I guess those normal HDMI cables are not shielded and constructed with high quality materials but they do get the job done if you're not too fussy about the picture quality.

There's a limit actually, branded HDMI cables from QED and Wireworld will cap its length to 15 metres. If you're running 1080P signals, it's note advisable to use a lenghty HDMI cable and besides, why do you need 100m for? It's not that you'll put your player downstairs and your HDTV panel upstairs.

I guess for normal 1m is more than enough and for projectors, I think 5m to 10m will be more than enough. HDMI cables are just like speakers cables, the shorter, the better.

It depends on how you view such cables, to me, whether the signal is analog or digital, a good cable will always give you good results, it's not a marketing gimmick as you claimed even though, you'll say it is madness to spend thousands on a good cable. If you're talking about HDMI cable, try bringing yours to CMY Sungei Wang and try their QED HDMI-P cable for a start, that's around RM450 (can still nego lah), try to compare the quality on their plasma. They're willing to demo it to you. That day I was asking them about their Siltech SPX-20 (around RM900) and QED Conduit (around RM400 plus) power cords, they played Eagle's Hotel California song and tested these two cables and also the stock power cord that came with the Cambridge Audio's cd player. The openess, mids and highs can be immediately felt on the pricier Siltech power cord, QED did improve on the sound but not as much as the latter. I do believe that good cables can give an extra boost to the picture and sound quality but some may argue that with the money, you can either get a better display or player. Well, that's up to you to judge actually.

As far as I know, Wireworld, QED and Audioquest HDMI cables are certified to carry 1080P signals. I'm not sure whether normal HDMI cables will be able to carry such signals without any signals degraded.

Well, you should do less worrying about the quality of the HDMI cable, rule of the thumb, the cable should be around 5% to 10% the amount of your hardware so if you're using for example, a Denon 3930 dvd player, your HDMI cable should around RM190 to RM380 price range but if you're using a Cap Ayam dvd player from Tesco costing RM99, don't bother getting a Monster Cable HDMI cable as you won't see any difference at all.

I guess this is not the proper way to compare HDMI cables because most of you feel that they're the same whether it is a Cap Ayam brand or a branded one. Certain brands like Monster Cable for example has HDMI cables with a length of 12 metres and above and it can still output 1080p signals with no problems but try using a Cap Ayam brand, you'll notice that there's nothing on the screen. There are many cheap Made In China HDMI cables costing only RM50 for a 7 metre length but what most people didn't realise is that such cables can't carry HD resolutions at this length, it works fine with 480p but not with 720p. When you manage to get one, then you'll know where branded HDMI cables will shine.

Next, if you know, uncompressed audio is transmitted via HDMI and we're talking about a very large bandwidth involved here so that the signal strength must be strong and stable, the resistance in the cable must be kept to a minimum. No two HDMI cables carry the same bandwidth as they're made with different materials and if you're using them merely for an upscaling dvd player or video game consoles, you won't notice any difference until you're passing uncompressed audio to those next-gen amps which are already out in the market now.

Most people think that as long as it's digital, it doesn't matter that much but for the trained ears, you can detect the difference. It's true even for coaxial and optical cables too, better ones do make a difference but if you're having a budget setup, then it's not feasible to get expensive cables as a poor source won't do any good even if you have high quality cables. Lets not argue about this, just suit your pocket, if you feel that it's not worth dumping extra $$$ on cables, then lets just move on.

I just believe a high grade cable will give the best picture quality when partnered with the right equipment. I have done A-B comparisons before so there's a difference in picture quality, it's not about whether the picture appears or not, you have to look closely, the finer details in the background, the noise, colour saturation, blah, blah, blah. Of course, if your HT setup is in the budget range, most likely these cables won't do much difference to your HT setup and you might be cursing non-stop that these cables don't work at all. A high grade cable will be made with the best materials and some with silver plating, 24K gold plated connectors.

Even for power cords, they're neither analogue or digital but a better power cord will make a difference. To convince yourself that they do make a difference, try going to CMY Sungei Way (the other outlet on the top floor), find this guy, Richard. You can make an A to B comparison with their QED, Siltech or Richard Gray power cords, QED HDMI cables, bring your own software and test it on their HT setup, you'll be amazed wit what you're hearing and seeing. Of course, you can go to A&L Sungei Wang as well to try out their Audioquest stuff. Well, even my old Supra power cords connected to my pc gaming rig, made a difference in the picture and sound quality. It's not necessary that such cables are expensive as there are some which are value for money and rated editor's choice too.

Since talking about cables can also turn into a heated argument. Well, I rest my case here. It's your money, it's your call but I believe what's best for myself. For me I wouldn't want to mess up my HT setup which I've spent a fortune on, I wouldn't want a few 'Cap Ayam' cables to hold it back.

I will say get cables from reputable brands than getting those unknown brands costing thousands and not a single review in the magazines. There are those so called branded cables, imported from Sweden lah, Germany lah, blah, blah, blah .... they dun even have a website but some shops will tell you, they're better than Monster Cable, VDH, IXOS, Wireworld, Cardas, etc. Most Hi-Fi shops think we're waterfish by pushing unknown brands to us, have went to a few Hi-Fi shops in KL, some of them tried to push these rubbish to me. They didn't know I won't fall for their tricks.

Cap Ayam cables also got good quality ones but you need to test it on the spot to see if it lives up to your expectation, not all Cap Ayam cables are bad but I'm saying the majority ones in the market are bad so it leaves a very bad impression when we mention about Cap Ayam ones. I noticed, we'll have less problems with Cap Ayam audio cables, digital cables and analogue video cables (i.e. s-video, component video) than HDMI or DVI cables. My friend bought a HDMI cable at a very cheap price from Japan Pasar, RM25 for 3 metres and you'll be surprised to know, it can't do 1080i / 1080p, the screen will go blank but it's okay if played at 720p resolution and below. The shop refused to replace or refund back his money saying that they don't guarantee such cables to work at high resolution. Very dishonest I must say.

Ngto is right, whatever cables we wanna buy, definitely must test kaw kaw before buying, no point buying something that doesn't improve even a little bit in the picture or sound quality department. I usually bring my own softwares to test and I'll inspect everything as well, I'll make sure that they're actually using the cable I want to test, some Hi-Fi shops have a bypass switch hidden somewhere. Unsuspecting buyers will kena for sure especially when they're testing a pair of small speakers, they have a subwoofer hidden nearby which is actually connected to the amp so people might think that wow, such small speakers can produce such good bass, imagine go home and test, the sound even worst than a pair of Altec Lansing.

If not, some Hi-Fi shops use all those high end cables in their audio room so even if you buy a budget range Hi-Fi setup, chances are you won't be listening to the same sound quality when you listen them at home. Don't forget such places even have a power conditioner that cost thousands. With all these goodies, anything dull sounding, will sound slightly better.


It's possible, it's the same guy that I'm talking about as the previous time I went to Sungei Way, I didn't see him there, only a girl and another man. I thought he was on leave that day.

You can ask him to test anything you want, he's a very nice guy and he told me that it's okay if I dun buy anything from him, most importantly I'm satisfied with the sound, if not, what's the point of buying. Very sporting, eh?

If the Windows XP is an audio cd or if the multimedia contents are streamed off the disc, there will be a difference if it's pirated. I never buy pirated audio cds because of this but for movies, I got no choice lah, not all movies are released here locally.

Well, some people feels that spending money on cables are a waste of money but they can afford to buy a LCD / Plasma costing a few months of their salary. It's the same like some people that I know, can afford to buy a BMW but using cheapo Sime tyres. Their argument, the car can move enough lah.

For the time being, high bandwidth HDMI cables costing thousand plus from Monster Cable and other brands are not necessary, we don't need that much bandwidth actually, ordinary HDMI cables can carry 1080p signals and lossless audio codecs easily for up to 6m. Unless in the future, we have a thing called Ultra HD (1440p) with 36-bit colour space, then, there's a need for such cables. For the time being, just enjoy what we have first, there's not such thing as future proof, who knows, maybe later got HDMI v1.4 cable leh? Right?

That's normal if the player failed to communicate with your LCD, it's a handshake problem. Always select the HDMI input on your LCD first then switch on your player.

Generic brands is fine if less than 5m but if you need 20m, must be HDMI v1.3 ready, then you'll need to look at HDMI cables from Supra, Audioquest, Monster Cable, etc.

It's best to use an original disc to test when going for a demo unless you wanna test whether the Pioneer can play pasar malam dvds.

Did you buy it from a Malaysian seller selling Audioquest stuff on eBay? Just wondering.

Opppsss ......... sorry my bad.