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Aftermarket DVi cable.

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UnknownSouljer

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Sep 24, 2001
Messages
9,041
I heard some people discussing how aftermarket DVi cables were better than most stock one.

If this is true (which I have no reason to disagree) what company would I go about buying one.

I picked up a Dell 2005fpw which I love, but why not make a good thing better (if it's possible)?
 
While I hate the company, I owned a Monster DVI cable a while back when I had an NEC 1860NX. The Monster cable made the image noticeably brighter and clearer vs my cheap Ratshack cable. Whether its worth the $50+ is up to you...
 
saturnine2 said:
While I hate the company, I owned a Monster DVI cable a while back when I had an NEC 1860NX. The Monster cable made the image noticeably brighter and clearer vs my cheap Ratshack cable. Whether its worth the $50+ is up to you...
Click to expand...

See yeah, that's what I was talking about. Higher signal clarity probably because of lower impedence and probably a thicker cable. I know similar can be done with CRT's (if said CRT has a removeable cable).
 
UnknownSouljer said:
See yeah, that's what I was talking about. Higher signal clarity probably because of lower impedence and probably a thicker cable. I know similar can be done with CRT's (if said CRT has a removeable cable).
Click to expand...

OK, just for my own peace of mind I have to say one more time that when you are dealing with a digital signal you either get a signal or you don't. The quality of the cable plays no part in the image quality. If you don't believe me (and I don't expect you to) maybe check out www.avsforum.com and do some searchs on digital cables.
 
Truthfully, unless you have really back feedback loops from electricity or something like that than you won't notice the difference between a much more expensive cable. Back when I was heavily into AV stuff and home theater I bought really expensive gold plated S-video cables and didn't notice any difference between them and cheap 10 dollar cables. I'm sure if you're buying higher quality stuff it last longer in certain situations but it's probably not worth it unless you're in some kind of industrial setup where the wires take a lot of punishment. A standard cheap DVI cable is infinitely better than component, S-Video ect, so you really don't need to waste the extra cash unless you really want to have the best of the best.
 
peacetilence said:
....didn't notice any difference between them and cheap 10 dollar cables. ...
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Don't think that no one else won't hear the difference :D Personal tastes are different, and so are individual hearing/visual capabilities ;)

Just to prove my point, did u notice a certain individual who claims to discern a bad lcd from a good a mile away? :eek:
 
Analog cables can benefit from higher quality cables, lower impedance, and so on. DVI is not analog.
 
saturnine2 said:
While I hate the company, I owned a Monster DVI cable a while back when I had an NEC 1860NX. The Monster cable made the image noticeably brighter and clearer vs my cheap Ratshack cable. Whether its worth the $50+ is up to you...
Click to expand...
Two possibilities: You are either a liar and/or Monster Cable sales rep, or have been tricked by your own mind by the placebo effect. Since I know you're not a sales rep, I prefer to think you've been tricked.
 
Do not be fooled by cheap imitations. While there may be little to no difference between DVI cables, there is a world of difference when dealing with analog signals. I know. Monster cables provided the best analog clarity. Expensive, yeah, but it was worth it. I tried R-Shack, GE, no-names, and none could measure up to the monster cable. Preferably Monster Cable 3. If you go Monster 2 or 1, then it can be matched.

However, if the output is already crappy in the first place, no cable is going to help you.
 
corebreach said:
Two possibilities: You are either a liar and/or Monster Cable sales rep, or have been tricked by your own mind by the placebo effect. Since I know you're not a sales rep, I prefer to think you've been tricked.
Click to expand...
Got any links to back-up that statement?
 
1c3d0g said:
Got any links to back-up that statement?
Click to expand...

He doesn't have too, he is a limp gawd, and who are u? :D just kiddin ;) seriously tho, do u have to be so anal-retentive? :p
 
I've heard both sides of the argument, but everything is inconclusive... it seems to me that it all depends on how picky you are (or, perhaps if you believe your eyes are superior than others, but let's not start another Nazi thread)... ;)
 
1c3d0g said:
I've heard both sides of the argument, but everything is inconclusive... it seems to me that it all depends on how picky you are (or, perhaps if you believe your eyes are superior than others, but let's not start another Nazi thread)... ;)
Click to expand...

So I've been saying all along :D :cool:
 
corebreach said:
Two possibilities: You are either a liar and/or Monster Cable sales rep, or have been tricked by your own mind by the placebo effect. Since I know you're not a sales rep, I prefer to think you've been tricked.
Click to expand...
Eh, maybe it was placebo. But I was happy with the end result, which is what matters most :) And I'm sure there are cheaper, better quality cables out there. An HDTV forum would be a great place to research.
 
1c3d0g said:
I've heard both sides of the argument, but everything is inconclusive... it seems to me that it all depends on how picky you are (or, perhaps if you believe your eyes are superior than others, but let's not start another Nazi thread)... ;)
Click to expand...

No, it doesn't. This is one battle the "my eyes are so good I can see the difference" people just can't win.

Let me explain this scientifically. There are two elements of cable quality, attenuation and interference. Attenuation is due to resistance in the cable --- if I send a 5 volt signal down the cable, and it comes out the other end as 4.5 volts, then the signal has been attenuated by the cable. The other element is interference --- if I send a 5 volt signal down the cable, but it comes out as a 12 volt signal due to emissions from a nearby nuclear reactor, the signal is being interfered with.

Now, a VGA cable consists of five important signals, three color signals (RGB), and two synchronization signals (horizontal, vertical). The voltage on the color signals (0-5V), signals how intense the electron gun for that color should be for that pixel, while the sync signal is used to control the horizontal and vertical scan rate of the electron gun array. Interference usually isn't an issue with even decently shielded VGA cables. If it was, you'd see random colors on your screen, because the voltages would just be completely wrong. What is a problem is attenuation. You send a signal of 5V on the red pin (bright red), and you get 4.5v at the end of the cable (a duller red). A high-quality cable has less attenuation, and thus gives you brighter, more accurate colors.

DVI doesn't work that way. Instead, a DVI signal consists of a series of 10-bit characters transmitted over a differential link. In a differential link, each bit is transmitted over 2 wires. One wire contains the signal (+5V for 1, 0V for 0), and the other wire contains the opposite. The receiver computes the resultant bit as the difference of the two signals. This greatly reduced interference, because interference tends to add to both wires equally, and the subtraction process cancels out such errors. The only error worth talking about is attenuation, when the two signals weaken so much that they cannot be told apart. When that happens, the reciever knows something is wrong (the two signals are normally supposed to be opposite, remember), and can refuse to display the signal. Thus, in DVI, you cannot have "silent degredation" of the signal. Either the signal gets through, in which case its bit-for-bit accurate, or the signal doesn't get through, which the receiver can detect.
 
Thanks rhashem. I didn't want to seem like a dick and just say "You guys are wrong", so I am glad you took the time to post the science behind the digital cable debate.

As I mentioned above:

JackieO said:
...I have to say one more time that when you are dealing with a digital signal you either get a signal or you don't.
Click to expand...
 
thanks for all the info rhashem, just saved me (and others probably) some cash on overpriced dvi cables.
 
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