Testing and performance

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On this page, we will be carrying out all the tests supported by our AV equipment to see how the performance compares against our standard HDMI to DVI cable and dual-link DVI cable.  As HDMI carries a digital signal, the main result we will be looking for is a stable clear picture.  Unlike analogue connections, digital video connections do not suffer from ghosting, image fading, etc., however if the signal is too weak or noisy, either the picture will fail to show or it will contain noise. 

Targa Visionary LCD 19” display

For our first test, we will test the cable on our TFT monitor with all the modes the NeoDigits HD upscaling DVD players are capable of outputting that the display also supports.  This monitor’s native resolution is 1280 x 1024 (SXGA), but from our experience, it will take in VGA, SVGA, XGA, SXGA, 480p, 576p and many other resolutions outside these.  While it will take in 720p at 50Hz & 60Hz, unfortunately, the monitor automatically stretches the image to full screen, so in these two 720p tests we will just be checking for a stable clear picture.

Panasonic PT-AE500E projector

For our second test, will test all the modes the NeoDigits HD upscaling DVD players are capable of outputting that this projector also supports.  This projector has a native resolution of 1280 x 720 (720p) and has an aspect ratio of 16:9, making it ideal for 720p tests at both 50Hz and 60Hz.  It will also accept VGA, SVGA, XGA, SXGA, 480p, 576p and 1080i (50Hz & 60Hz).  Unfortunately, the projector does not support 1080p.

In our tests, the projected picture is approximately 88”.  To give an idea of this image size, the following image shows a photo of the projected image cropped to the image size, with a CD jewel case held near the bottom right corner:

Review cables and other HDMI/DVI cables

In our previous reviews, we have been using a fairly basic 3m HDMI to DVI cable for connecting our HD upscaling DVD players to the projector or monitor, so we will use this to compare the review cables with.  We will also include our basic 5m dual-link DVI cable to see if there is any significant difference between using DVI and HDMI, particularly at 5 metres.  Note that this 5m DVI cable is a fair bit thicker than the DVI cables bundled with many LCD monitors and also has gold plated pins.

As both displays only have DVI input, for our review cables, we will use the Fusion HDMI to DVI adaptor.  For our DVI cable test, we will use the Fusion DVI to HDMI adaptor. 

NeoDigits HD upscaling DVD players

As our video source we will be using both the NeuNeo and Helios HVD2085 HD upscaling DVD players.  The NeuNeo was the first model we reviewed and the Helios is an improvement over the NeuNeo, but features the same outputs over DVI.  Both players feature a wide range of outputs over DVI as follows:  480i, 576i, 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, VGA, SVGA, XGA and SXGA, with a choice of 50Hz and 60Hz for the 720p, 1080i and 1080p modes. 

Unfortunately, from our past reviews of the Helios and NeuNeo players, both players have issues displaying images at XGA and SXGA.  The picture shimmers at the XGA and SXGA modes.  At the SXGA mode players also seem to output a weak signal at this resolution.  On the other hand, the advantage here is that it makes it a little easier to see how well each cable carries the signal, since with our basic HDMI to DVI picture, our displays have issues keeping a stable picture at the SXGA mode.  However, both players have no problems outputting a picture at both 720p or 1080i at both 50Hz and 60Hz, which is necessary for our HD tests, not to mention that this is what Fusion’s series of products have been designed to handle.

NeuNeo HVD2085 with 19” TFT

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All our tests turned out the same results at 480p, 576p, 720p 50Hz, 720p 60Hz, VGA and SVGA, all resulting in a clear stable picture.  At the XGA mode, the picture shimmers with all the cables tested, wobbling back & forth about a pixel in each direction, so this indicates it is almost certainly a signalling issue with the player itself.  On our SXGA test, the display took significantly longer to initially display the picture, but once it came up, the picture shimmered a bit in each case, but not as much as the XGA test.  With the Fusion 1.5m HDMI cable, we had to turn off/on the display several times before the picture would display, but once it came up, the picture stayed up and was pretty much the same as with the other cables.

Notes:

• *1 – Image shimmers between adjacent pixels
• *2 – As *1, but with Display taking longer than usual to initially come on
• *3 – As *1, but after repeated attempts to initially get the image to show.

NeuNeo HVD2085 with HD Projector

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Like with the 19" Display, the 480p, 576p, 720p 50Hz, 720p 60Hz, VGA and SVGA modes all display a clear stable picture.  We also got a clear stable picture from the 1080i 50Hz and 1080i 60Hz modes, which our 19” TFT monitor does not support.  However, with the XGA signalling issue, we got a shimmering picture with all of our cables at XGA. 

The following image shows an example of a clear 720p picture:

When it came to the SXGA tests, we got some interesting results this time.  All of the Fusion HDMI cables result in a shimmering picture as with the XGA test.  Unfortunately, we were unable to capture the shimmering effect on the camera.  However, when we tried our 3m HDMI to DVI cable, the picture came up blurred and unstable with the picture disappearing and reappearing intermittently.  The result was worse with the 5m DVI cable.  The following image shows a photo of the SXGA picture using our DVI to HDMI cable.  Note that as the projector has a 16:9 native aspect ratio and SXGA is intended to be shown as 4:3, the following image looks a little shrunk in height when compared with the above:

Notes:

• *1 – Image shimmers between adjacent pixels
• *2 – Blurred & unstable image

Helios HVD2085 with 19” TFT

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Apart from the XGA and SXGA tests, all of the other tests came out the same as the NeuNeo, with a clear stable picture.  Unfortunately, the Helios also suffers from a shimmering picture at the XGA and SXGA modes with all of our cable tests.  On the SXGA mode test, we had to turn on/off the display several times before the picture would display, but once it came up, the picture came up shimmering between adjacent pixels with all of our cables. 

Notes:

• *1 – Image shimmers between adjacent pixels
• *2 – As *1, but after repeated attempts to initially get the image to show.

Helios HVD2085 with HD Projector

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This is the only test where we actually experienced a difference between each of the cables.  Like with the NeuNeo, we got the same clear stable picture with all cables apart from the XGA and SXGA modes.  The XGA mode resulted in the same shimmering picture as the NeuNeo with all cables; however we got quite surprising results with the SXGA mode.  First, here is a photo showing a close-up of the 720p mode, which comes perfectly:

Please note that these photos are taken with a digital camera, so while the above picture may look a little grainy, this is a result of using a high ISO mode on the camera to get a handheld shot.  Due to issues keeping a stable white balance between pictures, particularly due to the camera picking up glare from the image, the white balance differences between the above and following images are as the result of the camera and image editing software and not the cables, player or display. 

When we tried the Fusion 1.5m HDMI cable at the SXGA mode, the picture was unstable, with the picture disappearing and reappearing intermittently, like a fluorescent tube light at the end of its life.  When the picture did show, it shimmered much like the XGA test.  The following photo shows an example of the shimmering effect. Have a close look at the left & right edges of the black letters ‘L’ and ‘I’:

When we went onto the 3 metre HDMI cable with the SXGA mode, this time we got noise in the picture.  Like the 1.5 metre HDMI cable test, the projector intermittently displayed the picture:

Finally, when we tried the 5m cable, the SXGA mode noise got stronger, although it is not as clear on this picture due it blending more together on the camera:

When we went on to our 3m HDMI to DVI cable test, we got pretty much the same result as we got above for the Fusion 3m HDMI cable test:

To our surprise, when we connected up our DVI cable, the noise was strong to the point where the projector could not keep a lock on the picture!  The projector only showed the picture briefly now & again intermittently, showing a blank ‘No signal’ screen most of the rest of the time.  When the picture did show, it was off-centre and filled with noise and streaks of random colours:

Finally, in order to test the HDMI adaptors, such as to check if the DVI to HDMI adaptor may have been the culprit in the above DVI cable test, we joined the two adaptors together and plugged our HDMI to DVI cable into it as shown below:

Once we displayed the picture, the outcome came out pretty much identical to the HDMI to DVI cable test without the two adaptors, which clearly indicates that the DVI to HDMI adaptor was not the culprit in the DVI cable test above:

Notes:

• *1 – Image shimmers between adjacent pixels
• *2 – As *1, but with the picture intermittently showing
• *3 – Noisy picture showing intermittently

Summary

On both displays and both players, all cables tested at 480p, 576p, 720p (50Hz & 60Hz), VGA and SVGA came out perfectly clear and stable.  It appears that both of our players have signalling issues with the XGA and SXGA modes, however, while this does not mean the cables are at fault, it did help show some slight differences in the cables using the SXGA mode on both player models.  On the NeuNeo model, the Fusion HDMI cables resulted in a sharper picture that did not go off intermittently like two other cables.  On the Helios model, the three Fusion HDMI cables had the advantage of keeping the noise to a minimum, particularly the short 1.5m cable, which showed no noise from the player to the projector.  In our final test, the two adaptors seem to have very little, if any effect on the SXGA test.

On the other hand, the most important results are the HD mode tests, since the main purpose of these cables and adaptors is to be able to deliver a picture with resolutions of 720p, 1080i and 1080p to the display.  While we had no equipment capable of displaying 1080p, we have had no issues with displaying 720p or 1080i video at either 50Hz or 60Hz using the three cables and the two adaptors. 

Connecting up

Conclusion