Kogan offers free HDMI cables to 'cut the cable con'

[Jay]

It's time to cut the cable con.

When you buy a TV from JB, you will be offered hideously expensive accessories such as HDMI cables. These cables are sold with absolutely ridiculous markups, many multiples of the actual cost of the items.

JB are trying to trick people into thinking they need a $200 cable after buying a FULL HD TV. This is simply not the case. You shouldn't be spending more than $10 on an HDMI cable!
Here's an example of the Cable Con:

http://www.kogan.com.au/media/uploads/pureav-1.0m-$199.jpg

In a bid to end this dodgy practice, and bring cable prices down to their proper levels, Kogan is now offering FREE HDMI CABLES to anyone who has bought a TV at JB Hi-Fi in 2011. We'll even pay for the shipping!

When you buy a Full HD TV, you need an HDMI cable to take full advantage of the great resolution on offer. What JB Hi-Fi aren't telling you is that HDMI is a digital cable. It deals with ones and zeroes -- not like the analogue cables of yesteryear. This means there is no difference to the picture quality you will receive whether you use Kogan's $3 cable, or the ones that JB Hi-Fi will happily sell you for an exorbitant $199.

At Kogan, we think it?s extremely unfair for someone who shells out their hard-earned money on a new TV to be shafted on cables and accessories because of a deliberate misinformation campaign by the big retailers.

The Kogan HDMI cable we're giving away is HDMI version 1.4, meaning it is future-proof for transmitting 3D TV, can carry an Ethernet signal, and is gold-plated.

If you?ve purchased a TV from JB HiFi, you can claim your FREE Kogan cable and help expose the JB Hi-Fi Cable Con, by simply emailing proof of your purchase to [email protected] before March 31, 2011.

Full Terms & Conditions for this giveaway are available here: Terms and Conditions
Cheers,
The Kogan Team
Prices of HDMI Cables^

Kogan Offers FREE HDMI Cables in Bid to 'Cut the Cable Con'

[grandinferno]

I'd say this subsidises things like dirt cheap blurays and DVDs. Ah well.

[Harbinger]

HDMI cable scam is the best con going around.

[grandinferno]

I have had this argument with so many people. Especially at work.

[rec]

$199? We had cables for as much as $600 at Myer when HDTV first went large. Disgusting.

[mepm]

they need to make their money somewhere - tvs have next to no profit in them anymore the market is too competetive.
9 times out of 10 the tvs that are in catalogues lose them money, so add ons are their bread and butter.

but still no more than $10 is a bit bs, that would depend on the length you need and the brand that is acquirable. easy enough to say it should only be no more than 10 but retail pricing is different to online pricing - in most cases the retailers dont pay less than $10 for the cable brands people want either.

you can also get decent budget hdmi cables retail for less than $20, you dont need to take the first suggestion of cable its not like they are forcing you to otherwise you cant have the tv - just ask for a cheaper one. might cost the retailer say $12 and they still make a sizable profit which is fair enough.

[ZeReaper]

I work at JB so if people would like to know our cost price on some of the cables tell me the brand and model. $10 is a bit extreme I only know of one brand of HDMI cable that is that cheap we stock and I personally would not buy it. You really do pay for quality and if you want to pay next to nothing then you get a rubbish brand and poorly made cable its as simple as that. If you want gold plated quality cables Im sorry but it's not going to happen at those prices you'll be getting bronzed components that little Sanchee has made in his sweatshop by melting rubber on it for insulation.

[rec]

Gold plating makes absolutely no different to HDMI cable throughout quality; it's a digital signal, not analogue.

[grandinferno]

The only downside to cheap HDMI cables is that mine falls out every time I even slightly move my HTPC case. :\

ZeReaper, they're a rip off. There's no argument. Floor cost is not what JB buys it for btw...

[Harbinger]

I bought a bunch of 3m cables off ebay for $5 each, delivered. They work fine

and as the "Gold plating" hasn't rusted, it might even be legit.


Used to be you could get a cheap ($15) hdmi cable at Jaycar or Bunnings, but I think they've gotten in on the scam lately, $40 odd minimum sort of prices.
It's a strange sort of collaboration going on really, it's not price fixing in bulk, just people watching Harvey Norman sell the damn things to idiots for $100+ and going, wow I need to get in on this.

[Lothar]

The only thing gold plated will do over conventional copper or aluminium tags on the cable will affect tarnishing. Gold is one of the only metals that will not react with air. It does not affect the frequency responce of the ones and zeros. And the resistance of the gold tag may be slightly better or worse but your not putting more than 5v over it so no big deal anyway los of signal is pooftinths of nothing.

You will and can see there is no difference between any digital cable unless the contacts are fucked and this is probally a 5 or 10 year old cable.

[chad]

Though to get technical it is still an analog signal, the digital data needs to undergo a phase-shift keying to analog, then over the hdmi it goes, that hits the receiver that converts it back to digital packets. Though the cable can be damaged or bad connection that can result in analog signal degrading that the decoder cannot determine if the phase is a 0 or 1. Normally if the cable gets to this stage you will have no picture at all and you can just throw it out. Though most modern day hdmi hardware interfaces have been engineered that they can lose packets and still maintain the video

[morge]

Most of these cables are more expensive than the professional video cables I use for work. I've seen HDMI cable at JB hifi that are more expensive per meter than fibre triax. I can understand spending a bit more for analog cable but most the time these expenisives "consumer" brands are about the same quality as the cheep consumer brands, I've seen the same timing issue on expensive consumer cables as I've seen on cheep consumer cables.

[Harbinger]

Though to get technical it is still an analog signal, the digital data needs to undergo a phase-shift keying to analog, then over the hdmi it goes, that hits the receiver that converts it back to digital packets. Though the cable can be damaged or bad connection that can result in analog signal degrading that the decoder cannot determine if the phase is a 0 or 1.

To get technical, you're wrong.

in laymans terms, you're an idiot.

[chad]

screw it