News around the web: Inside the HDMI cable scam

User Comments: 12

1. August 23, 2010 11:00 PM
   

   captaincranky, TechSpot Addict, said:

   That isn't anywhere near the fraud involved with the sale of higher refresh rate monitors.

   If you're walking through the store thinking you see better action on a 120Hz TV, they must have you hypnotized.

   This issue may be news, but I doubt that it's news to any body in our forums.

   Face it, I think we've been buying 10 dollar cables, with 5 dollar rebates for years.

   I did buy an expensive HDMI cable once from Walmart, no less. It was a Friday night, and I had just bought an LCD from Best Buy that afternoon. I knew I was doing wrong, and I'm ashamed. That said it was the lowest priced, high priced cable I could find....

   Reply
2. August 24, 2010 2:29 AM
   

   Arris said:

   Last HDMI cable I bought was £5 for 2.5m (Fisual Install Series GOLD Plated HDMI Cable 2.5m). Never fallen for overpriced super high quality lies. My friend actually does a lot of audio work and has a degree in electrical engineering and did testing of gold plated high quality audio cable years ago and found that it offered very little difference in the quality of signal passed through it compared to a standard cable. Slightly better over longer distances but nothing that warranted the premium prices being charged.

   Reply
3. August 24, 2010 3:58 AM
   gobbybobby said:

   Yea here in the UK HDMI cables are all cheap. Even the ''gold plated'' ones are less than £10. I not seen a HDMI cable cost more than £15.

   Reply
4. August 24, 2010 4:19 AM
   

   Arris said:

   gobbybobby said:

   Yea here in the UK HDMI cables are all cheap. Even the ''gold plated'' ones are less than £10. I not seen a HDMI cable cost more than £15.

   Just got to look in the right high street name rip off places - [link]

   £64 for a 5m HDMI cable.

   Reply
5. August 24, 2010 9:18 AM
   Johny47 said:

   Arris said:

   gobbybobby said:

   Yea here in the UK HDMI cables are all cheap. Even the ''gold plated'' ones are less than £10. I not seen a HDMI cable cost more than £15.

   Just got to look in the right high street name rip off places - [link]

   £64 for a 5m HDMI cable.

   ok honestly that's 'nothing'. I like Amazon quite alot it's a great online store but this item here is just pathetic =/ - [link]

   Reply
6. August 24, 2010 9:38 AM
   

   Zilpha said:

   Corporations trying to cheat consumers? There's a shocker.

   Reply
7. August 24, 2010 9:51 AM
   

   Arris said:

   ok honestly that's 'nothing'. I like Amazon quite alot it's a great online store but this item here is just pathetic =/ - [link]

   £379.95 reduced to £356.41 for a 15M HDMI cable. Bargain!!! lol

   Reply
8. August 24, 2010 11:51 AM
   

   SNGX1275, TS Special Forces, said:

   I buy all my hdmi cables from monoprice, very reasonable prices. Even for stuff like speaker wire you can get a good deal compared to most box stores.

   As for the higher refresh rate TVs... I'm not convinced that is a scam yet.. I think the way TVs reproduce a picture vs the fps of the source may be important.

   Reply
9. August 24, 2010 1:27 PM
   

   LNCPapa said:

   I, too, am a huge monoprice fan. You know how women go shopping when they're upset with their spouses - well I log onto monoprice when my wife pisses me off and I order cables. Good, thick, fancy connector cables of different types - they make me happy.

   Reply
10. August 24, 2010 6:59 PM
    

    tengeta said:

    So what, Monster has been doing this scam for years with every kind of cable.

    Reply
11. August 24, 2010 7:30 PM
    

    captaincranky, TechSpot Addict, said:

    So what, Monster has been doing this scam for years with every kind of cable.

    Well, now MSNBC has said it, so it must be true.

    Reply
12. August 24, 2010 10:18 PM
    

    hellokitty[hk], I'm a TechSpot Evangelist, said:

    Thats one down...

    Reply

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