Holy price gauging Batman! Has anyone seen the prices of HDMI cables at Best Buy (presumably the same at other electronics stores)? Yesterday I was in Best Buy to pick up a DVI (HD cable box out) to HDMI (TV in) for my new Sony 40″ BRAVIA V-Series HDTV (KDL-40V2500), but was shocked at the prices of HDMI cables. We are talking about $80 or so for a “low end” cable, while the top end cables will set you back about $145 (plus tax). There is also the $35 to be spent on the DVI to HDMI adaptor.
This is completely insane. First, I spend two grand on a TV. Next I spend some money to upgrade to Charter HD service. Now I have to spend another $100-200 on cables. Where does it end? I assume if later this year I decided to pick up a 360 or PS3, I will have to spend even more money on more digital cables.
I have been doing some reading/research at it seems there are two camps. The first firmly believes that spending top dollar on high-end cables such as those provided by Monster are an absolute necessity. The other camp believes that a digital cable is a digital cable (assuming reasonable cable length), and you should go as cheap as possible. I sure hope that the latter is correct because I do not want to spend this much money on cables.
Get a $15 cable from monoprice.com. You won’t see any difference.
LOL – I actually have the tab open and ready to place an order. Several sites recommended cables from monoprice.com … and of course lots of folks said the cables were too cheap (and you should spend more).
Well, when I was putting together a hi-fi system, the advice I usually got was to budget about 10% of the purchase price for cabling and interconnects – and I reckon that there might well be some difference between the $200 cable and the $15 one, it just depends how good your eyes are at spotting it.
It’s a total scam. They figure if someone is spending thousands on a flat panel, they won’t notice you’re being gouged for a cable which is no better than a $10 one bought online.
Not only that people are spending hundreds on mounting brackets and professional wall mounting.
When I looked around the stores, I couldn’t believe how much they were charging.
You can make the argument that a $200 cable might make some difference (as long as it’s not Monster) IF it’s only for analog. But for digital, either the bits are detected or they aren’t.
That is why you won’t have an in-between phenomenon like ghosting of digital TV receptions.
But there is something to be said for nicer contacts, good build quality and good shielding, especially for longer lengths. Otherwise, a $10 cable should do.
I will post more on my monoprice cable experiences this weekend; lets just say that I am very happy with the quality and price.