200°

GameStop Universal Premium HDMI Cable For XBOX 360

Just thought I would share what I found while surfin the gamestop website.

Read Full Story >>
gamestop.com
jedicurt6260d ago

a great idea by MS, cause now you will have to buy their special HDMI cable for your 360, unlike PS3 which will allow you to use any hdmi cable. very smart marketing decision to line your pockets and not your competitor's.

TheMART6260d ago

Actually yep you're right. It's a special connection, so a special cable. All HDMI cables are expensive though.

The best thing is: Sony needs to put in special HDMI ports, while 360's port is just a digital out that can be used for whatever cable is on the market.

Like it can do 1080p now, it gets a HDMI cable and actually it might be included with the HD-DVD add-on.

D3acon6260d ago

Nope, not all are expensive. In fact there are some as low as $7. The thing with HDMI, that people should know, is that either the cable works or it doesn't. People will pay anything, it's $200 so it must be good. Monster is ripping people off, and so is Microsoft if they're charging $100.

Don't be fooled, the cheaper HDMI cables produce the same signal at the same quality.

power of Green 6260d ago (Edited 6260d ago )

Not cheap. Built Ford tough. You cant really tell the difference unless you compare on a really big HDTV, Radio shack $40 HDMI vs Monster $150 HDMI, i say Monster has a slight edge, it has deeper Black level. People are paying for the way HDMI cables are built not so much the BS you pointed out that everybody knows.

Antan6260d ago

Mart said this figure a few days ago but obviously can accept the fact hdmi cables can be bought for coppers/cents..........yes there are expensive cables BUT, the average jonny will quick happily have a cheap as chips cable.

blackmagic6259d ago

HDMI is a digital sytem not analogue. Ones and zeros are the only thing it carries. Either the cable functions or it doesn't. Saying a monster hdmi cable produces deeper blacks is like saying that the number one is way deeper on a monster cable than on a generic cable. It simply doesn't make sense.

Resistance is the enemy here with these high frequency transmissions. The resistance goes up with frequency and a lot of data needs to flow down an hdmi cable to support 1080p60. A generic cable may be fine at short lengths but at longer lengths you may have trouble supporting even 1080p24.

Of course, as with all things, you need to avoid the companies that are making marvelous snake oil claims for a premium price or companies that promise the world at rock bottom prices.

As with all things, you get what you pay for to a point but after that you are just a sucker.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 6259d ago
Marriot VP6260d ago

100 bucks is out of the question, that's too much. VGA is 30, HDMI should be 50

power of Green 6260d ago

A good sheilded HDMI cable that won't break cost around $80 to $150. Plus you don't know what the connector includes, do you. It could have extra features ect(AUDIO ports, EXTRA HDMI PORT). Why would MS try and ripp people off when they sell stuff at a loss to try and keep everything as cheap as possible.

kmis876260d ago

What about the $100 20gb hdd. I'm pretty sure they're making a profit on that ripoff.

Marriot VP6260d ago

That price will be decreased around when the PS3 comes out. Mark my word on that.

But still it did make them alot of money, i'm no fanboy

xboxlj6260d ago

I brought two hdmi cables for my comcast hd/dvr receiver over a year ago. The 6' cables were around $8 a piece and they work perfect till this day. I originally had a $90 cable from Fry's (phillips brand I believe) and I saw no difference between it and the cheap cable.

blackmagic6259d ago (Edited 6259d ago )

Consoles are sold at a loss but accessories are bread and butter. They are profit makers.

A good rule of thumb for decent functional hdmi cables is to expect to pay about $10/ft but this is of course skewed here since one end is a multiport so it is kind of specialized.

There are only 2 reasons for hdmi on 360 at present.
1 - 1080p game support. At present there aren't any games that support this resolution.
2 - 1080p movie support. Component will carry a 1080p signal so if you have a native 1080 set check if it will accept 1080p component input. Also, the 360 does not have hdcp hardware so at present it can't support ICT implementation. This cable will not solve this problem. ICT isn't enabled right now and shouldn't be until after the 360 life cycle.

Sooo... this means the only reason to buy this cable after the HD-DVD add-on release or 1080 game support) is if you own a 1080 set that only accepts full 1080p over hdmi. I'm guessing this represents precious few people. I would wait to see how things unfold over the next year.

dantesparda6255d ago (Edited 6255d ago )

You just hit the nail on the head. They take a loss on the console and mind you that is only really true for about the 1st yr, then the price of all the parts come down, plus through cost cutting, they eventually bring it down to the point where they are straight up making profit of the system), but they make all the profits on the accessories. Controllers, HD's, cables, games, memory cards, etc. However, I have to say that the Xbox1 is the exception to this rule, but its their own fault for making bad licensing agreements

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 6255d ago
drewdrakes6260d ago

Thank god, someone tell C-net and everyone else to shut up now. And if you really want HDMI, you will fork out 100 bucks for it. Me, im extremely happy with 1080i, so ill stick with it.