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$600 PS3 Ships Without HDMI Cable

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the wow-they-really-know-how-to-impress dept.

Eurogamer reports that the $600 PS3, which comes available with an HDMI port, will not ship with the necessary cable to actually hook the machine up. From the article: "According to the specs page on the official US PS3 website, which notes: 'HDMI cable not included. Additional equipment may be required to use the HDMI connector.' Sony has long promoted the 60GB PS3's HDMI output as a key feature of the machine. The 20GB model, however, doesn't feature HDMI - and nor does the Xbox 360, as it goes, despite occasional rumours of a hardware revision in the offing." The machine will, of course, come with a composite cable.

11 of 416 comments (clear)

  1. This is not news. by casualsax3 · · Score: 5, Informative
    First, the PS2, Xbox, AND Gamecube all had HD cables sold as add ons. Second - why would Sony ship every PS3 which HDMI cables, when such a tiny percentage of homes even have HDMI ready TV's. HDMI cables are only going to run you $20 anyway: http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/DVI-hdmi_cables .html#std

    If you've got $600 to drop on a PS3, you've got another $20 for cables. Move along, nothing to see here.

    1. Re:This is not news. by casualsax3 · · Score: 4, Informative
      Apparently you've never taken a look at a luxury sports car. Let's take the Porsche Cayman for example: http://youtube.com/watch?v=yRs6oMlyfK8

      This is a review from Top Gear: it's a great clip, however for the point I'm trying to make is about one third of the way in - check out . Things you would consider essentials on a sports car - the sports chrono package (500 pounds), 19" wheels (1260 pounds), fade free carbon ceramic breaks (5350 pounds!), an adaptive dampers (1030 pounds), the SatNav is an extra 1800 pounds - even the rear windshield wiper is an extra 260 pounds. This, all on a car that's already over 50,000 pounds. Tell me again why people are getting bent out of shape here - it's a cheap $20 cable that 5% of PS3 owners are going to want/need - you can't even begin to compare that to a $400 rear windshield wiper that every single person who owned the car (especially in the UK) is going to want AND need.

  2. HDMI for HDCP by varunnangia · · Score: 3, Informative

    IIRC, HDMI cables are necessary if you need to view HDCP encrypted content - or you get a "low-quality" version of the image. Considering that most studios are not using the image constraint token till 2010, it seems that HDMI cable or no, no one's likely to need it for a while. Should it be included in a $600 package and is Sony cheaping out? Perhaps. But do you absolutely need it right now? No.

  3. Re:'Cuz a cable costs $100... by gabebear · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ya, but Circuit City's $125 cable is the same thing as the discount $6 cable in this case. If sony just releases a reasonably priced cable($30) and sells it next to the PS3 then they will make a couple extra million on HDMI cables.

  4. Oblig. Xbox 360 Note by Stonesand · · Score: 3, Informative

    FWIW, the Premium version of the 360 comes with the highest-end cable: it has component out, composite out, and optical out. A really great cable! :)

  5. Re:Oh noes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Does the 360 ship with a component cable?"

    Yes it does, My Sony Fanboi. And its also $100 cheaper. Any more questions?

  6. Re:Pinch Those Pennies! Ouch! by be-fan · · Score: 4, Informative

    To be fair, the word "digital" should be used carefully in such situations. Digital != Bit-Accurate, as geeks tend to assume. Digital protocols often to include error correction layers, but that is not necessarily the case. DVI, the underlying protocol for HDMI, does not include any error correction, at all. It's more resistant to errors due to noise, because its uses differential signaling, but its not immune to bit-errors. Thus, given DVI's relatively high sigaling rate (165 MHz), cable quality might be an issue with very long runs.

    It should also be noted that the traditional "digital" signals people like to argue over, for example SPDIF, also include no error correction whatsoever.

    That is not to say that there is any merit in oxygen-free copper for HDMI cables, but rather that the world is a lot more complex than knee-jerkers on both sides of this particular argument realize.

    --
    A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
  7. Re:Pinch Those Pennies! Ouch! by 0rbit4l · · Score: 3, Informative

    Have you checked out svideo.com for HDMI cables? I don't work for them or anything - just a happy customer. I got a 6' cable that works just fine with my 1080i/720p set and my Toshiba DVD player for less than $20 shipped to my house. Paying extra money for digital cables is stupid beyond belief.

  8. Re:Bastards! by GoodOmens · · Score: 3, Informative

    I bought a $21 cable from blue jeans cable. The specs are the same as monster cable ..... Check their cable spec pdf's if you don't believe it. Its nice, thick and has gold plated connectors. Anyone who is into high end audio/video will tell you Monster sucks. Just check the cables of a "real" pro install (IE paying a decent company to hook your equipment up) and see what they use ....

  9. Re:My Dryer by Bassman59 · · Score: 3, Informative
    Big deal. The dryer that came with my washing machine didn't even come with a POWER CABLE! How freakin' stupid is that??

    The mains connection for your dryer may vary with local code requirements. Putting four moderately-expensive cables in with the appliance to cover all of the bases doesn't make any sense.

    -a
  10. Re:Bastards! by fujiman · · Score: 5, Informative

    One time, at my friends house, he had a really short length of digital cable and a really strong signal, and the 1s were being rounded up to 2s!