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| 2004/10/18-19 [Consumer/Audio] UID:34194 Activity:high |
10/18 Hi, I just got a 46" projection TV. I'm going to upgrade to a
progressive Philips DVP642 DVD player. I guess I want component video
cables since it separates the colors onto three wires.
On Amazon, I see Recoton ones for $15, and Monster ones for $60-100.
Is there really a diff? Is there a better place/brand to buy? Thanks.
\_ The DVP642 is the DVD player that plays divx right? I have this
player, and if you're planning to play divx movies, it will sometimes
crop bottom of picture (some subtitles may be unreadable).
I used standard RCA cables (1 video + 2 audio) for component video
and it worked fine, but I'm pretty indifferent to picture quality.
Give it a shot (you will probably already have the RCA cables handy),
and see if that's satisfactory.
\_ Not really a difference. You could maybe go for gold plating over
silver, but it's not going to really make a difference in the
picture. What makes a difference there is the type of cable, and
in doing component video you should already be a step up.
\_ Monster uses the worst sort of pseudo-scientific BS to try and
justify their product. As PP said, gold plating is good, but
only really matters if you expect their might be corossion.
You should only worry about expensive cables if you're trying a
really long cable run, at which point attenuation and overpriced
shielding become an issue.
\_ I've only heard of people using gold-plated cables for analog audio
connection, not analog video.
\_ What's the difference between an analog audio signal and an
analog video signal? Why would those differences affect whether
the connector is gold-plated or not?
\_ I'm not an audiophile and I have no idea.
\_ Was actually just looking into cabling today myself - trying to
figure out why a 75 ohm coaxial video cable is really necessary
for a digital DVD->receiver link? What would be the effect of
using a vanilla composite cable (rca) instead? (it's also short
distance)? thanks! - !op
\_ You really need someone on motd who can test this for you and
post first-hand knowledge, but from what I've read, well, with
audio you are dealing with sound up to 22 kHz. Video is a LOT
more bandwidth intensive, so speaking in an analog sense, the
data is up there at much higher frequencies, and theoretically
cable quality matters at those high frequencies.
\_ I run plain vanilla rca cable for component video between
the dvd player, receiver, and tv. Works fine for me, and
\_ just wondering, what exactly does "component" video mean,
in comparison to composite video and 75 ohm coaxial
digital video? - 75 ohm coaxial question guy
\_ Perhaps you should read http://csua.org/u/9jf .
\_ OBTW, in cases where the wavelength of a signal is
>> the wire length, the impedance of the wire is
dominated by the R of the wire. In the case of audio
and video cables, unless you plan to have really long
runs (say 10 meters), I would just make sure the cable
is made of something that looks metallic electrically.
I could discern no difference in quality from when I used
"expensive" Monster cable instead. I didn't do any quality
comparison with Video Essential or whatever test disk, and
there are plenty more expensive cables than Monster cable,
so YMMV.
\_ Monster cabling is even more insulting when you consider
that there is a known technique for eliminating interference
with analog audio cabling called "balanced cables." These
are par for the course in the professional audio world.
They work by carrying mono signals on either "stereo" TRS
cables, or XLR cables.
This has never gained favor in the consumer
audio world because the signal degredation caused by
interference is usually too small to make any difference
to almost any listener - including "audiophiles."
For more info see this URL:
http://homerecording.about.com/library/weekly/aa082697.htm
\_ You might be interested in my friend's attempt
connecting a Sony DVD player to a Dolby Labs decoder
via 2 soldered together wire coat hangers.
http://csua.org/u/9je , via the web archive.
\_ too bad the pictures are all broken links, would
have liked to have seen the end result! :)
\-OP: what speakers do you have? If you dont have pretty
nice speakers, the cabling will be irrelevant.
whether the cables make a different with nice
speakers is debateable and possibly dependent
on your hearing, room etc. many things, including
the speaker cables [not the device-device inter-
connects], should probably be upgraded before the
interconnects. ok tnx. <DEAD>--psbspeakers.com<DEAD>
interconnects. Good practical advice here:
http://csua.org/u/9jq ok tnx. <DEAD>--psbspeakers.com<DEAD> |
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| csua.org/u/9jf -> ecoustics-cnet.com.com/4520-6463_7-5020551-1.html?part=ecoustics-cnet By Kevin Miller (8/31/01) Every television is armed with some sort of video input--even if it's jus t a radio-frequency (RF) jack that you plug your rabbit-ear antennae int o These days, you'll almost always find a composite-video jack (usually color-coded yellow) and S-Video support, too. You'll find this connector, usually as a set of three RCA plugs (color-coded red, blue, and green), on everything from new midpriced TVs to the most expensive HDTVs. It delivers the best pict ure yet in terms of resolution and color accuracy. Now, let's clear up s ome of this clutter and explain what you'll find on the back of your TV. In order to transmit a color TV show to your home, a station must combine the audio and the composite video channels, which it broadcasts as an R F signal. Then your TV has to separate the sound and the picture so that you can view your show. However, you'll get cleaner pictures and sound if you don't combine the signals. And that's why you find separate audio and composite-video cables on most VCRs, satellite boxes, and video gam e consoles. Although the composite-video system was developed for color-TV signals, i t doesn't give you a very sharp picture. Composite video was created as a backward-compatible solution for television's transition from black an d white to color. It was a fairly clever solution to the problem of how to continue to send the same black-and-white picture to all the old sets and layer color information on top--a composite of those two picture co mponents. The black-and-white sets ignored the color component, while th e newer sets separated out the color information and displayed it with t he black-and-white picture. This made for a smooth TV transition in the 1950s with low-resolution color TVs. Today, though, sophisticated high-r esolution displays show all of the compression artifacts and cross-color (or moir) blurring that comes with a composite video connection. It's simply impossible to perfectly separate the color and picture informatio n of a composite-video signal. So, if your TV picture isn't sharp enough or the colors blur together, the likely culprit is a composite output s ignal. S-Video, which was introduced in the 1980s, solved some of the problems t hat came with composite video. It provides better color separation and a much cleaner signal. S-Video does so by keeping separate the color and picture parts of a composite-video signal. You'll find S-Video ports on most TVs for sale today, but not many people are really taking advantage of them yet. Well, take a look at Direct Broadcast Satellite, for example. It starts broadcasting in t he composite-video domain, and even though it is a component-video forma t, the artifacts associated with composite video still show up in the pi cture. Component video improves the picture quality even more by not only separa ting the color from the black-and-white portions of the picture but by f urther splitting the color information into two color-difference signals . When the picture signal is split up in this way, you get an unfiltered , uninterrupted image, with better resolution and greatly improved color saturation. And this is why component video is the predominant method o f hookup from HDTV set-top decoders to HDTVs. HDTV sources can display a wider color palette, and their component video connectors are labeled Y, Pb, and Pr to differentiate them. However, we've found that many manufacturers mis label their component-video connectors. For example, some analog Sony TV s have jacks labeled Y, Pb, and Pr, but they cannot accept HDTV signals. The most common connection from DVD players is three RCA-type jacks. Best pictures around DVD and HDTV sources are the best examples of the high-bandwidth, low-noi se, and deeply saturated color that component video is capable of produc ing. The bigger the size of the screen and the higher the resolution of the display, the more evident the enhanced picture quality using compone nt video. On small direct-view analog TVs, for example, you'll be hard-p ressed to see a difference between an S-Video and a component-video conn ection from a DVD player. On higher-resolution, HDTV-capable direct-view and rear-projection TVs, though, the distinction becomes much more obvi ous. progressive-scan DVD players deliver t he best possible DVD picture. As you may have guessed, progressive-scan DVD is delivered via component-video outputs from a progressive-scan-cap able DVD player. Progressive scan adds even more resolution and detail t o the picture, as well as the enhanced color resolution inherent in a co mponent video signal. If you are in the market for a home-theater system, make sure to get a TV with component-video inputs--either a new-generation, HDTV-capable set or just a big-screen analog set. Virtually all HDTV-capable sets have co mponent-video inputs. Many of today's HDTV-compatible sets have only one high-bandwidth (broadband, 480p, or 1,080i compatible) component input for the HDTV set-top box. A set with two broadband component-video input s gives you greater flexibility, as it will allow you to simultaneously hook up a progressive-scan DVD player and an HDTV set-top box, thus elim inating the need for an expensive component-video switcher. |
| homerecording.about.com/library/weekly/aa082697.htm Five Hot New Products, this week we get into an explanation of balanced and unbalanced lines. The Problem A recording studio can have miles of cable running from here to there and back again. When making cable runs of any length it's important to be a ble to reject any noise that may jump onto the line from a number of sou rces. Radio Frequency (RF), noise from dimmers or fluorescent lighting, CB radio transmissions, AM/FM radio transmissions and more can end up hi tchhiking along with your signal. Think about it, when you lay out a len gth of cable you are essentially making an antenna. When you lay out tho usands of yards of antennas it can be a nightmare. The Solution The best way to remedy this is to used balanced connections throughout yo ur studio. The difference between balanced and unbalanced cable is an ex tra conductor in the wire. An unbalanced connection runs two conductors, a hot and a ground. A balanced connection runs three conductors, a hot , a cold , and a ground. What makes the difference is not in t he cable but in what happens at either end, before and after the signal travels down the cable. You can see that they come in two common forms, one is an XLR or cannon plug and the other is a TRS 1/4" connector. Don't confuse this balanced connection with the balanced conn ector that's used on some consoles. On a number of Mackie consoles for i nstance, they use a TRS to run an insert in and out of the board. This i s not balanced but using the three connections as in, out and ground. On e connector does the job of two and it's not balanced. What makes a balanced connection work, is some electronic trickery that m akes the noise on the line phase cancel itself out of existence. A balanced connecti on first runs through a differential amplifier which splits the hot sign al into two and flips one half 180 degrees out of phase. This travels al ong the cable as plus and minus along with the ground on three separate conductors (on an XLR, pin 2 is hot, pin 3 is cold and pin 1 is ground). Along the way, the usual noise is encountered and picked up by the line . At the other end of the connection, the minus is flipped back into pha se and you end up with a plus and a ground again, just as it was when yo u started. The difference is, that now the noise is out of phase with it self and cancels completely. |
| csua.org/u/9je -> web.archive.org/web/20010419223607/www.magnani.net/~al/DigitalWireLabTest.html Ok, So if any of you followed the digital wire wars a while back you may reca ll that some people maintained that you absolutely, positively, NEEDED a 75 ohm digital cable to connect your DVD player to your pre/pro... Anything else, and you risk errors in the bitstream so bad, that they are not only uncorrectable but you will also lose that "smooth airiness on the highs; And you may or may not remember that after some rumblings and an e-mail f rom Jon Wenger, I built "The Finest Digital Transfer Wire In-the-WORLD!" by taking two blue painted wire hangers and cutting an old, cheap, ugl y green rca patch cord in two, soldering the ends onto the wire hangers. You may remember my initial listening tests between that, a cheap, ugly y ellow patch cord, a proper RG-6, 75 ohm cable with gold rca's, and the o ptical tos-link for comparison, yielded no discernable results, BUT ther e were too many other factors, like my ears may not be as golden or magi cal as someone else's, or that the toslink was shoddy anyway, etc. Well, with Jon's help, I have now finished lab testing the cable. For the dvd player, we used a professional version of the Sony 7000 refer ence player. it has a nice gray matte, professional looki ng face, with a really cool rotary region selection switch near the head phone jack! For the processor we used a Dolby Labs model number DP562 mu ltichannel ac-3 decoder, serial # 500280. The very cool feature, which i s very necessary for our scientific experiment (since my pedestrian ears can't be trusted to be refined enough for the audiophiles whose heads t ravel in extra rarified air,) of this Dolby produced decoder is that it will do a bit error rate count... Which is crc (cyclic redundancy check) protected which mean s the odds of having multiple errors such that the crc check passes an e rror in the data stream, is almost impossible. The output of the dvd pla yer is an rca coax connector, and the input to the decoder is an XLR bal anced connector. Jon normally has a Canare XLR to rca wire connecting th e two. I brought all my wires in case the number of errors that the wire hanger wire rolled was so great, that we would want to try the others and tabul ate results... Now we initially had a little problem with the hookup because we planned on using an rca female to female adapter and putting the test wire right between the Sony 7000 and the Canare cable, BUT we could not find the f emale to female... Not wanting to give up without giving it the old coll ege try, Jon found two wires with alligator clips on them, so we used th ose. So just to recap this thing to death, we had: The professional Sony S7000 TP reference dvd player, going to a 20 year old, ugly green, rca patch c ord which was cut in two. On one side of the green rca I soldered a blue painted wire hanger to the shield and another to the center conductor. I soldered the other ends of the wire hangers to the other half of the u gly green rca patch cord. We then clipped the alligator clips with thin wire to the centers and shields of the rca connectors of my cable and of the Canare cable, and then plugged the other XLR-balanced side of the C anare into the Dolby Labs decoder. I honestly did not know how badly we would be rolling errors on this one... We played the King Crimson Deja VROOM dvd for over fifteen minutes with this configuration and not only did it so und good, but the Dolby Decoder reported ZERO errors... Given t hat, there was not much point in trying the higher quality cables I had brought with me. Conclusion: IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT YOU USE FOR YOUR DIGITAL CABLE CONNEC TION BETWEEN YOUR DVD PLAYER AND YOUR PROCESSOR... YOU CAN BASICALLY USE ANYTHING THAT LOOKS ELECTRICALLY LIKE METAL. I have not successfully used the w ire hangers on the tos-link optical connectors... Th e sonic clarity will be stunning, as well as visually pleasing. So you can use the rca cables they throw in for free into your component boxes that you've been meaning to throw away for months because they off end your sensibilities, or you can spend hundreds of thousands of dollar s on Rodan Bronzes and use those, or anything in between... but please d o not tell me that it sounds "warmer, cleaner, more open" or anything li ke that BECAUSE of the WIRE... There are lots of reasons why it MAY sound different, not ALL of wh ich are in your head... If it in fact IS different, then this difference is NOT due to the $800 wire you just swapped in. It may be that your pl ayer or decoder are somehow defective, or not designed very robustly (i. e - if there is a difference that is NOT your imagination, then somethi ng is broken and you should not be wondering about the wire... However, in light of the new lab-tested/hand- made nature of the cable, I am going to have to bump up the price. Keep in mind that this is for an error-free, lab-tested on official Dolby lab's equipment, cable. If someone thinks I may have overlooked something however, my mind is not closed o n this topic, and I would be happy to address any serious scientific hyp othesis regarding this or other results... |
| csua.org/u/9jq -> www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0964084961/qid=1098173578/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-3301159-4476765?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 Included are updates on multi-channel musi c reproduction, surround sound, DVD-Audio, and Super Audio CD. Extensive tips on how to listen critically and judge audio-equipment quality, how to optimise the performance of an existing system, and how to best allo cate an audio budget are included. Practical techniques for improving th e acoustics of existing stereos and listening rooms are also featured. About the Author Robert Harley is the editor-in-chief of The Absolute Sound. Book Description This newly revised directory brings readers up to speed on the latest in cutting-edge audio equipment. Included are updates on multichannel music reproduction, surround sound, DVD-Audio, and Super Audio CD. Extensive tips on how to listen critically and judge audio-equipment quality, how to optimize the performance of an existing system, and how to best alloc ate an audio budget are included. Practical techniques for improving the acoustics of existing stereos and listening rooms are also featured. I'm al so a relative newcomer to high-end audio--but am a long time music lover . This review is based on the 1995 edition of this book (I understand ne w ed is forthcoming). I felt the author did an exceptionally good job in structuring the book and writing to an appropriate level of reader. The initial chapters which are "stage setting" chapters , teminology, etc. Lots of technical details are included, but they are in appendices so that someone who is interested, can go get the info there, while those less interested in that don't ge t bogged down in the detail. So, bottom line: this *has* to be a very di fficult book to write--ie, author is writing to a very diverse readershi p in terms of audio expertise, etc. As one who is interested in high-end audio and in the process of upgrading a mid-range system to a true high -end system, I found this book invaluable. Well worth the $$ and time if you have even a passing interest in audio/music. See a ll my reviews If you are the type of person who has a "critical ear" and is interested in learning about what is the full spectrum of options available in buyi ng and setting-up a high quality audio system, I highly recommend this b ook. It will prevent you from buying equipment that you may soon become dissatisfied with and in the long run, it will save you a lot of grief a s well as money. The author makes a point to emphasize that "high end au dio" refers to the quality of the component/system and not the cost. How ever, like most things in this world, you will find that the two are usu ally closely related. The body of the book is not overly technical, however it does provide sev eral appendices for those who wish to delve into the theory behind the c oncepts. It is also quite through and is intended for the reader who wis hes to get into some depth on the subject. If your interest is only in a basic overview, I would suggest that you look elsewhere. I have read the book thoroughly and still find myself referring back to i t on many occasions. It is by far the best book on this subject that I h ave been able to locate and should be of value to those interested in ho me theater as well as two-channel audio. I very much appreciate Mr Harley having written this book and in keeping it up-to-date with subsequent editions. However, let me warn you: "High-End Audio" is full of a lot of nonsense a long with a lot of great advice. True-to-form, Robert Harley's "Complete Guide to High-End Audio" contains both the good and bad of "High-End Au dio". That is, he presents a lot of great information, great advice, and he throws in a good dose of total nonsense and mis-information as well. The problem, for many readers, will be in figuring out which of Mr Harle y's advice is valid and which of his many statements should be discarded as nonsense. Enjoy the journey of finding ou t for yourself the road to audio nirvana! This book is: Almost what the High-End Audio industry needs It's important for me that a book be written on the advantages of high-en d audio. It's the business I'm in and it is dear to me on a personal lev el. There are many excellent portions and handy information pieces scatt ered about the book and that's the good news. I will refrain from personalizing my complaints and stick to the issues a s I see them. To write this book as the author, you should know Ohm's La w Harley does not. Amperes, v oltage and wattage are all part of a greater equation that appears to my stify the author. The basic laws of physics and simple electrical concep ts need be firmly grasped prior to making an endeavor such as this. Ther e are many elements of "Dark Science" in the high-end audio realm and a mystique that is largely relevant. This book does a strong job of handli ng that delicate balance between science and myth, that is so important to this industry. Along the way however it forgets to "check the science " That's too bad, but not a total loss... A serious explanation of negative feedback as used in power amplifiers wo uld have been pretty easy to put down for the record. Most power amp man ufactures have fascinating solutions to the problems associated with neg ative feedback. A breakdown of a few of the key developments in this are a would have been excellent. Instead he uses an e xample of a negative feedback amplifier and calls it just the opposite! At that point in the book I admit I was a bit frustrated. It's an enjoyable read when the author sticks to what he actually knows, acoustics and auditioning gear. I learned much and felt the key points w ere illustrated clearly and in the contexts of meaningful application. I am not saying "don't buy" I guess I'm saying this book missed a huge opportunity simply by not gett ing some important parts right. Report this) 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: 5 out of 5 stars A Great "How To" for Budding Audiophiles, May 8, 2004 Reviewer: A reader (Rochester, NY) Consumer Audio is a field rife with baloney. The higher end you go, the s illier *some* of the hype gets as well. There are a number of honest, hi gh quality boutique audio manufacturers that can get lost in the shuffle with all the dubious claims made by some firms. Audio shops can also be very intimidating as well - especially when you don't know how to ask t he right questions or what they might be. How can a budding audiophile p ut together the a great sounding system he or she can afford while avoid ing spending a lot of money on things that don't matter and cut through the baloney? First thing - aside from reading materials - is locate a store where you can rely upon the experience and knowledge of the people to steer you to the right system - and one that is interested in your business long ter m (Audiophilia is a life long pursuit with upgrades, subtractions and ad ditions over a few decades). A lot of people pick up magazines and read the reviews - and this set would likely be interested in a book like th is, written as it is by the founder and editor of The Absolute Sound. This book, unlike most audio magazines, does not review equipment, but is a road map through the embarrasement of riches that high end has become . How do you evaluate speakers and, as the author said - find the 2% of speakers worth owning? How can you evaluate a system to find if it is ri ght for you? If you are going to buy a high end CD player - what things make a high end player sound good? How does the current round of SACD an d DVD-Audio disc players work - and are they worth it to a prospective a udiophile? How does a turntable work - and what considerations do you ha ve to give when you go and purchase one? How much of your budget should you spend on source, preamps, amps and speakers? Some people when reading the book may be distressed that there might be s ome technical details in the explanations might not be to their liking o r there are a few errors. To dismiss this book (the only one of its kind in wide circulation, BTW) is to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. I purchased the second editions and was able to use it to put together a great sounding system for less than I though. I especially l... |