October 2004 Reviewed by Vince Hanada	Nordost Silver Screen Component-Video Cable

Description Model: Silver Screen Price: $299 USD per meter Warranty: lifetime	Features Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP) insulation Stranded, silver-plated, 99.9% pure OFC conductor with two layers of shielding Gold-plated RCA connectors Optional BNC connectors 75-ohm connectors

There’s nothing exotic about video cables. They should function for one reason, and that is to transmit a signal from source to display without changing the signal in any way. But nothing in this world is perfect -- the goal is to find something that changes the signal the least. This isn’t an easy task, especially in the long cable runs needed in home-theater projection systems.

Nordost’s Silver Screen component-video cable is an example of the trickle-down effect at work. Based on Nordost’s top-of-the-line Valhalla cable, the reasonably priced Silver Screen ($299 USD per meter) uses the same Dual Micro Monofilament design to lower capacitance and resistance, hopefully resulting in a purer signal from source to display.

Construction

The Silver Screen is housed in a jacket of extruded Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP). The jacket is transparent, revealing the cable’s extensive braided shielding of silver and oxygen-free copper (OFC). Under that are the conductors themselves, made of pure, silver-plated OFC.

The thinking behind Nordost’s Dual Micro Monofilament is that it reduces the amount of contact between the insulation and the conductor. According to the company, reducing this contact lowers capacitance and resistance, and keeps the signal relatively pure as it travels from source to display. The Silver Screen’s claimed capacitance and resistance are low: 15.0pF/ft and 16 ohms per 1000 feet, respectively. This results in low signal losses of 1.13dB at 5MHz, and less than -2.80dB at 50MHz, according to Nordost. These specs indicated to me that the cable should not degrade DVD or high-definition signals to any significant level.

The three wires comprising the Silver Screen are terminated with red, green, and blue shrink-wrap corresponding to the standard colors of component cables, as well as high-quality gold-plated RCA plugs. When I unscrewed the RCAs, I could see evidence of excellent craftsmanship: the conductor was soldered securely to the center pin. The RCAs snugly fit my DVD player’s jacks, reassuring me that they wouldn’t work loose.

The Silver Screen cables have a small diameter. The cable sits quite flat, though not as flat as Nordost’s Flatline speaker cable, which is almost paper-thin. Thin is great as far as I’m concerned, as it allows a cable to be hidden under a carpet. The Silver Screen is also flexible, which improved its mechanical contact with my DVD player and projector.

Nordost sent me a 20’ (6m) length of Silver Screen, which I inserted between my Sony DVD player and my InFocus X1 front projector, which throws a 64"-diagonal image in my room.

Performance

One thing immediately noticeable was the higher level of beautiful detail the Silver Screen was able to transmit from my DVD player to my projector. When I watched Singin’ In the Rain, facial detail was lifelike: In chapter 1, when the camera zoomed in, it was easy to see the scarring on Gene Kelly’s face. Although this may not be something you’d want to see, it was great to know that the Silver Screen was revealing everything the source and display were capable of, scars and all.

Another strong point I noticed while watching Singin’ In the Rain was the color. Chapters 28-30 include the Broadway Melody scenes -- torture for any display device to reproduce, due to the fast motion and incredibly varied colors. If any shade in the color palette is off, it will really stand out. The Silver Screen allowed these colors to pop off the screen. Subtle differences of hue, such as the green stripes in Gene Kelly’s shirt and Rita Moreno’s green outfit, were easily distinguished.

The Nordost also shone in its reproduction of blacks. Budget projectors such as my InFocus X1 need all the help they can get in reproducing subtle shades of black. In chapter 32 of Singin’ In the Rain, Gene Kelly’s tuxedo had visible texture, instead of looking like an indistinguishable blob with a head on it. The Silver Screen helped my projector immensely in this respect.

Comparison

Replacing my usual component-video cable with the Silver Screen was a revelation. I’d been using a standard RadioShack component cable as a temporary fix when I bought my projector; the cable then stayed in my system and I soon forgot about it. Well, shame on me for waiting so long -- the Silver Screen showed me what I’d been missing.

What I noticed most was that the Silver Screen did not smear detail, as had the RadioShack. This was quite evident with movies with eye-popping color, such as Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. All of the color in the opening dance sequence was reproduced superbly with the Silver Screen, without the slight ringing I see with the RadioShack. When I looked closely at the stripes in Austin’s suit, the white line between the two shades of blue was clearly delineated. With the RadioShack cable, the white line tended to blur into the blue stripes.

The Silver Screen also showed more contrast than I’m used to seeing with the RadioShack. My DLP front projector’s contrast is not nearly as good as that of a CRT-based display, which makes it difficult to differentiate shades of gray. This can be a serious problem with scenes full of grays, such as the opening scene in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Through the RadioShack cable, it was hard to see the individual sailors against the background. The Nordost made this scene almost three-dimensional, with superb depth -- it was brought to life, making my viewing experience that much more involving.

Conclusion

The Nordost Silver Screen component-video cable performed its job superbly, and made a significant difference in my video system. By not altering my video signal, it let me see more than I’d grown used to seeing with lesser cables. This was eye-opening -- before auditioning the Silver Screen, I hadn’t been aware of what I’d been missing. If, like me, you have a front projector, I urge you to try the Nordost Silver Screen and see what you’ve been missing.

Manufacturer contact information:

Nordost Corporation
200 Homer Ave.
Ashland, MA 01721
Phone: (800) 836-2750
Fax: (508) 881-6444

Website: www.nordost.com

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