Product
Review (December 2004)
Tributaries Cables
SCV-C and DCV-C Component Cables
Video
cables play a significant role in the performance of today's high-definition
home theater systems. While many may argue the importance of cables in
general, it's much easier to distinguish the difference in performance
on a quality high definition display. Cable and connector impedance play
a big role in the performance of the video signal as it travels from one
component to the another. This impedance must be controlled to minimize
unwanted reflections in the cable that can result in signal ringing and
other anomalies. Longer cables naturally reduce the bandwidth of a signal
due to an increase in capacitance. However, other impedance characteristics
such as inductance and resistance also come into play. All things being
equal, shorter cables almost always have better performance with high
bandwidth signals. Video can be more than a thousand times greater in
frequency when compared to audio signals. For example, the pixel clock
for a 720p or 1080i high-definition video is just over 74 MHz. This means
the cable must be able to pass a fundamental frequency that is half the
pixel clock or about 38 MHz to prevent significant video degradation.
In reality it's best if the cable can pass a much higher frequency to
avoid problems with gain and phase errors that can contribute to video
degradation.
Tributaries addresses these issues with their high performance video cables. We had the opportunity to review their SCV-C Component Cables as well as their DCV-C Component Cables, both of which control impedance of the signal from end to end. To get an idea of how well these cables performed we requested the 3 meter lengths. Both cables are available in lengths of 1, 2, 3 or 4 meters.
SCV-C
Design
The
more expensive SCV-C Component Cables feature Triple Layered braided
shielding with silver plated center conductors for high bandwidth applications.
The design is said to protect the video signal from external radio frequency
interference (RFI) and electromagnetic interference (EMI). Each cable
is terminated with true 75 ohm MCC75 RCA connectors with red, green and
blue color bands corresponding to the component video format. Tributaries
employs a technique called Surround Soldering Technology for maximizing
the contact and coverage of the shielding. A Lifetime Limited Warranty
is offered on the cables.
The cables have a black braided jacket with triple gold-colored strips giving them an attractive appearance. The design offers surprisingly good flexibility when compared to other high-end cable designs. We had no problem routing the cables the way we wanted to. The connector design is one of the best we've seen with a semicircle cross-section used to shield the center conductor as it runs to the solder cup. The inside of the backshell reveals the 360° solder coverage around the cable shielding. The external connector design uses a split center pin that ensures a positive connection with the mating connector. The outer shell has eight fingers that grip the RCA jack to provide low contact resistance.
SCV-C
Performance
We first tested the SCV-C Component Cables using
our Sencore VP403 as a source for generating high definition component
video signals. We used the 720p mode to match the native resolution of
our high definition display
and chose the vertical bars since this results in the highest video bandwidth
with alternating black and white pixels to our projector. We were interested
in seeing if there was any noticeable degradation in the video signal.
Past experience shows that some cables greatly attenuate these high frequency
signals and we have often seen it on longer cable runs. The SCV-C Component
Cables do have significant capacitance in the cables, but exhibited
no problem passing the highest bandwidth signals to our projector. Each
alternating pixel was clearly visible. Next we connected our JVC HM-DH30000U
high definition D-VHS VCR using the component outputs to our projector
and ran some real-world content. Using some of our reference D-VHS HD-Net
tapes and our D-Theater movies, we looked at the video performance. Colors
were excellent with natural looking flesh tones and the resolution was
superb with these cables. We didn't see any problems with the video performance.
We also ran video from our Sony DVP-NS900V progressive scan DVD player to our iScan HD scaler. While the bandwidth is not as demanding as our high definition content, we wanted to look for any problems associated with signal ringing when transitions occurred. We didn't see any when using these cables. It would certainly be interesting to see how these cables perform over longer lengths. Based on our tests with the 3 meter samples, the Tributaries SCV-C Component Cables did a wonderful job carrying both standard and high definition signals from our source to the projector.
DCV-C
Design
Tributaries' DCV-C Component Cables have some of the same excellent
characteristics found in the SCV-C Component Cables, but at half
the cost. While the DCV-C cables do not quite have the same build
quality found in the higher-end SCV-C model, they do exhibit similar
performance characteristics. Gold-plated brass connectors are used along
with Oxygen Free High Conductivity (OFHC) copper conductors. The triple
layered braided shielding offers protection from external radio frequency
interference (RFI) and electromagnetic interference (EMI) according to
the manufacturer. Each side has red, green and blue color coded bands
for easy identification corresponding to the component video format. Tributaries
employs the same Surround Soldering Technology for maximum performance.
These cables also carry a Lifetime Limited Warranty.
The cable jacket is blue and offers good flexibility without the exotic layering scheme used in the SCV-C design. The connector housing also has a split center pin and eight fingers for grabbing the mating connector. The inside of the backshell reveals the 360° solder coverage around the cable shielding. However, the interface to the cable shielding is smaller compared to the higher quality SCV-C connectors.
DCV-C
Performance
We
tested the DCV-C Component Cables in
a similar fashion starting with our Sencore VP403 as a source for generating high
definition component video signals. Again we used the 720p mode to match the native
resolution of our display. The alternating black and white pixels were clearly
visible on our projector. The DCV-C Component Cables have more capacitance
than the SCV-C
Component Cables,
but exhibited no problem passing out test signals. The 1080i video from our JVC
HM-DH30000U high definition D-VHS VCR looked excellent. Again colors were vibrant
with natural looking flesh tones. The resolution was exceptional in all test cases
with these cables.
Conclusion
Tributaries has a wide variety of cables ranging from good to exceptional.
Both the SCV-C and DCV-C Component Cables performed excellent
in our tests whether it was standard definition DVD or high definition
source material. We ultimately preferred the SCV-C cable design
simply because the construction and performance were superior. However,
for half the retail cost, the DCV-C offers
impressive performance with good build quality. Depending on your budget,
Tributaries has a high performance component cable for you.
- Kevin Nakano