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View Full Version : Prices of digital cables



formaldehyde_spoon
September 20th, 2010, 07:35 AM
This morning I suddenly thought to myself
''I'm sick of looking a VGA signal on one monitor next to a sharper DVI signal on the other monitor''
so I drove up the road to get a cheap (I thought) HDMI cable.

The cheapest one they had was AUD$50! (USD$47) And the most expensive was AUD$389 !!!!!

The prices people will pay for digital cables is insane. They only cost a few cents to make (I went home and bought some (new) off ebay for $4)
Almost exactly the same experience I had a few months ago when buying DVI cables...

I think we can blame store clerks getting commission on cables they sell. They upsell to the customer by telling them that expensive cables give better quality picture, and poor saps everywhere fall for it!

Most people don't really even understand what ''digital'' means, I suspect...

del_diablo
September 20th, 2010, 07:47 AM
http://www.dealextreme.com/search.dx/search.hdmi

Stop whining.

formaldehyde_spoon
September 20th, 2010, 07:51 AM
http://www.dealextreme.com/search.dx/search.hdmi

Stop whining.

Either a joke missing a smiley, or an extremely rude and uncalled for comment....

k33bz
September 20th, 2010, 07:53 AM
This morning I suddenly thought to myself
''I'm sick of looking a VGA signal on one monitor next to a sharper DVI signal on the other monitor''
so I drove up the road to get a cheap (I thought) HDMI cable.

The cheapest one they had was AUD$50! (USD$47) And the most expensive was AUD$389 !!!!!

The prices people will pay for digital cables is insane. They only cost a few cents to make (I went home and bought some (new) off ebay for $4)
Almost exactly the same experience I had a few months ago when buying DVI cables...

I think we can blame store clerks getting commission on cables they sell. They upsell to the customer by telling them that expensive cables give better quality picture, and poor saps everywhere fall for it!

Most people don't really even understand what ''digital'' means, I suspect...

I agree, but it is like that with alot of things.

cascade9
September 20th, 2010, 07:59 AM
So you went to hardly normals, or some other 'consumer' level store then I take it?

What do you expect? Those places are a rip-off, and always have been. Even some of the decent stores have expensive HDMI cables ($20 from the place I go to most often), but there are nice cheap cables around....They are get-able for $5, or even less, if you know where to look ;)

formaldehyde_spoon
September 20th, 2010, 08:05 AM
So you went to hardly normals, or some other 'consumer' level store then I take it?

What do you expect? Those places are a rip-off, and always have been. Even some of the decent stores have expensive HDMI cables ($20 from the place I go to most often), but there are nice cheap cables around....They are get-able for $5, or even less, if you know where to look ;)

Yeah, D1ckSmiths. There aren't really any other choices within a 5-10 minute drive from my place...

EDIT: '1' is because 'i' gets censored.

cascade9
September 20th, 2010, 08:15 AM
D*ck Smiths (LOL at the censorship of d*ck, its a common name, but anyway) is probably one of the worst. I never go there, its always more expensive, and it seems that everytime I do go there I get some swarmy salesmans trying to upsell whatever I'm looking at.... :(

Anyway, heres a hint- staticice. Really great site.

http://www.staticice.com.au/

I have no idea where you are living, and its not really my business, but if your in one of teh capitals, MSY is normally the cheapest for that sort of thing. There are cheaper places around, but they are most 'online only' and you end up paying more due to shiiping costs...but then you dont have fuel costs.....but if you pay the fuel, then you've got it right there in your hand, which is always nice. Too Many Choices LOL.

Dr. C
September 20th, 2010, 03:35 PM
Can't speak for the Australian experience but in Canada here are the choices for any type of cable (HDMI, DVI, VGA, USB, Ethernet, serial, parallel, component, audio, etc.)

1) Where not to buy cables:
a) Big box stores namely: Wal-Mart, Staples, Future Shop / Best Buy etc.
b) Consumer electronics stores, namely; Visions, The Source etc.
c) Consumer furniture stores, department stores etc.
The will sell a very good monitor for say $299 and then sell the cable to hook it up for say $59.99. Buy the monitor not the cable there.


2) Where to buy cables:
a) Small locally owned computer stores. I have seen a locally owned business undercut Wal-Mart by 80% on cables
b) Surplus / Auto / Hardware stores. Picked up a 2m HDMI cable at Princess Auto for $8.99,
c) On line. Even with shipping charges they beat group (1) easily or buy more than one cable at a time.

pricetech
September 20th, 2010, 03:49 PM
pccables dot com

I get almost all my cables there. Never had a problem with anything I've bought from them.

Dixon Bainbridge
September 20th, 2010, 03:54 PM
I think we can blame store clerks getting commission on cables they sell. They upsell to the customer by telling them that expensive cables give better quality picture, and poor saps everywhere fall for it!

Most people don't really even understand what ''digital'' means, I suspect...

"More megapixels means better quality images."

Always makes me laugh when I hear this in a store.

People are dim, but they don't have to be, they choose to be. Anyone that gets product advise from a sales person deserves everything they get.

juancarlospaco
September 20th, 2010, 04:20 PM
Theres a project to replace HDMI cables with UTP cables...

formaldehyde_spoon
September 21st, 2010, 08:01 AM
D*ck Smiths (LOL at the censorship of d*ck, its a common name, but anyway) is probably one of the worst. I never go there, its always more expensive, and it seems that everytime I do go there I get some swarmy salesmans trying to upsell whatever I'm looking at.... :(

Anyway, heres a hint- staticice. Really great site.

http://www.staticice.com.au/

I have no idea where you are living, and its not really my business, but if your in one of teh capitals, MSY is normally the cheapest for that sort of thing. There are cheaper places around, but they are most 'online only' and you end up paying more due to shiiping costs...but then you dont have fuel costs.....but if you pay the fuel, then you've got it right there in your hand, which is always nice. Too Many Choices LOL.

Thanks for the link and the suggestion.
I'm going to buy my cables from MSY from now on, save me waiting for stuff bought online to be posted to me...

cascade9
September 21st, 2010, 02:06 PM
Thanks for the link and the suggestion.

No problem. Enjoy! ;)

CharlesA
September 21st, 2010, 02:48 PM
I usually get HDMI and optical cables off Amazon. ;)

No way am I going to pay 100 bucks for a "Monster" cable, when a simple 5 dollar one works just as well.