testing cables - cable tester

[pokazene_maslo]

Hi.
I would like to suggest to start testing USB/HDMI/DisplayPort/ETH cables that are bundled to products you review (like NVMe enclosures, keyboards, monitors, etc.). I saw video about TotalPhase's Advanced Cable Tester V2 on Linus Tech Tips and I thought "I need this" until I saw the price tag

It's an expensive machine, however most people I know experienced problems with low quality cables... including me.

Thanks!

 

[eidairaman1]

Hi.
I would like to suggest to start testing USB/HDMI/DisplayPort/ETH cables that are bundled to products you review (like NVMe enclosures, keyboards, monitors, etc.). I saw video about TotalPhase's Advanced Cable Tester V2 on Linus Tech Tips and I thought "I need this" until I saw the price tag

It's an expensive machine, however most people I know experienced problems with low quality cables... including me.

Thanks!

Would need to test, continuity, resistance and insulation strength. I test harnesses time to time.

Need 1s specifically for those cables you suggested...

Like a Megger

 

[Shrek]

I would imagine cross-talk and dispersion were also important.

 

[eidairaman1]

I would imagine cross-talk and dispersion were also important.

In utp it relies on the twists in the pairs.

A dissection of a cable sample can tell us tpi and if there is additional shielding

 

[cvaldes]

I'm suspecting that cable testing isn't extensively done since the net result isn't worth the time.

Let's say TPU (or any other PC gear reviewer) is testing a $600 monitor. What do you think an included HDMI cable is worth? Maybe $6-12 retail? Let's say it takes 400 minutes to test a monitor. What should the reviewer spend on testing the accessories? Do they do a proportional amount of time, like 1-2% (thus 4-8 minutes)? And how much should they spend on test equipment?

When you test drive a car, do you look at the overall performance or do you spend time testing how fast the cigarette lighter reaches a temperature to light a piece of paper on fire?

It's not like these PC equipment reviewers have an infinite amount of time to diddle with this stuff.

And as a reader how much time should you spend paying attention to this? Does it make sense to spend 10 minutes reading a technical analysis of a $6 monitor cable?

And let's say you are in the market to buy a $600,000 house. Should you spend the proportionate amount of time? That would be 1,000,000 minutes to review a single property. If you spent 8 hours a day reviewing it, it would take 2083 days, over 5.7 years (including weekends and holidays, no vacation time allowed).

Circling back, how much sense does it make to review a comprehensive technical analysis of a monitor cable? And as a reviewer, what do you think you can ask readers to pay for that riveting content?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for making intelligent decisions based on thoughtful reflection but in my mind one needs to direct their time on more important choices. Hell, half of marriages end in divorce and most couples spend months/years deciding whether or not they should tie the knot AND THEY STILL GET IT WRONG.

But carry on.

 

[Selaya]

The house is a bad, if not invalid analogy.
Most houses are unique, in the sense that a review of house X cannot be translated into house Y, Z or A, which makes a review (let alone a published one) kinda asinine. At best, it's a waste of time.

When you review a $600 monitor you are probably expecting it to be reasonably popular. Let's assume this monitor will sell 100,000 times. 100,000 * $600 = $60,000,000! Further, lets assume 1/10 of the (potential) purchasers of said monitor will read the review. Your review of said monitor'd still have provided a value of 6 million dollars, ten times of what your house review would've!

 

[joemama]

I don't see the value of testing the cables, unless it is a faulty cable that wasn't caught by the quality control, it isn't likely to cause any problems. The result differences would mean little to most users.

 

[eidairaman1]

I don't see the value of testing the cables, unless it is a faulty cable that wasn't caught by the quality control, it isn't likely to cause any problems. The result differences would mean little to most users.

Considering the tools required to test VNR and SNR as well. Some get away with the amazon cable but thrre are benefits to higher end cables (build quality, attenuation resistance, impedance reduction)