Alan Galbraith

So, does QUALITY of DVI cable make a difference in picture quality displayed?

Just checking to see if my thinking is right...

DVI is a digital signal path

The signal either gets to the display or it doesnt(and if the signal gets there, there is NOT difference in picture quality, since the signal is digital)

Quality of DVI cable shouldnt make any difference in picture quality as long as it transmits the whole digital info stream to the display.

Is that right?

in other words, is the DVI cable that comes with the Sammy HD931 as good as the $100 Monster cable that BestBuy is pimping when you buy the HD931 (and the newer revs of the 931 do include a DVI cable in the box).

Jeremy Little

I am a firm believer in cables making a difference, but I did not get anything different than the free one that came with the Samsung. I don't see how it could matter and will probably remain in that mindset until someone can prove otherwise.

If it wasn't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college.

Rick Hodgson

i bought the hd-931 and the salesman sold me a $100 monster dvi cable. I watched the first 10 min. of LOTR twin towers with the monster, then the cable that came with the 931.

I could see absolutley no difference. i tried to watch the ice on the mountains closely as well as the characters.

This is obviously no where near a "scientific" experiment, but I figured if my eye can't pick up any differences....why waste $100.

PS. the Ultimate Electronics guy told me I was crazy for using the Samsung Cable....What's his commission on monster cables...prolly 30%

Gabriel_Lam

There are only 3 things that can happen with DVI cables:

1. Perfect picture
2. Some snow and/or other OBVIOUS picture defects
3. No picture at all

The transition from 1 to 2 is very VERY obvious (and of course, the transition from 2 to 3 is even more so).

Most of the time, the reason for the problems is cable length. The longer the cable, the less the bandwidth it can carry. If you're asking it to carry 1080p, 15-20 feet is the practical limit for copper. For 1080i and 720p, 30-50 feet is doable with high quality cables.

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Mike Capulli

Its a very clean image no doubt about it. However I feel that the 931 is just a cheap player with a high-end feature slapped on it.

Mike of DHI Music Group
www.darklink.org

Alan Galbraith

Well, I had a HD931 for a few days, and returned it due to the poor (in my eyes) PQ it put out over DVI with my Sony 65WS550. The black levels were way off, and the picture lacked detail. No snow or break up in the picture, it just didnt look as good as the progressive component output. No amount of tweaking could bring the DVI picture up to snuff.

I was just thinking out loud abou the DVI cable, thinking, "O.K., now a better cable wouldnt make a difference... its digital, either you have picture or you dont."

Too bad. I really wanted to like the HD931. But for $100 less I picked up a Pioneer 563A and am happy with it. No DVI, but so what? It puts out as good a picture as the HD931, and plays DVD-A and SACD.

I'll keep an eye out for new players with DVI and Firewire, and see if there is a better implementaion in the coming months/years.

Mike Capulli

you're right when I was calibrating the 931 with the "pluge" pattern, the player failed to display the darker bar. Not too good for detail in shadows i assume.

Mike of DHI Music Group
www.darklink.org

Ron Reda

I've read such mixed reviews on this player. I have a Hitachi 51SWX20B and I've read some excellent reviews from members here that the HD931 looks great on this TV. I messed with it a bit at BB today and was going to pick one up (to upgrade from a Panny RP91), but after reading the comments above, I'm not so sure.

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