Sound a fairly good setup that steve. Shame you have a HD DVD mind . Just a matter of time before theyre completely extinct.

My mate has an oldish Samsung plasma (bout 2.5k) and he benefeited from fitting a better mains cable and a tacima ~

 amazon tacima

Heres what one girl says on amazon ~

"This product works very well indeed. The quality of my LCD picture has improved, with less background haze, better skin tones, deeper blacks, richer reds, and the sound is also much more refined. All in all, this does exactly what it says on the tin, and for an almost give away price. You MUST get one of these for ALL your sound and vision components."

For 20 quid id say its WELL worth a try!

True on the HD-DVD front. Was waiting for one of the formats to drop below £200, HD-DVD got their first. Bought just before last Christmas, i.e. maybe two weeks before the whole war turned. On the plus side It's a cracking upscaller and you can buy HD-DVDs for £2.99 from HMV.. I can't even rent them for that little!

I'll look into this tacima thingy!!

Steven Jones 2 wrote (see)

On the plus side It's a cracking upscaller and you can buy HD-DVDs for £2.99 from HMV.. I can't even rent them for that little!

I'll look into this tacima thingy!!

Obtained the tacima, and it's now inplace. Stuck Matrix on for a try out and the sound really was very good. I even detected a fair amount of sound behind me, which really is quite impressive. Used the Lobby scene for the ultimate test There did appear to be a greater tonal range in the dark colours.

On the Plus side, I noticed last night that the Yamaha doesn't engage the upscale setting if the source is already at a greater quality, so it's not downgrading my Toshiba's 1080P video feed to the 720P I have the Yamaha set up.

On the downside I need to play with my timings, the sounds maybe as much as half a second behind the image, not sure if it's just becuase it's over the optical now or not.. still room for improvement

its usually because the sound comes out the speakers BEFORE the image is processed, meaning you need to 'delay' the amp (If possible). Either there will be a delay setting or a 'distance' setting, or some dvd players have a delay setting. If theres NONE of these, im afraid theres nit much else you can do.

Itll take a few months before the tacima fully 'beds in' (Same with all your equipment really, as it all sounds fairly new)

It can be effected to quite a degree depending on what MODES you have set on yout tv. Nearly every tv wil be out of sync with the sound even at its basic level (i had to change the 'distance' settings on mine to get it something like). But the more fancy 'contrast' modes are switched on (Or digital 'cleaners' etc) the longer it takes the tv to process the image (And generally makes the image worse quality)

Even normal tv will be different dependant on the programme too. If its 'live', theres a sound delay, recorded is usually very similar to watching a dvd. Its impossible to set everything correctly (Which is a bit annoying). Either set for the dvd player, or try to find a sort of 'middle ground' which isnt too bad whatevers played.

With the tacima, ive found most cables tend to make things look and sound a bit pap for a couple of days, then it slowly gets better and better until settled.

Im a computer geek too

Hi Rik, you state, With the tacima, I've found most cables tend to make things look and sound a bit pap for a couple of days, then it slowly gets better and better until settled.

Have you any reason to believe that, is there any science to support that, what reasons do you have to believe in 'burn in' as scientifically there is no reason whatever for such a phenomenon.

John... 

John ~

NO 

But its what i myself have witnessed with my new 16 core cable on my tv (which is STILL changing!), and all the other NEW cables ive tried. Do I care that I dont have scientific proof? NO

OK Rik I accept it, I obviously originate from a different universe to most of society. About a year ago I set up my 47" Samsung LCD TV, set the colour and brightness etc. plugged in my £5 HDMI cable to the Marantz up-sampling player and have been very impressed, the picture quality is outstanding and the sound quality is simply sublime through the main Hi Fi system. Now the point of this posting is simply to say that nothing has changed over this period of time, it is no worse or no better, it is exactly the same. Maybe that is because I expect no change and therefore see none whereas others expect to see a change and therefore do. Sorry to repeat myself but it seems expectations are like perceptions, we will see/hear whatever we want to and that is my dilemma.

John... 

Mines a plasma John. I wouldnt expect much change in an LCD. But thats not the point of what I said. i SAID it changed with both a filter and a decent braided mains cable ~ NEITHER of which you have used.

So 'again' it boils down to this ~ ARE YOU CALLING ME  A LIAR?

So I was banned for using confrontational language yet you reply 'ARE YOU CALLING ME  A LIAR?' read carefully what I said and you may notice that quite apart from not accusing you, or calling you anything. What I am saying is that in my system nothing has changed over the year. The point I am trying to make is simply this, if one expects to see a change then one will see it, if one expects burn in to improve the picture then one will see it, what one perceives to be real, is real. I have no doubt about your perceptions and I am not calling you a liar all I am doing is stating my own case.

John... 

Thats fine John. I just needed that clarifying

Seriously though John. Dont bother talking to me about cables, conditioners or 'burn in'. You just do my head in and I really cant be a*sed with you. You think whatever you want to think John. I certainly wont be losing any sleep over it.....

Rik, you're the one being confrontational here, don't goad him.

And John, I asked you not to insist on everyone defending their belief or otherwise in cables - let them discuss the pros and cons as they see them without you reducing the argument to 'can or can't' when you know they can't offer the scientific proof you crave.

You've all amply demonstrated that this is a cyclical argument that goes nowhere except to generate bad feeling. Agree to differ on this point or you'll find yourself banned again.