$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.

Proprietary connector?

[interiot]

Several people have mentioned that you might be able to use a standard HDMI cable to connect the PS3? Is that really true? No console I'm aware of has ever had standard connections on the back.... they've always used a single proprietary connector, and forced you to buy a more expensive cable specific to the conections you wanted. eg. it's not going to be cheap.

Re:Pinch Those Pennies! Ouch!

[Yvan256]

I guarantee the HDMI cable will be sold for between 30 and 40 bucks.

I had to pay 60$CAD for the components cable for my Gamecube. And the store had to go through a import-specialized reseller to get it as it's only available in Japan (for some unknow reason).

You wouldn't believe how good Metroid Prime 2 looks in progressive mode via that component cable. On my Toshiba 36" CRT TV, anyway.

Re:Pinch Those Pennies! Ouch!

[BalanceOfJudgement]

If you think there's no difference between $50 headphones and $100 headphones - I'm talking about MSRP here, not sharper image markup - then you're sadly mistaken. Maybe you're one of those people who can't hear the degradation in a 128kbps mp3 as compared to the CD or something.

I could never tell the difference until I started doing work in signal processing. Prior to that, I simply didn't know what an artifact sounded like, so I wasn't aware I was hearing them.

It's kind of like how Westerners generally can't hear the nuances in Asian languages - they're there, but you just don't know what to listen for until someone teaches you.

1080p

[ScaryFroMan]

I think the main issue here is that despite all of Sony's posturing about 1080p being the future of gaming, they aren't letting people into that "future" without first, $100 more, and second, the cost of an HDMI cable, which is going to mean at least another $100 for most people, despite what you can find online.

And this is especially true because although the component spec is capable of 1080p, the playstation won't do it.

Re:Bastards!

[bigdavesmith]

I bet it came with a power cable though.

From my experiences, when a company makes a product, they tend to include the cables you need to operate the device, not every imaginable connection possible. While your Dell might not come with a serial cable, it's very likely that if you go purchase a serial device, it will include a cable.

The added price of the cable is just another part of the purchase, the same way I had to spend extra on the 'hi-def' cable for my X-Box, additional memory for my N64, additional controllers for my SuperNintendo, and additional games for any system. It's nothing new. If you want to expand your experience beyond what is in the box, you're generally going to have to buy more.

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.

Re:Pinch Those Pennies! Ouch!

[faust2097]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is a "gift" to retailers who need ways to pad out their overpriced bundles and get some margin on something that's going to take up lots of space and cause lots of hassles. It seems like overall Sony is taking a far less aggressive accessories strategy than anyone has before. Sony employees have gone on the record saying that it's going to support USB mass storage [read and write unlike the 360] and third-party wireless adaptors and the HD is upgradeable with any old 2.5" laptop drive.

Re:Pinch Those Pennies! Ouch!

[Danga]

Very interesting. I do have to say that while its nice that the PS3 may support any old USB mass storage device as well as wireless adapters, etc, this is a CABLE. Those other accessories actually deserve to be called accessories, but I do not think the HDMI cable, which is needed to get the absolute best experience possible, is an accessory. It is more of a necessity to anyone with a decent video setup and for the price of the PS3 I think a lot of people are going to be pissed off if the HDMI cable is not included.

Re:Bastards!

[jozeph78]

I'm not defending Monster by any lenght. They do make nice cables; however you can find the same thing for about 1/4th the cost else where.

Exactly... [bluejeanscable.com]

Re:Pinch Those Pennies! Ouch!

[Anonymous Coward]

Worng!

It's actually the new HDMI v1.3 with double the bandwith and billions of colors instead for millions ... About 99.99% of current HDMI sets are limited to HDMI 1.2 or earlier, which means 8-bit color - and thus most probably worse than analog component ...

The new Sony LCD series V2500 and X2500 are among the first on the market capable of HDMI v1.3 signalling ...