Do you play with jacks too?

[GerrySiegel]

<p>I used to be smart, and felt competent even. Humility now creeps in along with the new E-M1, met my match ... I could see the difference between USB and HDMI. Then HDMI decided to reproduce and develop mutations, a natural Darwinian evolution I am sure. No doubt caused by the new environmental imperative of small smartphones for the young and acute of eyeballs.(to compensate for the loss of high frequency reception aurally I 'spect)<br /> Yesterday I am using one of the aftermarket (like who can afford Olympus accessories, sheez) Vello cables to my E- M1. It is a proprietary cable end connector of this benevolent company, Olympus, which they gave the truly elegant and easily remebered name of <em>" multifunction."</em> <em>Beware</em> friends, if you pull it out a little casually, the metal tip made of light aluminum wrap paper will pull right off the molded plug....and you can't get it back with tweezers, little tiny pliers and a 6 power magnifier and incantations or unholy oaths. It is kaput. Sure I will call B and H tomorrow and send it back. Yes I use it with the otherwise nice Vello shutter release RF gizmo they call Freewave Fusion. Ok, I have given the warning.<br /> Now comes my learning and re education. I looked to see what was the other jack....says HDMI but just HDMI. So I go through all my HDMI to little HDMI cables and none fit, but they are close enough that I sort of wonder if I am missing something. Ahah. It is called a "Type D" HDMI connector( see page 101 of the English manual). I plow through the spaghetti piles in my drawers, some of which I actually labeled (tip #2-put a small string label on what goes with what). Yes I even found an early Oly cable with 1394 stamped on it....yeah that was HOT stuff once upon a time...before USB went ballistic... Go to the Olympus site and you can pay $30.00 plus shipping for one of the A to D HDMI cables of so so length.<br /> So many of us look to Amazon for five bucks as an alternative, same company in Peking we suppose they all use...but will it fall apart? Maybe, so <em>buy at least three of them</em>.<br /> As to the way they go into the JACK, well, one side is concave, sort of, and may have an arrow on another side, but don't count on the arrow to match the slope of the curve.<br /> All I can say is that in a world of jacks and cables, take care and let us sign a petition for all camera companies to include ALL appropriate cables in the package. Cost them peanuts! When something is "sold separately" this chaps my buttocks. So there, off to the New Year with a jolly start my friends. Happy trails, and organize those cables.....they reproduce in the dark of the drawers:-)</p>

[AlanKlein]

<p>It's not as bad as Apple though. When my wife updates her iPhone, old iPhone cables don't work for any purpose.</p>

<p>At least when I got my new Samsung phone, I could use the same Radio Shack car charger. Of course, after using it a few times with the new Samsung Galaxy S4 it stopped working. So I bought the new model from Verizon and it worked for two charges. Well, it still charges but the little lighning bolt in the camera doesn ot come on even when charging. Very strange.</p>

 

[thatguychad]

<p>I buy all of my cables (home theater, included) from monoprice.com. They have 6ft HDMI-D (also called micro HDMI) to HDMI cables for $4.20 <a href="http://www.monoprice.com/Category?c_id=102&cp_id=10253">here</a>.<br /> <br /> <strong>Alan</strong>, I've updated every iPhone I've owned with no issues whatsoever with charge <em>cables</em>. There are badly-built chargers, but you get what you pay for. I bought some cheap knockoff chargers once, but threw them out after the touchscreen wouldn't respond properly on <strong>any</strong> of my devices (several Apple devices, an Android device, and a Windows Phone) plugged into the USB port of the charger. Shortly after, the news of the Chinese woman that was killed after being electrocuted by her 3rd party charger made headlines. So now I either buy 1st party power adapters, or from a more reputable company like Belkin. Cheap Chinese chargers are <strong><a href="http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and-why-you.html">downright dangerous</a></strong>.</p>

[benny_spinoza]

<p><em>Cheap Chinese chargers are <strong><a href="http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and-why-you.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">downright dangerous</a></strong>.</em> So what is the alternative? Expensive Chinese chargers? I have yet to see a new charger for consumer electronics made outside of China.</p>

[thatguychad]

<p><em>So what is the alternative? Expensive Chinese chargers? I have yet to see a new charger for consumer electronics made outside of China.</em><br /> <br /> Essentially, yes. I know you're probably just replying to pick nits, but as I said in my post, 1st party chargers (like the ones that come with your new phone sold at a US or UK retail outlet) are made to a much higher standard. The knockoffs you buy on eBay for less than $5/ea likely aren't built to comply with any standards body at all (like UL in the US or JET in Japan - regardless of the fact that they may have the certification logos stamped on the product.)<br /> <br /> The link I provided at the end of my original post has plenty of info, I'd suggest reading that for more information.</p>

[GerrySiegel]

<p>Thanks for that link Chad to monoprice company. I will bookmark keep them in mind for future purchases. Since they are cable specialists I expect they will reject product that is not solid enough to stand normal use.... Mahalo. gs PS: When I called B and H and told them I wanted to send back the Vello cable I bought to use with their Fusion RF trigger, customer service said no need to send it back as they would as a courtesy just send me a new one. Nice. </p>