HDTV: Don’t Waste Your Money Buying Expensive Digital Cables

June 25th, 2006 • Related • Filed Under

I just read a post over on Scoble’s blog giving some good advice on choosing a HDTV. I agree with his view that buying a 1080p HDTV now is a waste of time as nothing on the market supports 1080p.

I disagree with the advice he and also some of the commenters give on cables. Although spending a good sum on Scart, RF, Composite cables etc paid off, with HDMI and Component Video cables (and also digital audio cables) there is no need to waste cash going for the expensive cables stores try to get you to buy. The signal is Digital so each pixel is either displayed correctly or it isn’t - having a ‘more expensive/better’ cable isn’t going to improve your image.

It’s an easy trap to fall into as old habits die hard, and I have to admit I fell for it as well with some of my cable purchases for my Hitachi Plasma HDTV. Just make sure that the cable you buy is sufficiently shielded.

More: Scoble

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Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and currently runs the Portal and online operations for one of the largest ISPs in the UK. He also writes for Windows 7 News.

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There Are 3 Responses So Far. »

  1. #1

    Comment by MIke Rupertus on 19 September 2006:

    “nothing on the market supports 1080p”, well, my understanding of LCD displays is that they always display “p” format, so if it does 1080i it is really 1080p.. By nature LCD displays are progressive, the overall quality is not as good as really good CRT but if it’s 1080p then it’s pretty good, especially to average consumer who just wants a thin tv, after all, newer is better right???!!! ha ha… I do agree about cables being useless in the digital domain. One is just as good as another by it’s very nature…digital is not about type of cable just a cable that works…a shirt hanger might be able to be bent to carry a digital singal…

  2. #2

    Comment by JC on 11 December 2007:

    Is component video cable considered digital? I know HDMI (DVI also) and digital audio cable are digital.

    Suppose that it’s analog, does it really make a difference with expensive component video cable?

    Thanks.

  3. #3

    Comment by Everton on 11 December 2007:

    @JC

    Component is analogue but it can carry a HD signal. You will get a better return from spending more cash on analogue cables than digital

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