Gold Scart leads etc
 

"Michael Chare" wrote in message
...
"Jack Rabbitt" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

As ive just got my excellent new telly up, i want to make sure
im getting the best picture my budget will allow for a minute.

Ive heard that getting gold platted scart leads which go from
the video/DVD to the tv will greatly increase the picture
quality, is this true or shall i just leave what i have in
there now?


Gold is a good conductor of electricity which is why it it is
used on computer components and is worth recovering.
It also does not tarnish so the gold contacts are more likely
to stay good.

Whether it is worth paying for a gold plated scart lead really
depends on the price. With a bit of googling you may well be
able to get one at a reasonable price.

--


Total waste of money. As others have said the fixed connectors on
your Sky or Freeview box or on the TV input will not be gold
plated so what is the point of having it on the cable? Gold plate
may be worth considering if the connector is being inserted and
removed repeatedly, but with a SCART it is likely inserted once.

What is more important is to get one with a good quality cable -
generally that means thick. Some of the thin cables can be quite
lossy, may not have all 21 pins connected, and above all may not
be screened which can cause noise pick-up. Go for a good thick
cable (especially if using anything longer than the usual 0.5-1m)
with good-looking connectors and you won't go far wrong.

Also remember that if you have a new panel TV and your source has
HDMI you will get a better picture through that route than with
SCART. If your source has component (red, green, blue)
connections (your TV will almost certainly have) you will also
get a better picture that way than with SCART, but again with
either there is no need to go for gold plating, just a good
quality wire.

Having said all that, unless your screen is bigger than about 26"
and/or you are watching it close up, you are unlikely to see any
difference whichever cable you use.



--
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com

Gold Scart leads etc
 

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Jack Rabbitt" saying
something like:

Ive heard that getting gold platted scart leads which go from the video/DVD
to the tv will greatly increase the picture quality, is this true or shall i
just leave what i have in there now?

Forget gold plating, unless it's near enough free of charge - and the
price of the golden cheapies, it nearly is.
Of much more importance with scart, is to have a decently screened lead.
You really can see an enormous difference and I'd be surprised, given
how common they are, if you don't have one or two of the cheapy scarts
with unshielded cores.

Gold Scart leads etc
 

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Alan
saying something like:

Russ Andrews is the place to go.....another fine example of his wares -
cables terminated in wood!
http://tinyurl.com/y9mq5la

I'm filled with the desire to beat him around the head.

Gold Scart leads etc
 

The message
from "Woody" contains these words:

====snip====

Total waste of money. As others have said the fixed connectors on
your Sky or Freeview box or on the TV input will not be gold
plated so what is the point of having it on the cable? Gold plate
may be worth considering if the connector is being inserted and
removed repeatedly, but with a SCART it is likely inserted once.

That's actually the opposite of the benefit of gold plated contacts.
The real benefit comes from the fact that they provide a more reliable
contact where the connector is normally intended to remain undisturbed
for protracted periods.

Gold is a fair electrical conductor which is corrosion resistant and
is, most importantly, soft enough to 'micro-weld' in the sliding contact
style connector normally used. Also, it works best when _both_
connectors employ gold plating.

The insertion cycle rating for items like DB25 connectors with gold
plated contacts were usually either 25 or 50 cycles, obviously, not
rated for frequent disconnections. The low rating was mainly due to the
minimised amount of gold being used to avoid unnecessary expense.
Thicker platings wouldn't be practical to achieve ratings in the 1000 to
10000 range which would be better served by other more durable
materials.

--
Regards, John.

Please remove the "ohggcyht" before replying.
The address has been munged to reject Spam-bots.

Gold Scart leads etc
 

On Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:40:54 +0000, Grimly Curmudgeon
wrote:

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Alan
saying something like:

Russ Andrews is the place to go.....another fine example of his wares -
cables terminated in wood!
http://tinyurl.com/y9mq5la

I'm filled with the desire to beat him around the head.

Or you could try a silver bullet. Or perhaps it would be better to use a
gold-plated OFC bullet.

--
Peter Duncanson
(in uk.tech.digital-tv)