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  • TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 5 2006 11:30 AM

PS3 Will Ship Without HDMI Cable

Submitted by WilWheaton

Edited by WilWheaton

Tags: PS3, next gen gaming

After shelling out over $600 for a PS3, which is specifically marketed as a high definition system, consumers will also have to buy their own HDMI cable, so they can experience PS3 games and blu-ray DVDs in all their 1080p glory, because the PS3 will ship without an HDMI cable.

North American gamers planning to purchase a 60GB PlayStation 3 will need to purchase a HDMI cable if they want to see those fancy graphics at their finest.

That's 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.

It seems a little ridiculous to exclude an HDMI cable in the 60GB PS3, since it's the model that will have HD output (the 20GB model does not), but it actually makes financial sense for Sony, as stevo777 at Slashdot points out:

I'm thinking they finally realised that market penetration still isn't that high for 1080p TVs, or any other Hi-defs for that matter. Took a cue from Nintendo, probably. It would be a huge waste of money if you sold 3 million PS3's at an additional loss of the 6 bucks (18 million loss!) for the cable and maybe only 200,000 of those buyers can use them at release. So if they sell those 200,000 cables at a $15 profit, then that's 3 million back in their pockets (a buck for every system sold).

I'm sure Sony will, of course, offer "official" HDMI cables at a significant markup, as will retailers. If you're looking to pick one up, though, you can buy one for as little as nine bucks online.

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Comments
jake_lex

jake_lex

Lexington, KY
February 2003

SEP 05, 2006 09:15 PM

brit1rawk2 said:
"you can get one for as little as nine bucks..."

uh...yeah. And you can buy a black and white 5 inch tv to play it on for 30 bucks, but it doesn't mean it'll look good.



Honestly, if I hooked one up with the $9 cable, and another with a $100 Monster cable, and you can tell a difference, your senses are far more acute than mine.

Expensive cables are a rip-off. Especially with digital connections.

Quirky

Quirky

Birmingham, AL
October 2005

SEP 05, 2006 11:02 PM

I'm buying a Wii. Fuck all this spending money shit.

ikaruga

ikaruga

United Kingdom
May 2006

SEP 06, 2006 02:35 AM

Wii's looking like the only console that I'll actually buy at launch.

particularly seeing as sony have put the european launch back to march

noirkiss3

noirkiss3

Minneapolis, MN
April 2006

SEP 06, 2006 02:44 AM

remeber the good old days
console
cables
two controls
two games
and a gun
fuck they juice the shit out of us now mad

Kirkduk

Kirkduk

United Kingdom
September 2006

SEP 06, 2006 08:46 AM

Well the shit's hit the fan now with the worlwide launch, Europe is once again an afterthought. Can't say i'm completely shocked..........except those who live in NA and Japan will only get 400.000 and 100.000 units to go around, i suppose this is Nintendo's chance to get in there and take advantage.

Domo_Kun

Domo_Kun

Rockford, IL
March 2005

SEP 06, 2006 09:32 AM

mydogfarted said:
This is no different from the release of the PS2 which only came with composite video connections (Yellow, Red, White). For those of us with a TV that only had RF/Cable in, you had to shell out $30 for an RF adapter. I'm pretty sure that was the same for my XBox and GameCube as well.


That's because RF adapters have been obsoleted by RCA, S-Video, RGB, DVI, and fibre optics.

It's the same reason why no computers ship with 5.5" floppy drives, and very few ship with 3.5" floppies anymore.

jake_lex said:

brit1rawk2 said:
"you can get one for as little as nine bucks..."

uh...yeah. And you can buy a black and white 5 inch tv to play it on for 30 bucks, but it doesn't mean it'll look good.



Honestly, if I hooked one up with the $9 cable, and another with a $100 Monster cable, and you can tell a difference, your senses are far more acute than mine.

Expensive cables are a rip-off. Especially with digital connections.


I disagree. I can tell the difference. Even with digital connections. Especially with digital connections, in certain instances. if there is interference (like crossed cables), I've seen that it tends to show up worse on digital connections than analog ones.

I'm boycotting Sony. I'm also boycotting Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, because of the ridiculous DRM that has been incorporated into the technology. I'm going to boycott Hollywood as well, and resort to just downloading the movies I want to see.

I reccomend that everyone who actually cares about fair use rights boycott Blu-Ray and HD-DVD as well. This DRM crap is outrageous, and we should not be expected to give up fair use rights to the entertainment that we purchase licenses to.

FridgeMagnet

FridgeMagnet

Chicago, IL
November 2004

SEP 06, 2006 10:06 AM

hadees said:

mydogfarted said:
This is no different from the release of the PS2 which only came with composite video connections (Yellow, Red, White). For those of us with a TV that only had RF/Cable in, you had to shell out $30 for an RF adapter. I'm pretty sure that was the same for my XBox and GameCube as well.

None of these companies make money on the consoles, it's all the "nickel and dime" crap where the money is (controllers, games, cables, etc), not to mention licensing fees to all the third party makers. I'm not sure if it is still true, but Nintendo used to require developers to pay them to package their games.



But with the RF cable they were screwing over their lower income users. Not providing a HDMI cable they are screwing over their high end users who most likely will spend a lot of money. This might not stop them from buying the PS3 but still do you really want to fuck around with the big spenders and early adopters.



Early adopters, by definition, will know that they can get the cable on line for cheap, or not care and spend the $29.99 to get one. This is a non story.

Domo_Kun

Domo_Kun

Rockford, IL
March 2005

SEP 06, 2006 12:30 PM

FridgeMagnet said:

hadees said:

mydogfarted said:
This is no different from the release of the PS2 which only came with composite video connections (Yellow, Red, White). For those of us with a TV that only had RF/Cable in, you had to shell out $30 for an RF adapter. I'm pretty sure that was the same for my XBox and GameCube as well.

None of these companies make money on the consoles, it's all the "nickel and dime" crap where the money is (controllers, games, cables, etc), not to mention licensing fees to all the third party makers. I'm not sure if it is still true, but Nintendo used to require developers to pay them to package their games.



But with the RF cable they were screwing over their lower income users. Not providing a HDMI cable they are screwing over their high end users who most likely will spend a lot of money. This might not stop them from buying the PS3 but still do you really want to fuck around with the big spenders and early adopters.



Early adopters, by definition, will know that they can get the cable on line for cheap, or not care and spend the $29.99 to get one. This is a non story.


As we've seen with the Xbox360 debacle, early adopters aren't always the brightest crayons in the box...

Sticks

Sticks

United Kingdom
June 2011

SEP 06, 2006 12:56 PM

EDIT: Deleted seeing as 2 people already made the same point about the UK launch window. blush

Akrasia

Akrasia

Ireland
August 2004

SEP 06, 2006 03:50 PM

the eu launch for ps3 has been pushed back to march 07. typical sony bastards

FridgeMagnet

FridgeMagnet

Chicago, IL
November 2004

SEP 07, 2006 10:23 AM

Robert_Smith said:

FridgeMagnet said:

hadees said:

mydogfarted said:
This is no different from the release of the PS2 which only came with composite video connections (Yellow, Red, White). For those of us with a TV that only had RF/Cable in, you had to shell out $30 for an RF adapter. I'm pretty sure that was the same for my XBox and GameCube as well.

None of these companies make money on the consoles, it's all the "nickel and dime" crap where the money is (controllers, games, cables, etc), not to mention licensing fees to all the third party makers. I'm not sure if it is still true, but Nintendo used to require developers to pay them to package their games.



But with the RF cable they were screwing over their lower income users. Not providing a HDMI cable they are screwing over their high end users who most likely will spend a lot of money. This might not stop them from buying the PS3 but still do you really want to fuck around with the big spenders and early adopters.



Early adopters, by definition, will know that they can get the cable on line for cheap, or not care and spend the $29.99 to get one. This is a non story.


As we've seen with the Xbox360 debacle, early adopters aren't always the brightest crayons in the box...



Absolutely right, early adopters don't give a shit about doing the smart ot prudent thing, they just want the newest shit first.

mydogfarted

mydogfarted

Oakland, NJ
June 2003

SEP 07, 2006 11:12 AM

aegies said:
if it comes with component hookups, then that will be more than enough for virtually everyone. sony has caused their own problem here considering their steadfast insistence that the hd era doesn't start "until we say it does, with 1080p and hdmi", but in the land of reality, a 720p or 1080i signal over component is an hd output. i'm completely willing to call bullshit on sony, but this isn't that huge a deal, and the hdmi output on the console uses the same standard as any other device.



Good point. How many people have HD monitors that don't have an HDMI connection? A lot of the better non-HD monitor/TVs, like my Sony Wega, have and benefit from component connections. Not to mention all the EDTV (480p) owners who HAD to have a flat screen TV but couldn't afford an HDTV. They are probably on the lower end of the early adopters. Don't forget that many brats will get these for Christmas after Mommy and Daddy spend $1000 on eBay because their lil' snookums has to have it. They are probably still recovering from the financial beating they took getting an XBox when they came out!

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