Cables - a rant.
Feb. 6th, 2011 05:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The other day, an lj friend* was ranting about the price of HDMI cables at Richer Sounds. Pretty justified, as they charge £15 for a cable you can get at Amazon for a fiver.
Today I was in Currys (and PC World) as a break from clothes shopping with
meaningrequired, and thought I'd check out their prices for cables.
They started at £40, and went up to £100.
Now, checking their website, it seems like they have cheaper ones, at pretty reasonable prices. But if you're buying a new TV and Blu-Ray player (or whatever) then you're going to want cables to go with them, and chances are that if you're ignorant you're going to get suckered into paying over the odds and buying one of these. Or if the sales people really get to you, splashing out on something like this.
Frankly, I'd like to find a way of making this kind of thing illegal**. If you can't demonstrate an actual difference in the picture being transmitted by the cable over one costing less than half its price then you shouldn't be allowed to bloody well sell it.
*I've just remembered who it was, but it was flocked, so I'm not naming them. They can feel free to claim responsibility in the comments if they like.
**Ok, I'm exaggerating somewhat. If people want to spend their money on stupid things then it's up to them. I'd settle for crucifying*** any sales person who tries to tell you that you get a better signal through them than you do through the bog standard ones that you can buy for a fiver.
***Publically. In front of the store. With rusty nails.
Today I was in Currys (and PC World) as a break from clothes shopping with
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
They started at £40, and went up to £100.
Now, checking their website, it seems like they have cheaper ones, at pretty reasonable prices. But if you're buying a new TV and Blu-Ray player (or whatever) then you're going to want cables to go with them, and chances are that if you're ignorant you're going to get suckered into paying over the odds and buying one of these. Or if the sales people really get to you, splashing out on something like this.
Frankly, I'd like to find a way of making this kind of thing illegal**. If you can't demonstrate an actual difference in the picture being transmitted by the cable over one costing less than half its price then you shouldn't be allowed to bloody well sell it.
*I've just remembered who it was, but it was flocked, so I'm not naming them. They can feel free to claim responsibility in the comments if they like.
**Ok, I'm exaggerating somewhat. If people want to spend their money on stupid things then it's up to them. I'd settle for crucifying*** any sales person who tries to tell you that you get a better signal through them than you do through the bog standard ones that you can buy for a fiver.
***Publically. In front of the store. With rusty nails.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 07:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 07:30 pm (UTC)In my case it started going intermittently unless I took it out and put it back in again, and then ceased functioning at all. I suspect I just got a duff one.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 07:06 pm (UTC)Here we have "Fry's Electronics," where they always try and sell you the wrong thing, and then give you the runaround when you try and return said thing.
We love to hate them.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 08:29 pm (UTC)> If you can't demonstrate an actual difference in the picture being transmitted by the cable
I'm not sure this is reasonable. There might be lots of things that you put into a generic cable to make it perform better which will not result in picture quality. I am thinking of electromagnetic shielding, water proofing, fireproofness, cores more resiliant to bending, and so on. Of course most of these don't matter for a simple home digital cable.
> if you're ignorant you're going to get suckered into paying over the odds
And that is the problem. I have said for years not to buy any cables from the high street. Get them online unless you need them right now. Many people are paying for the convenience of having it there and then, and also for the convenience of not having to learn about it. They *are* getting something for their money - it just isn't a very good something.
So what is the solution? More awareness through "Which?" and tv consumer programs might be a good start.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 09:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-07 12:25 am (UTC)I replied with 2 questions:
1. do you watch DVD extras [yes]
2. do you have a 40+ inch Plasma tv with THX surround sound [no]
I advised buying the regular dvd.
People who *need* to pay top dollar already know they do, and where to spend it. Everyone else, doesn't.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 08:44 pm (UTC)PS3 seems to be fine with a Poundland HDMI cable, inc watching BluRays with their protection and games
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 09:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 09:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-07 12:55 am (UTC)I can hope that reviewers and search systems will eventually make it easier to do an associated cost check.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 10:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-07 12:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-07 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-07 01:34 am (UTC)the price for a teabag in a pub still seems *slightly* excessive though
no subject
Date: 2011-02-07 09:30 am (UTC)He replied that a) we were regulars during the week when it was quiet and b) he made more of a mark up on a coffee than on beer so he was happy for us to sit and drink coffee all day long if we wanted. Which we did.
There is a reasonable amount of tax on alcoholic drink and I wonder if this masks the price of soft drnks. If you took the 60p of excise duty and VAT on excise duty of the cost of a pint of beer and then compared the price of that with a coffee or a pint of coke I think customers might not like the new price differential.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-07 11:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-07 12:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-07 11:31 am (UTC)I've found having a printer at home really convenient. If you're running late for something, it's so much easier to print something out while you eat your toast, than running like a mad thing into the library (or printer depo) to get a few pages before a seminar or meeting.
Also, if you ever want to print anything unusual, its much easier to do it yourself, than faff with someone else's printer, or go to a print shop and try to explain what it is you want.
I don't know what your course will be like, but a lot of my lecturers used to provide paper copies of the lecture/notes at the start of class.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-07 09:33 am (UTC)There was also some recent experiments on decision making when buying which suggest that the way to milk most money out of people was to break up the purchase of larger complex items (i.e. a TV, DVD, games console and cables) in to many smaller transactions.
I would go on to suggest the sales technique is not an accident but deliberate policy based on empirical research.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-07 10:15 am (UTC)I just don't approve. I'll stick to online.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 06:27 pm (UTC)