BV5, Eclipse and: Scart cable quality impact on picture quality?

8 replies

Strange question, I know, but:

- We’ve ordered the Eclipse 65. It was to be delivered and installed tomorrow, but the local dealer called me today and said that B&O have shipped the Sound centre and the panel to France instead of to Norway!! The dealer had only got the floor stand... Maybe it’s one VIP here at the BeoWorld-forum that B&O needed to prioritise ? ;-) 

- In our preparation to move our BV5 to our glass house (BV5 will be replaced by the Eclipse), I had to cut the existing SCART VIVANCO HQ cable from the STB to the BV5 in order to replace it with a 10m (full-wired) Scart cable. The STB is placed one floor below (basement), and it will continue to deliver cable tv signals to the BV5 in the glass house adjacent with the living room.

- When testing the new 10m Scart cable (and some other standard short ones) between the STB and BV5, it seems to me that we experienced a sharper/better picture quality before, with the VIVANCO HQ cable. I’ve of course tested that BV5 still gets RGB signal from the STB as before through the scart cable, but:  

—-> Can it really be that the picture quality it is noticeable better/worse with different scart cables, as long as they are all full wired and deliver RGB signals to the TV? Or is it just imagination?

(Since I had to cut the VIVANCO HQ cable in order to pull the new 10m scart cable through the hole between the living room and the basement, I no longer have a HQ cable to compare with)

For Scart cables there can be better quality with better cables - I experienced the same in the past. For HDMI cables (at least short standard lengths) I have not seen differences in picture quality.

Ralf

My B&O Icons:

BeoCenter-9500.png BeoCenter-9500.png
Beoremote-Beo4.png Beoremote-Beo4.png
Beovision-11.png Beovision-11.png
Beosound.png Beosound.png
Beoplay-V1.png Beoplay-V1.png
Beoplay-H95.png Beoplay-H95.png
Beoplay-E8.png Beoplay-E8.png
Beoplay-A1.png Beoplay-A1.png
Living Room: Beosystem 4, Beolab 7-2 (Center), Beolab 9 (Fronts), Beolab 8000 (Rears), Screen: Sony KD-85XH9096
Home Cinema: Beosystem 4, Beolab 7-4 (Center), Beolab 9 (Fronts), Beolab 4000 (Rears). Projector: Sony VPL-HW55
Home Office: BeoVision 11-46, 4 x Beolab 3, BeoCenter 9300 (BLC 1611/ML/NL)
Bedroom: Sony KD-65XH9077, Beosound Essence MK II with Beolab 6002 and Beolab 11 (all white, wall-mounted)
Dart Room: BeoPlay V1-40 on floor stand
Guest Room: BeoVision 7-40 MK IV, Beolab 7-2, BeoSound Ouverture

BeoET wrote:
Can it really be that the picture quality it is noticeable better/worse with different scart cables, as long as they are all full wired and deliver RGB signals to the TV? Or is it just imagination?

It's not you imagination. There can be quite large variations in picture quality and the factors which affect it most are:-

  • The screening in the cable itself. This can be the biggest factor
  • The way the cables are terminated in the SCART plug
  • The quality of the SCART plug itself

Location: Hampshire, England

Thanks Keith and Ralf, I will go by our local B&O dealer today and see if they have an old HQ Scart cable that I can borrow - just to evaluate if there actually is a deteriorated picture quality in the Scart cable I've pulled.

I would like to have as good PQ in the BV5 as possible, even though we will not use the BV5 that much going forward. At the other hand, it's not very 2018 to try to get hold of a 10m HQ Scart cable...

BeoET wrote:

B&O have shipped the Sound centre and the panel to France instead of to Norway!! The dealer had only got the floor stand... 

Just to fair with B&O: Checked this again today, and it turns out that it was the shipping company (UPS?) that was to blame. B&O have sent a new panel and soundcentre - cross my fingers and look forward to next Friday :-)

May the length of the cable also influence the picture quality?

Stones wrote:
May the length of the cable also influence the picture quality?

Yes, the length of the cable certainly will influence the quality. The cable lengths should always be kept as short as possible.

 

Location: Hampshire, England

Our local B&O dealer lent me a hi-quality 5 m Scart cable so that we could test that against the 10 m long Scart cable I have pulled through the wall. We couldn't see any (noticeable) difference between the two, so we'll stick with the current cable. I'm glad that I didn't need to search for and buy a new HQ Scart cable for this purpose (not very 2018'ish).

I think 2 issues fooled us to believe that the PQ of our BV5 had been better than it actually was with our original HQ scart cable:
1) We might have been too often in the B&O store lately - have started getting used to the PQ of the Eclipse...
2) When working with the cables behind the BV5, we've pulled the BV5 a bit closer to our seating position, thereby making the low resolution more visible.

Looking forward to Friday - new Eclipse being installed!

 

or
BeoWorld Gold Membership card
Join BeoWorld

Register to access the forums, reference material, and exclusive member benefits — including our monthly prize draw.

Become a Member

December 2026 Prize Draw

Gold Members Only

As a Gold member you're automatically entered into our exclusive prize draw — your chance to win iconic Bang & Olufsen products. A unique benefit of BeoWorld Gold membership, every draw brings a new opportunity to win something special.