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With the rapid growth of High Definition equipment and displays featuring HDMI, such as most HD upscaling DVD players, Blu-ray & HD DVD players, the upcoming PlayStation 3 video game console and most HDTV displays, it is well worth connecting equipment using HDMI than over other forms of connections.  From our testing, it is already clear why HDMI has the potential to replace other formats of video connection between equipment.  Even some of the latest DVD players and recorders also feature HDMI.

The main advantages of handling HDMI cables from our experience includes ease of installation, a very flexible cable when compared with DVI and a reduced number of cables required where the audio channels are also delivered over HDMI.  

The Fusion HDMI range should meet most users’ HDMI needs, particularly those where a cable of between 1.5m and 5m is sufficient.  They are easily removed from the packaging, unlike heat sealed packages many cables often come in.  They are also very flexible, making them easier to install in awkward locations.  Finally, the two DVI adaptors also will allow consumers to connect up most existing equipment with a DVI output up to a HDMI display or vice versa, such as connect a PC up to a Plasma display or in our case, connect a HD upscaling DVD player to a projector, where the player has HDMI output and the projector only features DVI input. 

While our tests all turned out very well for the High Definition resolutions that our displays were capable of displaying, we did find some interesting results when it came to testing the NeoDigits player’s SXGA mode.  While no cable showed a perfect picture due to what appeared to be a signalling issue with these players’ SXGA resolution, on one player we only got a stable picture with the Fusion HDMI cables and on the other player, the picture was less noisy with the HDMI cables than with the DVI cable. 

The only two drawbacks we came across with these cables were that they appear to be only available in white and that 5m is the longest one available, making the cables unsuitable for most ceiling mounted projector installations or where a cable of over 5 meters in length is required. 

The cables and adaptors have the following recommend retail pricing:

• Fusion 1.5m - US$29
• Fusion 3.0m - US$39
• Fusion 5.0m - US$79
• Fusion DVI->HDMI - US$29
• Fusion HDMI->DVI - US$29

Based on our performance tests and ease of use and installation of the Fusion-HDMI cables and adaptors, we would like to award Fusion-HDMI our CDFreaks ‘Safe Buy’ award.

Feel free to discuss or comment on this review below or in this forum thread.

Introduction