Belkin PureAV™ Silver Series™ Video Cables
Belkin has recently introduced their new PureAV™ Silver Series™ line of home theater interconnects that includes HDMI, DVI, FireWire®, Digital Coaxial, and Digital Optical cables as well as component video and high-performance speaker cables. We had a chance to check out their new DVI Dual-Link cable, a set of their component cables and their S-Video cable.
The
PureAV™ DVI Dual-Link Cable is designed to provide the brightest,
most accurate colors and sharpest detail for your DVI devices according
to Belkin. Dual-Link cable designs have additional wires that double the
bandwidth of the DVI interface for devices that support it. This Dual-Link
cable design offers the flexibility of working with Single-Link AV components
or higher performance Dual-Link products. All of our home theater products
only use the Single-Link mode, which this cable is fully capable of supporting.
Since DVI transfers data completely digitally, cable and connector impedance
is very important to minimize signal degradation. The cable design uses
high-purity, impedance-matched, twisted-pair wires along with a low-loss,
precision-formulated, polyethylene dielectric for maximum performance.
The triple-layer shielding reduces electromagnetic (EMI) and radio frequency
interference (RFI). A ferrite bead is used to help reduce unwanted noise
in the cable. Finally, the connector pins and shell are constructed using
corrosion-resistant, 24k gold for better performance and reliability.
The cable has a molded backshell that makes it easy to install and is
available in lengths of 6 feet (1.8m) and 12 feet (3.7m).
The performance of the PureAV™ DVI Dual-Link Cable was excellent in our high definition setup. We had both 720p and 1080i material sent to our Sharp XV-Z12000U projector. The setup worked flawlessly with no dropouts or noise in the picture. Even HDCP data, which is highly sensitive to data errors, worked perfectly in our configuration which uses a Samsung SIR-T165 terrestrial receiver.
Belkin's
PureAV™ Silver Series Component Video Cables use true 75-Ohm
impedance for the best performance possible. According to Belkin, high-purity,
silver solder joints, oxygen-free conductors and the precision-formulated,
nitrogen-injected dielectric material contribute to the superior color
accuracy and clarity exhibited by these cables. The quad shielding with
the flexible PVC jacket is designed to maintain good signal integrity
even when the cable is bent. Each of the six 24k gold-plated RCA connectors
have a split-tip, center-pin with an 8-cut design that firmly grabs the
mating connector. The non-slip rubber grip makes it easy to connect to
components and the integrated color-coding easily identifies the luminance
and color difference signals. The PureAV™ Silver Series Component
Video Cables are available in lengths of 4 feet (1.2m), 8 feet (2.4m),
and 16 feet (4.9m).
Using our Marantz MV8300 D-VHS high definition VCR, we connected the analog component outputs to our Mitsubishi HC2000 DLP projector. The performance was excellent with our 1080i high definition material. Colors were well saturated with natural looking flesh-tones and excellent overall bandwidth. We were not only impressed with the video performance of these cables, but with the build quality as well.
PureAV™
S-Video Cable
Belkin's PureAV™ Silver Series S-Video Cables feature gold
contacts and are also designed around two true 75-Ohm impedance cables
to ensure a quality transfer over the chroma and luminance signals. S-video
connectors are known to be a difficult interface to deal with due to the
small mini DIN connector, yet these cables make the best of it with an
easy to grab backshell design. Similar
to their Silver Series Component Video Cables, the Silver Series
S-Video cables use precision-formulated, nitrogen-injected dielectric
material for superior color accuracy and detail. The low loss 24k gold-plated
connectors ensure excellent long-term performance. Quad cable shielding
in a flexible PVC jacket give the cable a higher level of ruggedness.
The PureAV™ Silver Series S-Video Cables are available in
lengths of 4 feet (1.2m), 8 feet (2.4m), and 16 feet (4.9m).
Our
Sencore VP403 HDTV Signal Generator was used to generate the reference
s-video signal (SMPTE Color Bars). Video was sent over the Belkin Silver
Series S-Video Cable to the Sencore VSA794 Video Signal Analyzer.
The display shows the decoded s-video signal with both gain and phase
of the reference SMPTE color bars looking virtually ideal. While test
signals are nice to see, we were ultimately interested seeing how real-world
material looked using this cable, so we played a few tracks from our Sony
DVP-NS900V DVD player. We found the real-world video performance confirmed
our measurements.
Conclusion
Belkin's new PureAV™
Silver Series™ cables performed very well in our tests and provided
build quality that would be desired by any videophile on a budget. The
reasonable cost of the new cables make them very attractive for those
building a new home theater on a limited budget.
- Kevin Nakano