Cable hoax

What with the new crop of summer movies making it to DVD this fall and winter, including Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and Wall-E, I decided that I wanted to get them in the best possible format. Considering that HD DVD is dead, that means that it's time for a Blu-Ray player.
After much thinking and debating, I figured that the best move was to get the Playstation 3. I figured that was a good move because not only does it have a Blu-Ray player, but it costs about the same as the stand-alone players. Considering that Kirsti and I have also been wanting the game Rock Band, and we don't own any other gaming console, I decided that getting the PS3 was a no-brainer - especially considering that Best Buy was offering 18 months interest-free financing. (I have the money to pay it all in one shot - but why not let my money sit in savings and pay the same amount in small increments over time?)

The nice thing about Rock Band is that it gives Kirsti and I something to do together, as we're often in separate rooms while one watches TV and the other is on the computer. We just played for quite a bit, and we were having a blast.

Anyway, the point of this whole thing is that when I was at Best Buy today, I saw next to the PS3s the HDMI cable that one would need to buy with it (it's not included) in order to get a true HD picture. How much does that cable cost? 99 fricken' dollars, that's what.

There was a couple moaning about that, but I gave them a heads up and said, "Go online - you'll get it a lot cheaper." I know this because I already bought one, and I doubt that I paid more than 15 bucks for it. I'm going to need a new one if I don't want to constantly swap with my HD DVD player, so I checked it out on Amazon and guess what? You can get one with shipping for about 5 bucks.

I'll wait while you pick your jaw up off the floor. That's right. The cable that costs $99 at Best Buy costs $5 online (perhaps even less). Now, of course, it's not the same brand, and the employees at Best Buy will no doubt try and convince you that you NEED these premium, gold-plated blah blah blah cables. Do yourself a favor and do some online research - a cable is a cable - and now that we're digital, that's more true than ever.

It's quite possible that the ones you can get online aren't as durable, but what are you planning on doing with it? Jumping rope? I don't know about you, but I just hook mine up and that's the end of its exciting existence.

Don't feel too bad if you got suckered. Just don't let it happen again - and don't let your friends fall for it.