Which component cables should I buy?

[MitchV]

I've got a Dell 2405FPW in my home office and I've got an Xbox and DVR I play through it, often in high-definition. I bought a 12' Belkin component cable and a handful of cheap 3 foot cables... primarily because I didn't believe any of the hype regarding the more expensive cables.

What I found is that noise and cross-talk are REAL. After fiddling with my setup, I found that I got a better and more consistent picture when I made it a point to keep my component cables from becoming entangled or getting to close to any other cables. So I may want to buy something with a little better shielding.

As I scour the Internet, I see quite a few different models of cables, including the ever famous (and overly expensive) Monster cables. I don't know what the hell to buy! Whatever I get may only offer a marginal difference, so I hesitate to drop $100. I could see spending $60 for a 3/4 foot cable and a 12/16 foot cable.

Any ideas/thoughts? I don't necessarily want a brand name, but I'd like something to give me piece of mind so I can blame my cable company for any distortions I might get.

Thanks in advance!

 

[bchur83]

The problem you are facing, is the fact that you are taking a 720p picture and stretching it to the native resolution of the 2405FPW (1920 x 1200?). This stretching is what is causing the problem. I dont think better/more expensive cables will improve your picture. If you wanted to try better cables, maybe look for ones that use RG6 Coax for the main cable, since it is shielded fairly well.

 

[attack]

I wish I could see what your talking about (i.e. see your setup and picture quality change).

I don't believe the hype about those cables either. Can you try re-routing your cable so it's just further away from other cables?

 

[MitchV]

Believe the hype... at least when it comes to interference disrupting your picture. I experienced a change in picture quality with the SAME CABLES. For my Xbox, I have a 12' Psyclone cable that gave me a herringbone/distorted picture when the cable was mixed with other wiring (receiver/power/component cable wiring). When I pulled it away from these cables, the picture improved substantially. The Psyclone cables are marketed as being high-end.

It's also got nothing to do with 720p being upconverted to 1080i. Again, the picture from my DVR improved with the same component cables once I removed the possiblity of interference from other wiring.

It makes a difference, I've witnessed it myself. Everything else is the same (same wires, same programming, same monitor, same component boxes), the difference is the placement of my component cables. Hopefully with better cables I won't have to worry about interference anymore.

 

[twoeyes]

IMHO you can get around most major interferance by moving your cables away from everything else, BUT sometimes you'll get interference no matter where you go. Really the problem though is the upSCALING (lol@upconverting). I think you can change the resolution your xbox uses in some options panel which should help scaling a bit.