Monoprice vs. Bandridge

Here's a comparison of two, probably the most common HDMI cables on the market. I've tried both of them and I have mixed feelings. Their popularity only keeps me thinking that people do not focus on quality of things they buy. Let me remind you. This is monoprice:

Monoprice worth 2$ and its cable looking like it's going to break tomorrow. Of course you may say: I am only going to keep it plugged in. There's a chance it will work. What producer says:

Connector Type	HDMI® male to HDMI® male
Connector Finish	Gold
Length	1.5 ft
Gauge	28 AWG
Number of Conductors	19
Conductor Plating	Tin
Shielding Level	Triple
Shielding Type	EMI
Ferrite Cores	Yes
HDMI® Connector Head Size	20 x 11 x 37 mm
HDMI® Connector Diameter	8 mm
Net Jacket	No
Built-in Equalizer	No
Supported Resolutions	480i to 4k
Bandwidth	up to 340 MHz per channel (1.02 GHz total)
Data Throughput	up to 3.4 Gbps per channel (10.2 Gbps total)
Deep Color	10-bit, 12-bit, and 3x16-bit (48-bit RGB or YCbCr), X.V.Color™
HDMI® Certified	Yes
Category 2 Certified	Yes
HDCP Compliant	Yes
CEC Compliant	Yes
ROHS Compliant	Yes
Supports DVD Audio	Yes
Supports SACD	Yes
Supports Dolby TrueHD™ & DTS-HD Master Audio™	Yes
UL File #	E119932
UL Style #	20276
CL2 (In-Wall)	No
VW-1	Yes
Voltage Rating	30V
Temperature Rating	80° C

[source: monoprice.com]

As you see, you can't demand a lot. Compare this for yourself with bandridge:


Actually these look as cheap as monoprice but are pretty good. Also the key features the producer gives us are more strict:

• HDMI Cable
• Connector 1: HDMI Male
• Connector 2: HDMI Male
• 1.6 ft Cable Length
• 24 K Gold Plated Connector Material
• 100% Oxygen Free Copper Conductor

It sounds good, yes, but it is nothing awesome, to write it shortly. I cannot criticize but if you are about to choose something frome this price level, please go with bandridge rather.

HDMI Switches: 3-In 1-Out HDMI Auto Switch vs Connection LAB

Ok, so, while I found comparison reviews pretty clear when you oppose two items, I decided it's time to show you a HDMI switch (splitter) difference. In today's episode there's again: Connection LAB and HDMI Audio Switch bought on Amazon.




Here's 3-In 1-Out HDMI Amazon Switch:

 

Connection LAB:

As Connection Lab has got several options in their offer, I chose the most similar 5:1 to confront it with 3:1 switch.

As the first producer claims "it expands the number of available HDMI ports on a high definition television allowing connection of cable boxes, Blu-ray players, and game consoles". The biggest advantage according to the producer is automatic  HDMI switch plug-and-play. But the producer also notes that the Auto switch function only works for components that do not output continuous voltage over HDMI port when it is  turned off ;)
Even if it is very high in amazon sells, the switch worked only when it was directly to the receiver. Using cables (which are added to the switch!) doesn't work. I cant understand why it is so high...

Especially that I had Connection Lab. The fact that I am fond of this company is known to you but their switch (with a pilot, which works!) is something completely different. It is more expensive, true that, but it also:
-looks much better and reliable
-it has more slots
-it WORKS :)

And the producer's note:

• Support HDMI resolution:1080P/1080i/720P/576P/480P/576i/480i
• Support video color format:xv-YCC/Deep color 8 bit / 10 bit/12 bit
• Support audio format:DTS-HD/LPCM/Dolby-AC3/DTS7.1/DSD
• Data transfer speed: up to 2.5 Gbpsper channel
• Input Video signal: 5.0Volts P-P
• Max working current: 300mA
• Power adapter supply: DV 5V. 2A
• Power adapter format: Input AC(50Hz. 60Hz) 100-240V; Output DV 5V
• Operating Temperature range: -15 to+55oC (5 to 131oF)
• Operating Humidity range: 5 to90%RH (No Condensation)
• HDMI output cable lenght: ≤ 15m (24AWG)
• HDMI Version: 1.3
• HDCP Version: HDCP 1.2
  
  If you ask me, don't waste money on amazon best ofs. 

Egg Mobile - for elderly people

Speaking of cell phones, I would like to show you something that I don't have yet and I think I won't have anytime soon but I would consider having in 40 years or so. I also consider it as a present for my grandma and this is why I would like to show you this. Egg mobile's shape is designed not especially for them but I  find it perfect. Why? See:

Thanks to its elyptical shape it looks like an egg. When you look at it from aside, you can see it is not flat, so it is easy to spot it on the furniture and everywhere around. Intensive colourded edges intensify the effect. 
The screen is a touch-screen which elderly people may not always like but the numbers are really big and this is what is crucial for them.I would gladly know some more about the details of this phone (easy dial with chosen numbers, how instinctive it is, hopefully). 
So far, I found that this original item has got mp3 player and radio, a camera and USB port. Seems interesting!

Nokia Lumia 520

Nokia Lumia is probably recently the most popular Windows Phone. Windows 8of course!

Even with such strong Android competition it is world's top selling Windows 8 Phone hand set also thanks to its exquisite price. 

Nokia Lubia 520 comes out in several colours: blue, red, white and black, obviously. I has got a generous four-inch screen, 400x800 display and is powered by a 1 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 512MB of RAM. What's important Lumia 520's screen is bigger than 620!

It costs just around 150 pounds, it's cheaper than its immediate competition: Huawei Ascent W1. 

The covering on the back and sides of the phone is plastic and it looks pretty stable to me. It's quite a nice phone in other ways. It's rectangular shape is ergonomic, if we compare it to Nokia Lumia 620 it's also slimmer, lighter and some would say (I don't know) it's "classier". 

The biggest minus for me here, even though I find this phone really nice and pretty and technically cannot find anything wrong.... I hate Windows Phones :) And I know I'm not the only one. If you have no problems with windows - go on, I guess! If not - you won't consider buing it anyway ;)

PVR revorder Panasonic DMR-BWT835

Speaking od home theater set we try to make the best possible, there is no way you can avoid finding a good PVR recorder. 

It’s a Freeview PVR with built-in Blu-ray recording and playback, boasting a 1TB hard disk and twin DVB-T2 tuners. As the only Blu-ray recorder on the market, it’s the go-to machine for video archivists who want to make copies of hi-def TV shows (copy-protection permitting) and home movies to share with friends and family. Because it’s a Blu-ray drive you can cram hours’ worth of footage onto a disc, or you can copy onto lower-capacity DVD if you prefer. It also offers a range of smart TV content through Panasonic’s Viera Connect portal and media playback from USB, SD card and DLNA. It’s a multi-talented machine with a plethora of features, but as we discovered with Panasonic’s DMR-BWT735 PVR/Blu-ray player it takes more than a good spec to make a must-buy product. Let’s find out how it fares…
Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/panasonic-dmr-bwt735_TV-recorder---set-top-box_review#4WKHd4vy11UEAZBO.99

It’s a Freeview PVR with built-in Blu-ray recording and playback, boasting a 1TB hard disk and twin DVB-T2 tuners. As the only Blu-ray recorder on the market, it’s the go-to machine for video archivists who want to make copies of hi-def TV shows (copy-protection permitting) and home movies to share with friends and family. Because it’s a Blu-ray drive you can cram hours’ worth of footage onto a disc, or you can copy onto lower-capacity DVD if you prefer. It also offers a range of smart TV content through Panasonic’s Viera Connect portal and media playback from USB, SD card and DLNA. It’s a multi-talented machine with a plethora of features, but as we discovered with Panasonic’s DMR-BWT735 PVR/Blu-ray player it takes more than a good spec to make a must-buy product. Let’s find out how it fares…
Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/panasonic-dmr-bwt735_TV-recorder---set-top-box_review#4WKHd4vy11UEAZBO.99

It’s a Freeview PVR with built-in Blu-ray recording and playback, boasting a 1TB hard disk and twin DVB-T2 tuners. As the only Blu-ray recorder on the market, it’s the go-to machine for video archivists who want to make copies of hi-def TV shows (copy-protection permitting) and home movies to share with friends and family. Because it’s a Blu-ray drive you can cram hours’ worth of footage onto a disc, or you can copy onto lower-capacity DVD if you prefer. It also offers a range of smart TV content through Panasonic’s Viera Connect portal and media playback from USB, SD card and DLNA. It’s a multi-talented machine with a plethora of features, but as we discovered with Panasonic’s DMR-BWT735 PVR/Blu-ray player it takes more than a good spec to make a must-buy product. Let’s find out how it fares…
Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/panasonic-dmr-bwt735_TV-recorder---set-top-box_review#4WKHd4vy11UEAZBO.99v

As a Freeview PVR it has a built-in Blu-ray recording and playback, a 1TB hard disk and twin DVB-T2 tuners. What is new: it is the only one PVR recorder we found which has the go-to machine for video archivists who want to make copies of hi-def TV shows (copy-protection)
What is more, it also offers a range of smart TV content through Panasonic’s Viera Connect portal and media playback from USB, SD card and DLNA.

This machine has got a lots of features. To the pluses of this I would certainly count in:
-it's really easy and instinctive to use
-awesome quality of the picture
-loads of recording features

There are minuses too, unfortunatelly, but only if you are really demanding. You can record two programmes and while that happens you cannot watch the third one. It also has got Viera Connect...

Nevertheless we got it and we're pleased!

It’s a Freeview PVR with built-in Blu-ray recording and playback, boasting a 1TB hard disk and twin DVB-T2 tuners. As the only Blu-ray recorder on the market, it’s the go-to machine for video archivists who want to make copies of hi-def TV shows (copy-protection permitting) and home movies to share with friends and family. Because it’s a Blu-ray drive you can cram hours’ worth of footage onto a disc, or you can copy onto lower-capacity DVD if you prefer. It also offers a range of smart TV content through Panasonic’s Viera Connect portal and media playback from USB, SD card and DLNA. It’s a multi-talented machine with a plethora of features, but as we discovered with Panasonic’s DMR-BWT735 PVR/Blu-ray player it takes more than a good spec to make a must-buy product. Let’s find out how it fares…
Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/panasonic-dmr-bwt735_TV-recorder---set-top-box_review#4WKHd4vy11UEAZBO.99

It’s a Freeview PVR with built-in Blu-ray recording and playback, boasting a 1TB hard disk and twin DVB-T2 tuners. As the only Blu-ray recorder on the market, it’s the go-to machine for video archivists who want to make copies of hi-def TV shows (copy-protection permitting) and home movies to share with friends and family. Because it’s a Blu-ray drive you can cram hours’ worth of footage onto a disc, or you can copy onto lower-capacity DVD if you prefer. It also offers a range of smart TV content through Panasonic’s Viera Connect portal and media playback from USB, SD card and DLNA. It’s a multi-talented machine with a plethora of features, but as we discovered with Panasonic’s DMR-BWT735 PVR/Blu-ray player it takes more than a good spec to make a must-buy product. Let’s find out how it fares…
Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/panasonic-dmr-bwt735_TV-recorder---set-top-box_review#4WKHd4vy11UEAZBO.99

Monster vs Connection LAB

Some people wrote to ask about certain companies we write about. Connection lab have interested you and many of you asked how they can be compared to some better well-known companies. We thought Monster could be the best comparison.







A Monster HDMI cable

Connection Lab HDMI cable

As you can see there is the difference in look. Both of these have gold plated contacts, but Connection Lab is chrominium and Monster is plastic. It's up to you what you prefer but we are sure that plastic is easier to destroy and damage. Metal is metal, to put long story short. Also the cables itself are different. Connection lab is at the same time thicker but more elastic. I think it's thanks to the material used for isolating the cable. Monsters are a bit thinner and less elastic. Don't get me wrong, still very good, but here also Connection lab wins.

As for working: both of these are awesome. Monster is a recognized and respected brand. And there are many reasons for that. Their cables are great and long lasting, there are barely any problems with them, they work with most of things etc. But as Connection Lab is just entering the market we decided to give them a chance and we were astonished that the quality is as good and...yes, even better. 

As for working we may call it a tie but as the quality of craftsmanship and the promise of being a long lasting piece of equipment, Connection Lab wins!

Toshiba 50L5200U 50-Inch 1080p 120Hz LED TV

Hello after a short break. We have a new TV:

It's Toshiba! And we're in love with it.

This is a great TV if calibrated correctly. I was quite frustrated with it in the beginning, looked online and found following settings [...]They worked for me, hope it helps everyone else looking for good calibration.
All in all, great purchase for the price.

Settings:
Set picture mode to preference before making these changes.

These settings found in Picture Settings and Advanced Picture Settings:
Contrast 96
Backlight 52
Dynalight Off
Brightness 53
Color 50 (it's already well-adjusted out of the box)
Tint 0 (same as above)
Sharpness 1
Dnyamic Contrast Off
Static Gamma 0
Color Temperature Warm
Cinema Mode Film
Clearframe Off

Noise Reduction Settings:
DNR Off
MPEG Noise Reduction Off

Theater Settings:
Picture Size Native (very important to switch to this)
Auto Aspect Ratio Off

Sharp colours, and excellent sound quality as well! We will test all our cables with it! :))