HDMI Cable - Buying Guide

So you've got a new high definition television and a nice new Blu-ray player. There's still one thing that you're missing which is absolutely vital to getting the kind of picture and sound quality you're hoping for out of your setup. You need a good HDMI cable, and while these were once expensive - costing around 40 to 50 dollars - the price has fallen tremendously and you can find them for less than half that price in some cases. But cheaper isn't always better, and just buying the lowest priced cable you can find isn't always the way to go. You'll need to remember a few additional things to get the best one for your entertainment setup.
To begin with, length matters. You'll want to match up the length of your HDMI cable with your specific needs. A lot of people assume that the longer the cable, the easier their setup will be since they don't have to worry about not having enough length. That's true enough, but the fact is that like any other type of cable, an HDMI cable will lose its signal strength as the digital data travels along it. It's known as signal degradation, and it basically means that the longer your cable is, the greater the chance of losing a bit of signal quality. You may not notice it, but it will occur.
Another thing to think about is the connector for your HDMI cable. When you're connecting Blu-ray players, PlayStation 3 gaming consoles, and other similar products to your TV you'll likely be using the standard cable with the basic connector jack. But a number of products actually utilize mini-HDMI connectors instead. Things like HD camcorders or digital cameras, mobile phones, and tablet computers rely on these smaller connectors. Usually, you'll have a mini-HDMI on one side of the cable and a standard connector on the other. Another option may involve the mini-HDMI running to a USB connector for hooking your camera or phone to your computer.
Those are really the two main things you need to look for when you're shopping for a good HDMI cable. As long as you take a minute to look beyond price and consider your cable's length and its connector types, you should have no trouble finding the right kind of cable for your specific system setup. They're more affordable than ever, and will change the way you watch TV and movies.

How To Choose the Right HDMI Cables

Nobody wants to spend more than they have to, but many people believe in the old saying "Buy cheap, buy twice!"
There are few technology items that can cause more inner conflict than HDMI cables. If you go shopping online for a 6′ cable, you'll find that you can spend anywhere from $1 to more than $100 for an HDMI cable. That spread is enough to leave any consumer wondering whether the cheap cable will work, or if the expensive cable is worth it.
How much do you really know about HDMI Cables?, I will explain some of the variations of HDMI cables that you will encounter. And I'll tell you what you need to know in order to get the right cable at the right price.
They're Not the Same
The first place to start is the fact that not all HDMI cables are the same. Some are actually more capable than others. You can find more details at the HDMI Website, but here are the main points you should know.
When shopping for HDMI cables, you can find five different types. There are two basic sets of features: speed and Ethernet. Take those in their combinations, and you get the four main choices:
•HDMI Standard: This is the most common type. The specifications call for this cable to handle 720p or 1080i data streams. (These are the two data formats used by terrestrial television broadcasts.)
•HDMI Standard Ethernet: This cable also is designed to handle 720p or 1080i signals, but it also provides a wired Ethernet local network connection in the same cable.
•HDMI High Speed: Newer cables are designed to handle more data at a time. These are intended for 1080p and other signals that can require even more throughput, such as 3DTV and 4K resolution images.
•HDMI High Speed Ethernet: This cable has the same high speed capabilities, but adds the Ethernet support.
There is one more cable type, but most consumers are unlikely to have a need for it:
•HDMI Standard Automotive: This cable has the same 720p/1080i capability as the normal Standard cable, but it is designed for internal wiring applications in cars. The inside of a car can have a lot of electrical interference and cables are often routed in tight bundles, so this cable is designed to carry a stronger signal.
How to Choose
Let's start by narrowing the field. We've already determined that most users won't need a Standard Automotive cable.
As far as I know, there are no products on the market yet that support Ethernet over HDMI. There may be some by the end of this year, but it will be quite a while before most consumers will have two components that support this feature. So you probably won't need any of the Ethernet versions at this time.
That leaves us with just two choices: Standard or High Speed. There are a couple parts to making this decision.
The first part is to understand how the HDMI signal works. With an analog signal - such as the typical stereo speaker cables - if the signal is degraded when traveling through the cable, you can hear a noticeable difference in the volume and fidelity of the sound.
With a digital signal, it's more of a pass/fail situation. Either the bits get through reliably, or they don't. If they do, you get a perfect picture (or more precisely, you have a perfect signal for the display to use). If bits get lost, you'll get a blotchy image that breaks up, or you may get no image at all.
The fact is that most Standard cables will work just fine at 1080p and even with 3D signals. So if every dollar matters, then buy the cheapest HDMI cable you can find and try it. If it works, it will work just as well as a cable that cost 10 times as much. If it doesn't, then you can just buy a more expensive one.
The other part of the decision is to consider the fact that HDMI cable prices have plummeted in recent years. You can find cables that list for over $100 available online for less than $30. You can find 6′ High Speed HDMI cables for as little $4 online. With prices this low, the savings between a Standard and High Speed HDMI cable is not much.
The Bottom Line
In the end, my choice would be to spend a few extra dollars and buy inexpensive High Speed HDMI cables. You'll know that they will support all the latest HDMI features, which means that you'll get the best performance from your home entertainment equipment even if you should upgrade one or more components in the next few years.

The Importance of Business Video Production

Business video production makes it easy to distribute important and insightful information about a company or product to a massive audience. The problem with articles is that they are difficult to convey any real emotion that a brand wants to show to its customers, but with a video it's a lot simpler. The best video SEO strategies to use can vary depending on what the genre or topic the video is about, but there is no doubt that videos are just as effective as articles when it comes to getting exposure and recognition with search engines and web traffic.
There is no real limitation on what a web video can be about, as long as it promotes what a company is about and gives the viewer a reason to keep watching, it will easily achieve significant credibility through the powers of social media, something that has become one of the most effective marketing strategies of this century. Business video production is all about making entertaining and informative videos for clients and customers to gain insight into a product or service, although there are good and bad ways to produce such videos, just as with articles. Using professional business video production services is essential to optimize the videos intent; otherwise it will often prove a waste of time.
The obvious advantage of using a video for SEO purposes is that there are so many websites using articles that videos standout and impress upon customers more, giving a company more respect and credibility. There is no harm with using articles and search engines still use them more than anything to find appropriate websites, but having impressive videos will always be a massive benefit to search engine recognition. Using exciting and innovative business video production will spread the word about any company faster than any search engine algorithm can find an article, of that there is no doubt.
A few quality videos that contain all of the necessary information can be done in minutes with the right direction, which is why it's always best to use industry experts who know how to make the perfect video for any specification. Making sure these videos remain current and informative is vital when launching any social media campaign because people like to keep up to date and entertained, otherwise they will simply lose interest, and when they do traffic and popularity of a brand will suffer drastically.
Videos also make it easy for people to leave comments and that's one of the key factors. Giving people the chance to tell their opinions often gives a company valuable free criticism that would otherwise cost money. The more social media platforms a video reaches the better, with more people viewing videos that means more return visitors to a product and sales should increase exponentially if business video production is done correctly and efficiently. Having a good video presentation gives customers more faith in a brand making them far likelier to spend money and to continue spending money indefinitely, all for the cost of a few videos!

How To Repair Dell E152Fpb LCD Monitor

The complaint for this DELL E152Fpb LCD Monitor was when switched on has power (LED lit) but no display. LCD Monitor is different from the CRT Monitor where you could feel the static at the front of the picture tube or hear the rushing sound from the high voltage produced by the flyback transformer. In LCD, if no display you won't be able to know if the inverter board is working or not unless you use an oscilloscope to point near the inverter board and the scope could display a waveform indicating the inverter board is functioning.
A faulty main board may cause no display problem in LCD Monitor. If there is a problem in the main board, it would not send a "on" (enable) signal to the soft start circuit and no voltage will flow to the inverter IC thus no waveform produce by the high voltage transformer.
In the above case, after the cover was removed, the first thing I check was the vcc (supply voltage) to the inverter IC. This model is using the famous TL1451ACN Pulse width modulation (PWM) IC-some preferred to call it as inverter IC. Pin 9 is the VCC supply input and it should have about 12 Volts when the power is "on". Measuring the pin with my faithful digital multimeter, it reads only about 3 volts which indicates there's a problem in the supply line. It could be components that are faulty that dragged down the line or it could be the switch mode power supply itself that don't produce enough power.
In order to find the answer as which section is giving problem, the first clue was that the power LED indicator lit and this prove that the IC is supplying enough power to the circuit. Another clue was that the meter is registering about 16 volts at the input of the 2A fuse. Because of these clear answers, we can conclude that the switch mode power supply is working fine. You can also use a 12 volt light bulb to confirm it. You may read my other post on LCD Monitor repair articles which talks about using 12 volt light bulb for troubleshooting purposes.
I kept on asking myself, why the voltage drop to 3 volts after the fuse. Before the fuse it reads about 16 volt but after the fuse it reads only 3 volts! I didn't suspect the fuse, because the fuse can only either yes or no and no in between. The first circuit that I checked was the start circuit but all components checked to be okay. I even desoldered the pin 9 of TL1451ACN inverter IC just to make sure it is not this IC that pulled down the voltage.
This problem really challenges my troubleshooting and repairing skill, because almost all suspected components already checked to be working. Even the start circuit transistors (C945 & A733) I direct replaced, afraid they would breakdown when under load. The only component that I didn't check was the fuse! By using my meter placed across the fuse, instead of getting low ohms or zero ohm reading I got 1.012 Kilo ohms! I've got a surprised and don't believe that a fuse can actually go into high ohms instead of open circuit. I always thought that a fuse is either close or open circuit. A fuse with zero ohms turned into high ohm thus the 16 volts dropped to 3 volts! I've came across lots of this type of fuse but this is the first time a fuse changed into high resistance.
Replacing the fuse only put the DELL E152Fpb LCD Monitor back to life. The lesson learned from here is that don't assume that a component is always in a good working condition. You have to confirm it with your meter and if you still suspect the component is giving problem, simply replace it with a known good one and retest the equipment. Semiconductors can breakdown when under full operating voltage.