Black!

[VRAndy]

I don't see the point of having a short TV out cable, as the point of a TV cable would be to sit in your normal TV chair and use the Pandora, isn't it? A short cable would be useless and thus I for one applaud the length decision. 10 feet is the shortest it can be, I wouldn't mind another couple of feet actually.

Points of a short cable (But not exclusive to a short cable) :
* Capturing video for YouTube.
* Connecting to a giant 25ft cable that you purchased separately.
* Watching movies on your TV. (Or the TV In a hotel room)
* Playing games on your TV with a wireless controller.

So ... a short cable isn't completely ridiculous. But yea, of course a bigger one is better.

-Andy

 

[God Ginrai]

I don't see the point of having a short TV out cable, as the point of a TV cable would be to sit in your normal TV chair and use the Pandora, isn't it? A short cable would be useless and thus I for one applaud the length decision. 10 feet is the shortest it can be, I wouldn't mind another couple of feet actually.

Points of a short cable (But not exclusive to a short cable) :
* Capturing video for YouTube.
* Connecting to a giant 25ft cable that you purchased separately.
* Watching movies on your TV. (Or the TV In a hotel room"]
* Playing games on your TV with a wireless controller.

So ... a short cable isn't completely ridiculous. But yea, of course a bigger one is better.

-Andy[/quote]A short cable is not ridiculous, yes, but can you think of any time that the short cable would be better than a long cable? (Note that if it needs to be short, we can use a cable tidy to shorten the long cable)

EDIT: Note, I'm not trying to put you on either side of the argument. I just want to know if there is any argument to be had for the other side.

-God Ginrai

 

[trooper]

It`s easier and cheaper to make a long cable short,
Than it is to make a short cable long, For most people.

Trooper

 

[Asmo]

A short cable is not ridiculous, yes, but can you think of any time that the short cable would be better than a long cable?
-God Ginrai

If you want to carry a Pico Projector with the Pandora.

 

[Pleng]

It`s easier and cheaper to make a long cable short,
Than it is to make a short cable long, For most people.

Trooper

Cheaper, maybe.

Easier, no.


Making a long cable short involves cutting and re soldering.

Making a short cable long involves buying an extension cable, or (in the case of a tv-out which simply provided female connectors) buying a longer standard cable.

 

[WizardStan]

Making a long cable short involves cutting and re soldering.
:huh:
Making a long cable short involves a twist tie. Why the over complication?

 

[WoD]

Making a long cable short involves cutting and re soldering.
:huh:
Making a long cable short involves a twist tie. Why the over complication?

I, too, am an avid user of the twist-tie method, the absurdly long cable attached to the mahoosive studio monitor cans I use as every day headphones is twist-tied up into a neat little bundle and stowed in my pocket. Simple, effective, and I can still unravel it all and hook it up to a keyboard or bass amp in a jiffy.

 

[Pleng]

Making a long cable short involves cutting and re soldering.
:huh:
Making a long cable short involves a twist tie. Why the over complication?

Oh yes, a very elegant solution!

That's not making it short, that's making it fat.

Twist-tying 3 cables connected to a tiny ext-connector... that's like three overweight people occupying seats 36A, 36B and 36D of an aeroplane!

 

[Username]

This really shouldn't be a discussion. Obviously long cable > short cable, I hate short cables. Long cables don't have any disadvantages either.

 

[WizardStan]

Oh yes, a very elegant solution!

That's not making it short, that's making it fat.

Twist-tying 3 cables connected to a tiny ext-connector... that's like three overweight people occupying seats 36A, 36B and 36D of an aeroplane!

I'm sorry, I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. Because seriously, no it isn't, not even close. I'm not even entirely certain what analogy you're trying to pull off here. Heavy cables pulling out the ext connector?

 

[wermy]

Seems to me the only solution is to have each of us specify exactly how long we would like our video-out cable, and Craig personally splice/solder each one to our specifications.

 

[VRAndy]

Not really. Price and Signal Strength are issues, but if Craigix has that under control, then I'd rather have the long cable, of course.

 

[Pleng]

Oh yes, a very elegant solution!

That's not making it short, that's making it fat.

Twist-tying 3 cables connected to a tiny ext-connector... that's like three overweight people occupying seats 36A, 36B and 36D of an aeroplane!

I'm sorry, I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. Because seriously, no it isn't, not even close. I'm not even entirely certain what analogy you're trying to pull off here. Heavy cables pulling out the ext connector?

It's really not difficult. The EXT connector is small. If you twist and tie the cables to make them 'shorter' you're going to make them 'fatter'. You're going to end up with three chubbies bunched up together at the end of your connector. It still requires more space in a carry bag to transport than a simple connector with three female sockets on the end. If I'm going somewhere with my Pandora that already has SVideo and RCA cables (which is pretty much everywhere I go) then it's wasted space.

And if one of the cables gets damaged (yes I'll openly admit I'm not as careful with cables as I should be) you will be required to cut the cable and solder on a new one. If a SVideo or phono cable (which came bundled with a more standard 3-female TV breakout cable) gets damaged, then it's simply a case of replacing the cable, or reusing one of the many cables I have lying around my house (many of which are much longer, even, than 10ft).

Plus there's the issue of extending the cables. If I want to extend the cables I'd need to either buy a double-female adapter for each cable so I can use my existing cables, or buy brand new female-male extension cables. Not a biggie, I agree. I have the adapters lying around for the audio side of things, and an S-Video adapter would be pretty easy to come by. But it seems a bit of a waste when I have 20 and 30ft cables lying around already.

At the end of the day I've had quite a few devices with TV breakout cables. Every single one of them have come as tiny little leads or boxes with female connectors for composite/SVideo, and L/R audio signals so that consumers can use their choice of leads. From cameras to PDAs to PC TV adapters and GP2Xs, it's the standard that companies adhere to. Yes, part of that will be to cut costs. But it also offers the consumer the choice of cabling. Probably saves the company quite a bit in warranty claims as well.

Clearly, for most people on this forum, who want the cable for connecting to their equipment at home, a 10ft lead is a good thing. That's easy to tell from the responses so far. But for people who may want to hook their Pandoras up to, for example, on-site projection equipment, it's a bit of a pain. Especially as you have to worry about what to do if the cable gets damaged (carry a spare TV-out cable).

So I concur that popular opinion says a long lead is good. But saying there's no advantage to a standard breakout cable is just not true.

 

[WizardStan]

It's really not difficult. The EXT connector is small. If you twist and tie the cables to make them 'shorter' you're going to make them 'fatter'. You're going to end up with three chubbies bunched up together at the end of your connector.
They won't be that fat. And if you do it at the TV end instead of the Pandora end, you shouldn't even notice them. Unless they've chosen some ridiculously heavy cabling, an extra 4 or 6 feet isn't going to be that much heaver, about 250 grams or so.

QUOTE
So I concur that popular opinion says a long lead is good. But saying there's no advantage to a standard breakout cable is just not true.

This was never, ever, at any point in time that I can see, a debate as to whether they should have gone custom cable or breakout box. It's short cable vs long cable, with the assumption that the cable is custom and will be provided. If you want to start a new debate, that's fine, but don't present arguments for a debate that doesn't exist yet.

 

[gruso]

So I concur that popular opinion says a long lead is good. But saying there's no advantage to a standard breakout cable is just not true.

This was never, ever, at any point in time that I can see, a debate as to whether they should have gone custom cable or breakout box. It's short cable vs long cable, with the assumption that the cable is custom and will be provided. If you want to start a new debate, that's fine, but don't present arguments for a debate that doesn't exist yet.Actually, this mini-discussion began at post #135, when PlenQ said "I'd have much rather have seen a device with small breakout cables ending in female S-Video and audio ports". It's not his fault the discussion got simplified into "long vs short".

PlenQ's point reminds me that the GP2X cradle works this way. So I was able to go out and buy regular s-video & RCA cables at the length I wanted to. Which seemed annoying at first, but ended up suiting me nicely. Having said that though, I'm happy enough with what we're getting for Pandora.

 

[WizardStan]

Actually, this mini-discussion began at post #135, when PlenQ said "I'd have much rather have seen a device with small breakout cables ending in female S-Video and audio ports". It's not his fault the discussion got simplified into "long vs short".
Ah dang, you are correct. Now my arguments are all muddled up. Can we start over with well defined intentions?

 

[God Ginrai]

QUOTE ('PlenQ'"]
So I concur that popular opinion says a long lead is good. But saying there's no advantage to a standard breakout cable is just not true.

This was never, ever, at any point in time that I can see, a debate as to whether they should have gone custom cable or breakout box. It's short cable vs long cable, with the assumption that the cable is custom and will be provided. If you want to start a new debate, that's fine, but don't present arguments for a debate that doesn't exist yet.Actually, this mini-discussion began at post #135, when PlenQ said "I'd have much rather have seen a device with small breakout cables ending in female S-Video and audio ports". It's not his fault the discussion got simplified into "long vs short".

PlenQ's point reminds me that the GP2X cradle works this way. So I was able to go out and buy regular s-video & RCA cables at the length I wanted to. Which seemed annoying at first, but ended up suiting me nicely. Having said that though, I'm happy enough with what we're getting for Pandora.[/quote]Yes, Pleng did originally say that. However, I don't believe that can be termed as a breakout cable unless it opens up the other possibilities that are on the EXT port. Also, Pleng seems to be under the assumption that the TV-out cable will be 3 or four wires straight from the Pandora. While I haven't seen anything said by devs that would suggest this or deny this, I would have to say that this is highly unlikely. This idea is one of the reasons why Pleng seems to think it would be fat. However, a practical TV-out cable of a 10 foot length would be one cable all the way to the TV end, where it would split into its separate cables about half a foot to a foot before it reaches its ends.

-God Ginrai

 

[Pleng]

Yes, Pleng did originally say that. However, I don't believe that can be termed as a breakout cable unless it opens up the other possibilities that are on the EXT port. Also, Pleng seems to be under the assumption that the TV-out cable will be 3 or four wires straight from the Pandora. While I haven't seen anything said by devs that would suggest this or deny this, I would have to say that this is highly unlikely. This idea is one of the reasons why Pleng seems to think it would be fat. However, a practical TV-out cable of a 10 foot length would be one cable all the way to the TV end, where it would split into its separate cables about half a foot to a foot before it reaches its ends.

-God Ginrai

Well yes I suppose a long lead splitting up would make more sense than three long leads. I'd still prefer a breakout cable.

I'd completely forgotten about the other features of the EXT cable. How is that going to work? Is there going to be a serial port and line in dangling off the end of the 10ft cable too? And line in ports? In that case, what if I want to line in from a device next to me, line out to a device behind me, and connect to the telly half way across the room? A 10ft cable is going to be completely wasted in this situation and is going to lead to spagetti junction in my front room!

 

[God Ginrai]

I'd completely forgotten about the other features of the EXT cable. How is that going to work? Is there going to be a serial port and line in dangling off the end of the 10ft cable too? And line in ports? In that case, what if I want to line in from a device next to me, line out to a device behind me, and connect to the telly half way across the room? A 10ft cable is going to be completely wasted in this situation and is going to lead to spagetti junction in my front room!

That was my other point in my post. A TV-out cable is a TV-out cable, not a breakout cable. We have always been getting a TV-out cable and not a breakout cable. Long or short, it still will not be a breakout cable. If you want a breakout cable, you will have to either A) Make one yourself, B) Have another user make one for you, or C) Hope that Craig and Co. start making Breakout cables. This is one of the reasons why I was lobbying in the Pandora Cube thread for an Accessory that was a true breakout box. That way we could break everything out, and have some extra features people would want in a dock. (USB hub, extra Memory, possibly controllers?)

-God Ginrai