HOW MUCH??????????????

[securespark]

Went to C*met today: saw a scart lead (yes, just a scart lead, albeit a 2m one) for 120 quid.

The 1m one was ONLY 100 quid. That's 20 quid for 1m of (admittedly thick) scart cable.

I think I'll buy one to connect up my 25 quid DVD player to my 50 quid TV.

NOT!

 

[masona]

£3.99 in Argos

 

[jasy]

You can have my spare

 

[securespark]

your spare what?

 

[pipme]

Was the lead for a long, or short haired Scart ???

 

[Rider]

Some scart leads are better than others. I was in a shop a while ago where they were playing a the same DVD on two identical setups. The only difference was that one DVD player was connecting via an inexpensive scart lead and the other was using one a monster sized one. There was an obvious difference in picture quality between the two. So, unless they'd purposely adjusted the setup using the inexpensive lead to look worse than the other one, the expensive cable did seem to make a marked difference.

I can't remember how much the lead was. I'm sure it wasn't as much as £100-00 but it was enough to make me almost say a rude word.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

Most scart leads only use the composite video signal, whereas most DVD players can utilize the RGB (Red, Green & Blue) signals. Think of it as a purer signal. Now these require more individual connections, so hence more work (not a £100 worth tho!!!). The trouble with them is, they are never labeled as directional, RGB composite or whatever - which can confuse people.

 

[Rider]

Makes me wonder how well some of the thicker scart leads hang into the sockets. Some of the ones I've got have all 21 pins wired and are double shielded. This makes them fairly thick and they tend to drop out easily because of being less flexible. They are OK once encouraged to stay in place one way or another though ...unless I need to move things about again.

Some of these monster cables must increase that problem. Also, instead of it looking like a plate of spaghetti behind the TV, it must end up looking like a nest of Boa Constrictors.

 

[AdamW]

You can get "locking" SCART connectors, which click in place in a standard SCART socket and require you to push in tabs to release it.

Probably not a good idea though, instead of the stress being carried to the socket/plug connection, it is carried through to the circuit board of the TV!

As for leads, I have found that a cheapo Argos lead is slightly more susceptible to mains hum than a good-quality lead.

 

[securespark]

All fair comment, folks. But here's the crunch question:

Would YOU buy a scart lead for that money, no matter how good?

I suppose if you have a 3500K plasma and equally serious home cinema audio & DVD, then you wont care about another few hundred for for the priv of connecting it up with quality leads.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

I suppose if you have a 3500K plasma and equally serious home cinema audio & DVD, then you wont care abot another few hundred for for the priv of connecting it up with quality leads.

So Adam, would you?

 

[securespark]

I have today purchased Tesco's best quality scart leads for under £1.00 each, and to be honest, they're not bad. As good as my £4 Argos jobbie, at least.

I really cannot see the value in 120 sovs-worth of scart lead, especially if you've only got cheap equipment. And cheap AV stuff, too.

 

[Rider]

If I'd bought alot of 'top of the range' expensive items I think I would get the expensive leads. But to buy all that stuff, I'd have had to come into a large sum of money. The sort of money that would make spending £100-00 on a scart lead seem like a drop in the ocean.

The most I've ever spent on a scart lead was about £10-00 when I was still a TV/video recorder mender and still had a components account. This was a trade price though. The price was supposed to be marked up a third above that for resale (I never did that though), so they were really fifteen quid ones I suppose.

 

[pipme]

Afford that ?? load of old rope !!
Might as well buy the Odeon and charge others to watch yer movies.

I do remember having to buy / have manufactured obsolete cables for virtually obsolete 6 axis Robot (several 'bots, many cables) --- Required oxygen when quotes came in !!
P

 

[AdamW]

I would consider paying £100 for a scart lead if I had a £3500 plasma. After all, would you spend £1M on a house and then furnish it with DFS sofas? OK, a £10K sofa might not feel any more comfy than a £500 sofa, opinions would differ on which looks better, and in some cases a £10K sofa may not even wear as well. So, you would buy the £10K sofa provided you could identify it as definitely superior to the £500 sofa.

My scientist tendencies would push through and I would not buy that £100 scart lead until I had seen a diagram illustrating it's frequency response and screening, and would choose a lead from a selection of many rather than just buying it because some bloke in the shop says it is good. If a company isn't willing to publish detailed characteristics of a cable, then their cable can't be worth it! Would you buy a sports car where they refused to tell you the power, torque, 0-60 times or top speed? Especially if it cost 10 times what a typical family car does?

There are undoubtedly some very very good leads out there that on paper do the job far better than a budget lead (whether or not you would actually appreciate the benefit is another question ), but I would be very surprised if there are not some unscrupulous types selling c**p leads for big bucks. What is sad is some people will buy such leads and think "Oooh yes, I can see the improvement, much better!"