This Just Saved me $100,000 - Total Phase Cable Tester V2

[JadedLoony]

3 hours ago, Luscious said:

One type of cable that I am definitely having trouble with are those sata power splitters (Y-cable). I have searched high and low for a quality one and stumbled upon StarTech. You absolutely need these if your PSU doesn't have enough sata power connectors or you just have more drives than usual. The biggest problem diagnosing these is that you don't know if the problem is with the power cable itself or the sata cable/port. Drives randomly drop out and reappear after a reboot that's caused by Windows just freezing. And it is always the same drive so I know it's got to be the cable at fault.  I've had those problems as well until I found Silverstone splitters and SATA cables-- they're a great solution if pricey. They use caps to smooth out voltage fluctuations on their splitters. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ENKYJB4/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_T5PY719KA0R0S8J4250J 

 

Some Ethernet cable testing would be nice too, especially which ones can do beyond GbE speeds and the distances you can get with each speed option (2.5, 5, 10, etc...) Likewise it would be handy to see if the cables sold "as is" are as good as the ones you crimp yourself when you just get the bare cable to the length you need and do the ends. Not just speed standards compliance but determining which cables are actually POE+ capable would also be vital information. Same with the standard crimp terminations and the EZ-DIY ones that are significantly easier to get right.

 

[CaptainFluffy]

Things to test: 

• 1k HDMI cable (or "overpriced" cables in general)
• USB type C cables with USB 2.0 speeds (and maybe a larger discussion on how to tell the difference when buying)
• One of the thing I heard about the Odyssey Neo G9 issues was that bad cables might be the problem (I think I remember someone superchating during the WAN Show about this). If it's possible to reproduce any of the issues with your Neo G9 that might be a good video to do.

[dogwitch]

4 hours ago, Bitter said:

GN Steve needs this @LinusTech This is exactly the kind of validation he has wet dreams about. Guy just craves validation.

wont happen. seeing most user wont lap a cpu or a hs block to get correct contact. seeing i do remember steve saying on building out new  place. there a 50k to 100k machine. he wants to get for data that pretty much worthless for his viewers/readers. money could be spent for another worker instead.

 

 

[Bitter]

38 minutes ago, dogwitch said:

wont happen. seeing most user wont lap a cpu or a hs block to get correct contact. seeing i do remember steve saying on building out new  place. there a 50k to 100k machine. he wants to get for data that pretty much worthless for his viewers/readers. money could be spent for another worker instead.

 

 

He dropped $50K on a machine to test case fans, just case fans. I could see them dropping $100K on something like this in the future especially given it can test a lot of different kinds of cables. I could see GN spinning off a testing and validation business like GNlabs someday to fund the channel side of things. I'd pay $5-10 more for parts with picture of a smiling Steve sticker on the box to know I'm getting what I'm paying for.

[ArkTaker]

My take on this:

I like to have 'themed topics, even if cross over a bit
A) 'event cable testing' Sound, XLR, video connection,....'
B) Business Network Cable testing 'LAN, Telephone, PoE, USB, screens,....'
C) Home use 'Phones, USB, screens',
D) 'Streamer cable testing 'streaming deck,....'
E) Gaming PC testing, 'Mouse, Keyboard, Monitor...'
F) Test great cables along with your own made variants additionally (especially RJ-12 and RJ-45 ones.
G) Short Circuit: Cable test from passed real old cables to newer versions and show the way they improved visually. (PS2, LPT, diverse USB-cables, power cables, etc)
H) Short Circuit: Showcase your bad cables via why they fail in all kind of things, ground, interference and how that looks like so we may be able to guess why it fails in general?
I) Test cables and see when burned, stepped, bend, stretched, etc... 'how many times it takes' to make it real fail, like bend and the like?
J) Video Cameras Surveillance System, (LAN, COAX, USB, PoE,....)
K) Different Power cables just to show how it goes.

[AndreiArgeanu]

There should definitely be a spreadsheet of all the cables you're going to be testing in the office or the videos including the reasons why each cable failed or anything worth noting. 

[Luscious]

4 hours ago, JadedLoony said:

 

Thanks for that tip  I've seen those cables before from Silverstone except I wasn't able to use them because the connectors are placed too close together - my drive bays are spaced apart like 5.25 inch bays because of modular cradles and vibration dampers. A 5 inch Y cable is a better fit, more practical and useful, especially if your drives are spaced apart or mounted in a cradle like I have. I guess these Silverstone ones are just meant to split the PSU end of the cable rather than attach to where the drives are, if that makes sense.

[Thagor]

Please test Club 3d cables they seem to market themselves as good quality no bullshit cables. But it would be interesting if they can hold themselves up to this

[GodOfROG]

@ColinLTT Can we test some of the USB extenders or products that claim to give you more length. Also looking for information about "120 Hz," "240Hz" and "480 Hz"  or even "3-D".

 

I'd love to see a investigative job on Monster, AudioQuest, Rocketfish and Dynex. AudioQuest had a 229.99USD for its 6-1/2-foot Carbon, that claims it "delivers 100 percent of the data required for 120Hz, 240Hz, 600Hz  displays." with the product claiming - "High speed 1080p/120Hz/4K".

 

Also looking at the 8k stuff I sell more bullshit and snake oil. 

 

Also i see SOME Supplies selling 10k Cables now.

[Stahlmann]

There are A LOT of snake oil optical HDMI 2.1 fiber cables (10m+) on Amazon. Would be nice if someone could expose them so less people have to go through the trial and error process i did. I went through 8 different cables or so before i found one that supported full 4K 120Hz HDR signals. Most of them were standard 4K 60Hz cables that are sold for over 100€ as HDMI 2.1 cables. Some of them claimed there was an incompatibility with RTX GPUs (which were conveniently the only HDMI 2.1 output devices at the time) to decline warranty.

[GodOfROG]

16 hours ago, samcool55 said:

Suggestion: Get one of your staff that isn't tech savvy (maybe a nice challenge for Sarah) and go to your local whatever store where average joe would buy a TV and let her buy HDMI cables. Maybe it's even a good idea to go full secret shopper and ask for advice from a sales rep and see what cables she brings back.

 

Even tech ppl like most of us probably had at least once the moment where they were like "damn I really need X cable RIGHT NOW'' and it would be very useful if we knew what to get from the local store that would both work properly and not break the bank.

 

Linus should send his Son to Target - Walmart - Bestbuy and what ever other bigbox stores are out there to buy a cable for his PS5 - and see what they sell him. 
(or claim he needs 4k for his Nintendo Switch OLED)

[JadedLoony]

2 hours ago, Luscious said:

... ... In your use case I would go with some decent 3" or so single cable extensions and hang them off the that Silverstone splitter I linked to. There doesn't seem to be any alternative splitters/extenders with capacitors built-in to stabilize the power. Also if you want a good program to keep track of any drive issues I recommend Hard Disk Sentinel. It doesn't care what kind of storage device(s) you have (or OS for that matter) it will actively track what data is made available by the drives&controllers.

 

[Kilrah]

1 hour ago, GodOfROG said:

Also looking for information about "120 Hz," "240Hz" and "480 Hz"  or even "3-D".

There's really only one metric that matters there, it's the cable bandwidth. Some manufacturers will just take that cable's bandwidth (either expected or really tested...) and list all the stuff that fits in that bandwidth for "SEO points".

[mariushm]

I think it's worth mentioning the video Level1Techs did recently  that touches the same subject ... quality of cables :

 

 

[Wheelzz]

A bit off topic, but what is the sign/art on the wall in front of Jamie/behind Linus at 6:10 ish?

[LaplaceFourier]

I probably know the answer but how much is that device? Is it at a price point where hobbyist nerds can somewhat reasonably justify it if they want to test their own bevy of cables lying around the house? I don't assume so but would be curious how much it costs.

[Velcade]

9 minutes ago, LaplaceFourier said:

I probably know the answer but how much is that device? Is it at a price point where hobbyist nerds can somewhat reasonably justify it if they want to test their own bevy of cables lying around the house? I don't assume so but would be curious how much it costs.

Check out TotalPhase's Advanced Cable Tester V2 at https://lmg.gg/L5v9O

 

It's posted in the original post.  

 

[Zfollowup]

Why didn’t you guys release a list of cables that failed and passed? You already went through the trouble of testing them…

[Xjph]

6 hours ago, GodOfROG said:

@ColinLTT Can we test some of the USB extenders or products that claim to give you more length. Also looking for information about "120 Hz," "240Hz" and "480 Hz"  or even "3-D".

 

I'd love to see a investigative job on Monster, AudioQuest, Rocketfish and Dynex. AudioQuest had a 229.99USD for its 6-1/2-foot Carbon, that claims it "delivers 100 percent of the data required for 120Hz, 240Hz, 600Hz  displays." with the product claiming - "High speed 1080p/120Hz/4K".

 

Also looking at the 8k stuff I sell more bullshit and snake oil. 

 

Also i see SOME Supplies selling 10k Cables now.

Seconding this. Would really like to see the impact that extenders and adapters have on signal quality. Especially ones that extend via completely different physical media (USB via CAT5 extenders for example).

[mariushm]

1 minute ago, Zfollowup said:

Why didn’t you guys release a list of cables that failed and passed? You already went through the trouble of testing them…

Would be pointless... and could be misleading... some lesser known brands may switch factories and suppliers several times a year, so if the guys bought a random cable from Amazon half a year ago, doesn't mean a cable from same brand now has same probability of being bad.

 

Some cables could be bad simply due to overuse, bending and messing with them too much and so on...

 

Also, a cable that fails at HDMI 2.0 doesn't mean it's bad, if it's a HDMI 1.4 cable..

[Piyono]

LTT, if you're doing a cable shootout check out Blue Jeans Cable.

They're a small US company. Relative to the common stuff, their cables are expensive, but of terrific quality.

They cater to the no-nonsense audiophile and videophile crowd, and also pro AV.

No esoteric snake-oil BS. Just good materials and workmanship. They use Belden and Canare for data and audio, respectively.

(I've been making my own audio cables with Canare cable for over 25 years. It's good sh!t.)

 

Their HDMI cables are assembled in China but are made with Belden cable and are certified.

All the specs and other details are on their website.

 

FTR I'm completely unaffiliated with the company but I'm a fan.

 

I also highly recommend you check out their Monster Cable Correspondence pages.

A while back they were named in a frivolous suit by Monster Cable [a pox on their name!]. Blue Jean Cable's response was epic.

I've read the whole thing like four times in the last 10 years for the sheer pleasure of it.

 

Enjoy!

[Oscill8n_Pigeon]

I wonder if it can do optical display port cables. I have 3 of these, Avencore Carbon Series 5m DisplayPort Active Optical Cable (Supports Ultra HD 8K@60Hz) and swear by them because I have so much electrical interference under my desk where I rout all my cables that copper based cables were causing screen jitters and tears.

 

They have worked flawlessly with both my 2K and 4K screens, I wonder if they will work with the advertised 8K 60hz

 

[Napalmsteak]

48 minutes ago, Piyono said:

LTT, if you're doing a cable shootout check out Blue Jeans Cable .

Small US company.

They're relatively expensive but their cables are terrific.

They cater to the no-nonsense audiophile and videophile crowd, and also pro AV. They use Belden and Canare for data and audio, respectively. No esoteric snake-oil BS. Just good materials and workmanship.

 

Their HDMI cables are assembled in China but are made with Belden cable and are certified. All the specs and other details are on their website.

 

FTR I'm completely unaffiliated with the company but I'm a fan.

 

I also highly recommend you check out their Monster Cable Correspondence pages.

A while back they were named in a frivolous suit by Monster Cable (a pox on their name). Blue Jean Cable's response was epic. I've read the whole thing like four times in the last 10 years for the sheer pleasure of it.

 

Enjoy!

This right here! I've purchased from Blue Jeans Cable for like 10 years and cannot overstate their quality and no-nonsense quality. Piyono is correct with the correspondence with Monster Cable, these guys are rock stars in my eyes. Please please PLEASE review their cables, or even a collab with them.

[JadedLoony]

8 hours ago, Piyono said:

LTT, if you're doing a cable shootout check out Blue Jeans Cable .

Small US company.  They're relatively expensive but their cables are terrific.

... ...

I also highly recommend you check out their Monster Cable Correspondence pages.

A while back they were named in a frivolous suit by Monster Cable (a pox on their name). Blue Jean Cable's response was epic. I've read the whole thing like four times in the last 10 years for the sheer pleasure of it.

Enjoy!

Mr. Denke must have had a late night with a poet, a bottle of Jack and binge-watched a dozen stand-up comedy specials from the Greats while writing that rebuttal.   It ranks right up there with the infamous Star Trek Decision against the copyright trolls of Prenda Law when it comes to taking the absolute piss out of a douchebag in a legitimate legal document.

https://www.bluejeanscable.com/legal/mcp/response041408.pdf

*Chef's Kiss* Molto Bene!

Edited October 16, 2021 by JadedLoony
typos

[Piyono]

1 minute ago, JadedLoony said:

Mr. Denke must have had a late night with a poet, a bottle of Jack and while binge-watching a dozen stand-up comedy specials from the Greats while writing that rebuttal.   It ranks right up their with the infamous Star Trek Decision against the copyright trolls of Prenda Law when it comes to taking the absolute piss out of a douchebag in a legitimate legal document.

https://www.bluejeanscable.com/legal/mcp/response041408.pdf

*Chef's Kiss* Molto Bene!

Ha, yes, exactly. It's so satisfying, to borrow a phrase from today's youth.