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First post, by retro games 100

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I bought a good quality VGA cable, 3 meters. It's by a company called Wireworld. The exact model of cable is: Wireworld Ultraviolet 5. Unfortunately, I'm disappointed with it. The information written on the cable itself says -

RGBHV VIDEO (UVR) -> SILVER CLAD OXYGEN-FREE-COPPER/75 OHMS/HD SHIELD -> CL2 (UL) E199644 75degreesC - FT4

The problem is that if I use this cable on a typical PC, using a 17" monitor @ 1280x1024 resolution, the general quality of the desktop looks totally ordinary. It doesn't look very sharp, just average. If I replace the Wireworld cable, and use a different cheaper cable eg a Lindy 3 metre, £25 (~ $40 USD), then the desktop looks great - nice and sharp. Also, if I use the Wireworld cable on my 486 mobo with a Diamond Viper V330, the general image quality has a lot of weird interference: the pixels "wobble". The BIOS POST text "wobbles". If I remove the Wireworld cable on this 486 mobo, and replace it with the cheaper Lindy cable, all of this weird interference disappears.

What is unusual and disappointing about the wireworld cable are the 2 silver VGA DSUB connectors. They look really cheap and nasty. They feel ultra lightweight, as if they really are the cheapest connectors you could find on planet Earth. Also, you see in the photo where these silver connectors are - the black sheath surrounding them looks amateur, as if they have been put on by a "user at home", rather than properly done at a cable factory.

I've got an idea - can I remove the 2 silver connectors, and get 2 much better gold connectors and attempt to connect them on to the cable ends myself? Thanks a lot for any comments on this subject.

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Reply 1 of 11, by h-a-l-9000

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> OXYGEN-FREE
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! 😁 😁 😁

You fell for the expensive cable voodoo racketeers.

> get 2 much better gold connectors
What property do you think gold has that helps in this case?
For VGA cables the shielding and impendance are important. You don't need to pay $40 USD for a good cable.

1+1=10

Reply 2 of 11, by sliderider

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retro games 100 wrote:
I bought a good quality VGA cable, 3 meters. It's by a company called Wireworld. The exact model of cable is: Wireworld Ultrav […]
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I bought a good quality VGA cable, 3 meters. It's by a company called Wireworld. The exact model of cable is: Wireworld Ultraviolet 5. Unfortunately, I'm disappointed with it. The information written on the cable itself says -

RGBHV VIDEO (UVR) -> SILVER CLAD OXYGEN-FREE-COPPER/75 OHMS/HD SHIELD -> CL2 (UL) E199644 75degreesC - FT4

The problem is that if I use this cable on a typical PC, using a 17" monitor @ 1280x1024 resolution, the general quality of the desktop looks totally ordinary. It doesn't look very sharp, just average. If I replace the Wireworld cable, and use a different cheaper cable eg a Lindy 3 metre, £25 (~ $40 USD), then the desktop looks great - nice and sharp. Also, if I use the Wireworld cable on my 486 mobo with a Diamond Viper V330, the general image quality has a lot of weird interference: the pixels "wobble". The BIOS POST text "wobbles". If I remove the Wireworld cable on this 486 mobo, and replace it with the cheaper Lindy cable, all of this weird interference disappears.

What is unusual and disappointing about the wireworld cable are the 2 silver VGA DSUB connectors. They look really cheap and nasty. They feel ultra lightweight, as if they really are the cheapest connectors you could find on planet Earth. Also, you see in the photo where these silver connectors are - the black sheath surrounding them looks amateur, as if they have been put on by a "user at home", rather than properly done at a cable factory.

I've got an idea - can I remove the 2 silver connectors, and get 2 much better gold connectors and attempt to connect them on to the cable ends myself? Thanks a lot for any comments on this subject.

Wait. Did you say 3 METERS?!?

Why would you need a VGA cable that long? Wouldn't the signal degrade over that long of a distance?

Reply 3 of 11, by bestemor

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When you say 'cheaper Lindy cable', exactly which model would that be ?

I'm looking for new cables, and the Lindy Premium Gold seemed like an ok choice.... ? But rather expensive if one wants 4x....
And it's not for sale in my country - mostly all I can find here are some bog standard grey matter. 😵

- OR: What other cables are out there, 2m or 3m, that would have proven superior quality ? Price not that important, just wanna know what's considered good/best.

I'd like it to be something more than just a generic one, as you never know what you get with those.
But apparantly that's even true with oh say... Wireworld, heh 😜

(bonus if on ebay, as it's often easier/cheaper to get than normal webshops, to my 'non-standard' location)

Reply 4 of 11, by retro games 100

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>> What property do you think gold has that helps in this case?

er....dunno!

>> For VGA cables the shielding and impendance are important

Regarding shielding - looking at the photo in the O.P., the 5 individual coloured coax cable "strands" are exposed at each end of the cable. That can't be right, can it? I mean, for each cable end, these 5 "strands" are exposed for about 1 foot in length. It just doesn't look right.

>> Wouldn't the signal degrade over that long of a distance? [3 meters]

You can buy 50 meter length VGA cable! The good cables can support long distances. 3 meters is not really a long distance.

>> the Lindy Premium Gold seemed like an ok choice

I think that's the one I have. It's quite good. Another good cable is by the company called IXOS, and they do a 3 meter version. The problem is that it's about 30% more expensive than the Lindy cable. Please note that the "shop price" for the Wireworld cable is over £100 (~ $150 USD), but its performance seems quite poor. I tried to get it work again on my 486 mobo, but I keep getting weird interference on the monitor. Maybe it's defective?

Reply 5 of 11, by Davros

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the cable doesnt appear to have the round things on (not sure what theyre called)

ps: the thing top right not the thing in the red circle
vgacircle.jpg

Guardian of the Sacred Five Terabyte's of Gaming Goodness

Reply 6 of 11, by retro games 100

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Davros wrote:

ps: the thing top right not the thing in the red circle

The thing that looks like a snake has just swallowed a rat and got it stuck in it's throat? I'm not sure what they're called either, but I suspect that my explanation isn't technically accurate.

BTW, I just noticed that the 3 metre wireworld VGA cable on ebay has just been sold. Me thinks this is not entirely a coincidence. If anyone is reading this thread, and it's you who bought the cable, is there any chance you could please report back to tell us if it's any good or not? Thanks a lot if possible.

Reply 7 of 11, by h-a-l-9000

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_bead

They are not there to improve the quality.

The 5 coax cables bring/should bring their own shield each. Maybe make a photo with a connector shell removed so we can see if a coaxial cable was used at all. Or better just return the cable for refund.

1+1=10

Reply 9 of 11, by retro games 100

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The mystery deepens. I've just tried the Wireworld cable on a different monitor. The original testing monitor was an LG 19", and this other monitor is a Sony 17" monitor. I get no interference at all with the Sony monitor, when I test it using the Wireworld cable on a 486 mobo. I tried the Wireworld cable, and then the Lindy cable, and then the Wireworld cable again. There didn't appear to be any difference in quality, when running DOS games. I guess these super high end cables are useful if you are using high resolutions on big screens - projectors perhaps? For my DOS needs, either a Lindy or IXOS cable (or the Wireworld cable, as I own it now) will be OK.

Reply 10 of 11, by bestemor

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You wouldn't happen to have some larger monitors of any kind ?
So you could test if there actually IS a quality difference ?
(lindy vs wire)

I guess even a 22 or 24 inch LCD would do (?)
(of course with a PC on windowsXP or higher)

Me, who thinks £30 is expencive for vga cable... 😁

But if wireworld really does the trick, who knows what I'll buy next 🤑

Reply 11 of 11, by retro games 100

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Very unfortunately, I only have 17" and 19" monitors, both non-widescreen. However, I did test the wireworld and another 3 metre cable manufactured by Ixos on on Sony Bravia 32" LCD TV. I must say that I'm very impressed with the general overall visual display quality from a PC on this TV. (Quake 3 looks stunning, even running at just 1024 x 768.) I'm guessing that any decent modern TV would look just as good. The Ixos cable performed better than the Wireworld cable. Really, the Wireworld cable isn't that good. I reckon it's defective in some way.

If you want to get a really good PC VGA cable, then I'd recommend the IXOS XHV625-300 HD15 VGA Cable 3m. You can get them new from FutureShop.co.uk, but they cost £33 excluding shipping. The Lindy cables are also very good. BTW, they are noticeably a bit thinner looking. They are cheaper I believe.