these cables surely are expensive (or can be), has anybody done a DIY upgrade on his/hers?
DIY HDMI cable, anybody done it?
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Punnisher
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I see some for as little as $4.00
Then again, head-fi will find a reason to choose the more expensive ones.
Then again, head-fi will find a reason to choose the more expensive ones.
linuxworks
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no reason to make them.
monoprice has them for reasonable prices.
timing matters on hdmi QUITE A LOT. I have seen hdmi switches with squiggles (traces to exact length) on pc boards.
you don't want to mess with hdmi. anything you do will likely be WORSE. you don't have the test equip to make the cables and test them to proper specs, either.
give up the idea. nothing good will come of it
(how about a nice game of chess, instead, if you're bored?)
monoprice has them for reasonable prices.
timing matters on hdmi QUITE A LOT. I have seen hdmi switches with squiggles (traces to exact length) on pc boards.
you don't want to mess with hdmi. anything you do will likely be WORSE. you don't have the test equip to make the cables and test them to proper specs, either.
give up the idea. nothing good will come of it
(how about a nice game of chess, instead, if you're bored?)
qusp
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Quote:
| Originally Posted by linuxworks /img/forum/go_quote.gif no reason to make them. monoprice has them for reasonable prices. timing matters on hdmi QUITE A LOT. I have seen hdmi switches with squiggles (traces to exact length) on pc boards. you don't want to mess with hdmi. anything you do will likely be WORSE. you don't have the test equip to make the cables and test them to proper specs, either. give up the idea. nothing good will come of it (how about a nice game of chess, instead, if you're bored?)
|
RLCrisp
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Not a really good idea unless you just really want to do it on your own.
They can be had for about $3 on monoprice and shipping isn't much so just buy a tested category 2 one.
HDMI is a moderate/high speed digital interface. You can't just use a coat hanger and get a usable signal like you can with audio.
First off, the cable should be made of 100 ohm controlled impedance differential pairs - not trivial to do on your own.
Second off, you need to match the lines pretty well, also not easy.
Other things to worry about: crosstalk (make sure to shield/twist the pairs correctly) and attenuation (probably not a big deal unless you try to make a 10m+ cable)
Finally, if your cable doesn't work and continuity is OK, you will need a combination of a whole bunch of expensive equipment: a time-domain reflectometer or a fast rise time step generator and a high-bandwidth (likely at least 500MHz analog bandwidth) oscilloscope, maybe a logic analyzer to test the timing, etc.
If you really want a fancy one I am sure you can find somebody to make you one. Keep in mind - it's digital. The bits get there or they don't. If you want a high quality digital cable I can make one and send you the transmission qualities of the cable @ 20GHz bandwidth but that would be a mighty expensive cable and will be functionally equivalent to a $3 monoprice one.
They can be had for about $3 on monoprice and shipping isn't much so just buy a tested category 2 one.
HDMI is a moderate/high speed digital interface. You can't just use a coat hanger and get a usable signal like you can with audio.
First off, the cable should be made of 100 ohm controlled impedance differential pairs - not trivial to do on your own.
Second off, you need to match the lines pretty well, also not easy.
Other things to worry about: crosstalk (make sure to shield/twist the pairs correctly) and attenuation (probably not a big deal unless you try to make a 10m+ cable)
Finally, if your cable doesn't work and continuity is OK, you will need a combination of a whole bunch of expensive equipment: a time-domain reflectometer or a fast rise time step generator and a high-bandwidth (likely at least 500MHz analog bandwidth) oscilloscope, maybe a logic analyzer to test the timing, etc.
If you really want a fancy one I am sure you can find somebody to make you one. Keep in mind - it's digital. The bits get there or they don't. If you want a high quality digital cable I can make one and send you the transmission qualities of the cable @ 20GHz bandwidth but that would be a mighty expensive cable and will be functionally equivalent to a $3 monoprice one.
Juaquin
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+1 on the monoprice
Like linuxworks said, HDMI is not child's play. When you can get good cables for less than $10, I wouldn't mess with it. Then again, you can't hurt much by trying.
Like linuxworks said, HDMI is not child's play. When you can get good cables for less than $10, I wouldn't mess with it. Then again, you can't hurt much by trying.
Good Times
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Ha, maybe you could whack some techflex on a bought cable, just to make it your own though
hehe.
hehehe, if it is so difficult to make right, why would you think them $4 cables are any good? Yes they have the right connectors, but the wire/dielectric itself...
On the other hand, I don't yet have a player to use a HDMI cable, that was just a throught
On the other hand, I don't yet have a player to use a HDMI cable, that was just a throught
Quote:
anything that can be sold retail for $3 a piece probably is a "child's play".
| Originally Posted by Juaquin /img/forum/go_quote.gif Like linuxworks said, HDMI is not child's play. When you can get good cables for less than $10, I wouldn't mess with it. . |
anything that can be sold retail for $3 a piece probably is a "child's play".
tenzip
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Quote:
It's called economy of scale.
They can sell them for $3 each because they make bazillions of them.
And they don't have an expensive "name" on them.
| Originally Posted by AudioCats /img/forum/go_quote.gif anything that can be sold retail for $3 a piece probably is a "child's play". |
It's called economy of scale.
They can sell them for $3 each because they make bazillions of them.
And they don't have an expensive "name" on them.
Good Times
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Er.......so yeah. Belden make them. Same story, not worth BJ's time to custom make.
Quote:
Belden cables are cheap or low quality?
| Originally Posted by Good Times /img/forum/go_quote.gif Er.......so yeah. Belden make them. Same story, not worth BJ's time to custom make. |
Belden cables are cheap or low quality?
tenzip
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Quote:
No, that's what Blue Jeans sells.
| Originally Posted by Cankin /img/forum/go_quote.gif Belden cables are cheap or low quality? |
No, that's what Blue Jeans sells.
RLCrisp
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Quote:
It isn't a big deal to spend the several tens of thousands of testing equipment to characterize a process until you get it right. Especially when you already make cables.
Once you have a process characterized with good yields, you can do spot checks (or maybe no checks) on huge batches of cable and accept any fallout you have from untested cables as returns (if you expect an individual $3 cable to be tested you are a naive customer).
Like somebody said, when you make batches of 1-10k (in china), you can sell them for $3.
| Originally Posted by AudioCats /img/forum/go_quote.gif anything that can be sold retail for $3 a piece probably is a "child's play". |
It isn't a big deal to spend the several tens of thousands of testing equipment to characterize a process until you get it right. Especially when you already make cables.
Once you have a process characterized with good yields, you can do spot checks (or maybe no checks) on huge batches of cable and accept any fallout you have from untested cables as returns (if you expect an individual $3 cable to be tested you are a naive customer).
Like somebody said, when you make batches of 1-10k (in china), you can sell them for $3.
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