i'm a puppy, and i lick my butt, chase my tail, and eat crickets. to some, this might disqualify me as a resource for pre-purchase technological support. to those this applies to: guess which finger i'm holding up. for those who understand that furry friends can be bastions of good info, i offer my technology purchase public service announcement, aka: "for those about to be royally fucked without a kiss."
today's topic: HDMI cables.
everyone is riding the HDTV wave, and stores are cashing in-- big time. i'll give you my take on t.v.s later; for right now, i want to address the hidden rapist lurking in many electronics stores: cables. there's not a huge mark-up on an lcd or plasma hdtv. however, they take up a lot of floor and warehouse space. to make money, stores sell accessories. they're small, and people need them to hook up the cable box, gaming system, and stereo to the brand-new toy they've just agonized over purchasing.
the agony over making the major purchase is where the store slips consumers a roofie for the unexpected fucking. an lcd tv isn't particularly cheap; once consumers have decided to purchase, the salesman will start his shill about needing the best cables to make sure that the tv gets the great picture they've just paid for. at this point, the buyer is bent over and handing a bottle of lube back so the salesman can quarterback their ass all the way to the checkout by pushing hdmi cables that cost around $100.
i hope they get a kiss with those, because they won't get a clearer picture.
the whole point of digital is that it doesn't require the same level of maintenance as analog. with the old analog signal, picture quality could be noticably poorer with cheap cable. it would take incredibly bad hdmi cables to noticably degrade the picture on a modern hdtv. unless it's over 15 feet or so, pretty much any $15 HDMI cable will give you the same quality picture as a $140 cable (like those sold under a certain "scary" brand). if you feel like letting a salesman get his jollies in your back pocket, go ahead and pad the bottom line. otherwise, hit up the local discount retailer, drop $15-30 on cables that don't come in a fancy package, and tell 'em a firm handshake will do.
