one of these next week, and I'll let you know how it turns out.

~Jon

[Cowanrg]

Jon, be careful with DVI cables. there are good ones and bad ones. the bad ones ive seen are monster cables mainly. the monster DVI cables look pretty bad. very bad colors and low brightness. the ones that come with samsung stuff are actually decent. ive seen some of those cheaper radioshack ones that look bad too.

this is a case where spending some extra $$ can make a difference. ive had customers be VERY unhappy with DVI performance just to find out its a poor quality cable.

[JonMarsh]

I agree in principle, which is why I'll be reporting back after ordering a set the beginning of next week.

Now, in principle, a "digital" cable is all about characteristic impedance and connector quality, IMO. To be faire, I should test both the PE cable and the RS... I also have enough experience with digital circuitry to have seen some folks chips which don't quite meet specs work marginally with one connector interface and not at all with another.

I bring this up because I've seen before what are essentilaly identical products (and I mean IDENTICAL - I'll show more later this weekend) offered at over 2:1 differences in price- also in the video domain-

DVI and HDMI seem to be one of those areas where it seems the CE industry has developed an opportunity to charge a bunch of money for even the least expensive implementations- you can get a fairly acceptable set of component cables for much less.

Well, maybe this is something we could all follow up on- those using DVI and HDMI, please post your purchase and use experiences- especially for the longer ones, which are more critical.

~Jon

[Kevin P]

...the monster DVI cables look pretty bad. very bad colors and low brightness...

How could a DVI cable, which carries a digital signal, affect color and brightness? Unless you were using the analog (RGB/VGA) feed that DVI carries along with the digital feed, at least in computer applications.

[ThomasW]

There was a 3 cable USB shootout in MaximiumPC. The worst rated cable was the much more expensive MonsterCable. It's transfer rate was bested by the cheapest generic cable .......... :roflmao: