$600 PS3 Ships Without HDMI Cable

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.

Comments

Bastards!

[wfberg]

I heard they're not even including cables for the controllers on some of the new consoles!

Re:Bastards!

[fujiman]

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!

This is not news.

[casualsax3]

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.

Re:This is not news.

[badasscat]

But if so few people have HDMI capable TV's ... er, why support it in the first place?

For the same reason the PS1 and PS2 supported s-video.

And btw, the PS1, PS2 and Xbox didn't come with s-video cables either, even though they supported it. The point is you put the cable in the box that's basically the lowest common denominator supported by all TV's, and then if someone wants to upgrade it, they can.

There's also the obvious question of if you're going to pay $600 for a console, would you rather Sony put $600 worth of actual machine into the box, or $600 worth of add-on junk that a lot of people aren't even going to be able to use?

But this is really nothing new, and I have no idea why it's become such a story the past couple days (it was on Joystiq too, and probably other sites) other than the fact that it's become de rigeur to bash the PS3 lately. Consoles never come with the best cable; they come with the cable supported by the most TV's.

The bigger, more important thing to note is that the PS3 has a standard HDMI port, meaning you can buy any HDMI cable for it. Why no bashing of the Xbox 360 for requiring a proprietary, MS-licensed cable at an inflated price?

btw, the PS3 will come with component cables, not just composite. Another sign of bias on the part of the submitter here...

Re:This is not news.

[ArsonSmith]

That is a really freaking heavy car.

so for $600...

[konigstein]

You get a console.* *Some assembly required; batteries cables and other accessories including a TV, controllers, and in limited situations console not included; By purchasing this console you agree to indenture your first born to work in sony's sweatshops...

In other news...

[MojoBox]

Sony has also announced the 60Gig version comes with the -abytes sold seperately.

Re:Pinch Those Pennies! Ouch!

[Danga]

Actually you're 100% wrong. It's a completely normal HDMI port, look at any picture of it and you'll see that. It also has a normal optical port so whether your taste runs to the $2 monoprice cable or the $6000 Nordost one you'll be able to connect it without giving Sony an extra dime.

You are correct, however while you and I and the rest of the Slashdot readers realize this is the case I would bet the average consumer for the PS3 is not aware that just any cable will work. If Sony releases a cable that is sold right next to the PS3's (I would be very surprised if they did not) then from my experience most people would end up getting that cable since it says Sony on it and appears it is special made for the PS3.

They will probably end up charging a ridiculous price for this "extra" accessory that should be included with the base system and they will probably make a decent amount of money off of it. It is sad they decided not to include the cable that will give the user the best possible experience. Even if the user doesn't currently have a monitor with HDMI input it would still be nice to have the cable ready once a future upgrade is made.