Went to Harvey Norman to waste some time in the afternoon with the little one.
Then I walked by one of those bargain bins and I almost died of laughter reading the tag. $78 for a Laser HDMI 3m cable.
Then I had another fit of laughter when I checked the website and the price on there was $79.95… For a saving of $1.95.
Needed to keep a straight face before I went to ask about hair straighteners for the missus.
TLDR Harvey is a rip off merchant for the uneducated.
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…and you won't believe what happened next!
See the bargain tricks this guy used, retailers hate him.
StopClickBait: He went somewhere else and brought a cheap one.
See the cable disrupting the $65 billion grocery industry
@WatchNerd: To Gerry Harvey.
Gerry said 'Thanks dude!" and used it to tie up his horse.
Next time bring two so he can use them as reins.
Stay at home mum's one weird trick to save money on HDMI cables!
What happened next was that Harvey Norman had a side-by-side display of their expensive HDMI vs cheap no name cables… except by cheap no-name cable they meant composite, not cheap no-name HDMI…
Gerry Harvey is such a drongo… He goes on A Current Affair and tells people to spend more money in Australia but 40 years ago, HE was the FIRST ONE to import washing machines and killed off the Australian washing machine manufacturing industry!
Also, I went on their online chat and pretended to be Gerry Harvey and I claimed A Current Affair were filming me and how well the online staff knew their stuff… the staff wee SO pleasant and chatty I thought 'WOW, they really care!', but when I told them it was just a joke they ended the online chat without a word!
Boo Gerry Harvey, BoooOOOO!
Also, I am glad to be back after being banned for a month! yay!
Just because he did something wrong doesn't mean he's not trying to redeem for that by protecting Australian jobs now.
Your actions with the online chat is a very bitter gesture.
I hope you somehow find a way to sooth your anger one day.
Not long ago I was in Harvey Norman and I overheard a salesman tell a lady who was declined for Interest Free that she could Flexirent the $900 worth of PS4 console/game package… Yep, so she would end up paying almost double and then give back the goods at the end of the 36-month lease period. What a scam, but a good one as Harvey Norman make full RRP on the games package & commission on Flexirent. You said he is trying to redeem himself?
His dodgy ways continue down the rotten business to this day and are even instilled into the staff. Next you might find Harvey Norman offering pay-day loans.
@hell0:
If the muppets can be fleeced, they will be. Never gonna stop.
It's up to the customer to decide what's a good deal or not. Some don't even care for good deals. For every Dick Smith or Gerry Harvey that retires, there's 100,000 ready to take their place, lined up (some of which are managing their businesses as we speak). Plus several million suckers that will trust them and suck up to them in order to attain one one-thousandth of what they've got.
Will never change.
Still a better story than Twilight.
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neil the MVP!
What was the old title?
Almost died today while at Harvey Norman…
Cringes
Almost died when I went into pancake parlour for a short stack
i don't get it.
Pancakes are expensive.
short stack is pancake?
Cut him some slack, he's a new student. :P
Only Victorians would get this one :D
Thanks for linking this. Im going to broden it.
This should be in the deals section lol :P
LOL, and it has 69 positive reviews??? Wow 69 idiots purchased this cable! That's ~ $US 700K of cables …
.. and by the way … HDMI 2.1 will be released soon and all the previous cables will be obsolete!
haha, read the reviews though. It will make more sense
Hahaha … thanks! Oh .. yes I know what you mean now! I should have read it first!
"After the purchase, my wife left me. That's why I gave it 5 stars."
Priceless!
Cheers
@vinni9284: If you liked that, read the reviews for the Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer =D
https://www.amazon.com/Hutzler-571-Banana-Slicer/dp/B0047E0E…
I bet if they advertised it in a 90% off sale for $1,050, some sucker would buy it!
why pay for shipping when you can fly your butler over in your private jet there to get it.
Because then I'll only have 37 butlers temporarily.
Have you seen the Q&A?!
Q: Please tell me these reviews are fake, are they?
A: Yes, they are humoristic respnses to enerrornous pricing. :)
Martin | 1 year ago
Q: Do people actually buy this?
A: I hope not
Ernesto C. | 7 months ago
Q: why did they make it so expensive?
A: Capitalism
Daniel Jones | 2 months ago
Q: Can I use it as a dog leash?
A: Yes, but only if they're a mixed breed. Otherwise they'll die from lead poisoning.
Dave | 1 month ago
I'm too afraid of losing video quality on my DVD player to not pay 78 bucks.
$80 for HDMI cables?
That's hardly normal !!
But, but you need Monster HDMI cables to get the true HD experience, Hardly Normals salesmen have explained this to me many times :P
True, I've been told this soooooo many times at Hardly Normal.
Oh who remembers/saw the side by side Monster HDMI comparison, where they had Blu-ray players connected to TV's one by a Monster HDMI cable and the other by a composite cable, and a sign misleading people in to thinking they where both using HDMI!!!!
Remember, the salesmen are well educated and have the customer's best interests at heart! A few years back I went in looking for a HTC M7. The ripper of a salesman brought the price down to $787 from $800. A ripping $13… which he continually assured me was cost price/what the store bought them for and they weren't making a profit off it. Love being treated like a pleb (Haven't stepped foot in a HN store for ~7years)
Hahah yeah.
I haven't bought anything from HN since 2011
Almost laughed when I looked art real estate today, then realised it's true
u laughed? i cried…
I've known people to pay for those $75 cables, it's a blatant ploy by HN to rip off unsuspecting customers. Who do not know better than the old gold cable RCA days, where it could make a difference to analog signals.
gold cable RCA days, where it could make a difference to analog signals.
Pfft. Slowed the corrosion down at bit.
Analogue singnals are prone to interference. In the professional world at least thicker cables provide more shielding minimising static/background hiss.
Well, we know that. What's the gold for then?
@D C: Gold is a better conductor of electricity and less prone to oxidization, for an analog signal that made a difference. HDMI is digital.
@Rumbaar: Fail on conductivity, (grudging) pass on oxidisation.
Copper conducts better than gold, and silver better than copper. Amazing how many people think gold is best when silver is.
Both copper & silver will oxidise, hence the gold coating that doesn't. Gold does not oxidise. Ever.
Gold actually increases cable resistance, making it worse for analogue signals. Digital won't care too much unless it's marginal in the first place.
There's a reason the audiofools buy silver cables.
Ok, the real reason is they're idiots as the 'silver' cables are usually silver-coated copper, but they don't mind that because they think the skin effect is significant for audio frequencies
What about composite cables VS RCA cables? They are the same thing, just different colours!
RCA is the plug type, and is the same as the composite cables. RCA cables are composite cables.
I stand corrected!
I meant the red, yellow and white plug cables (composite) versus the blue, green and red plug cables (component?
whatever they are called).
@John Kimble: Exactly the same thing cable-wise, just the colours (and number of plugs) are different.
@D C: Yeah that's what I mean, people probably went out and bought new cables because they thought they had to!
Actually, most composite cables are lower quality and have thinner red/white audio cables, whereas with component usually all 3 cables are thicker and have better shielding as they all carry video related signals.
Although really, any cable you get should be good quality, thick, with good shielding, sound is just as important.
@bargainsville: The ones I have look exactly the same width. On each one the three cables are fused together and split only 10 to 15 cm near the ends. Only difference appears to be the colours.
@cheesecactus: Doesn't get too excited by cable thickness as a measure of quality.
PVC is cheaper than copper wire (could even be aluminium wire!).
Yeah, that's what I meant really, that it should be a thicker cable in regards to the actual copper wires, plus good shielding, and good outer cable too.
But if your composite cables are all thin low quality including the video cable, then that really is a nasty product…. but still better than nothing! must remember to keep our first world problems in perspective :)
@D C: Component IS better than composite though, it can carry a higher resolution and provide progressive rather than interlaced video.
all thin low quality … then that really is a nasty product
They're the short 'one-use' cables you got with your DVD or whatever. Plug 'em in, they work ok, and then the plugs fall off when you try to unplug them. A true miracle of "just how cheap can we go?" thinking.
Component IS better than composite though
Yes, we know. The comment said:
Exactly the same thing cable-wise
I think that people are more likely to fall for it when they are buying an expensive TV because:
1. the cable price is a small fraction of the total
2. they are so eager to get the TV set up and working at home that judgement is impaired.
Sounds like a monster deal…
Lol some people really have no sense. $50k for cable.
I go scavenging at the local recycling centre for cables for $1 each.
The bits are the same going in as they are going out.
I go scavenging at the local recycling centre for cables for $1 each
Yea that's illegal in my council constituency - you get fined
I think you missed the paying part, they aren't illegally digging for cables then chucking a dollar where it was.
There is a local recycling centre that the public can visit?
Yeah you can find them. Normally run by contractors out of council recycling centres.
Harvey Norman needs to change or they'll do themselves out of business.
I online purchases a fetch to to replace our TiVo. Got a discount becuase HN did a deal with TiVo/fetch.
After they had my money foe about 6 weeks waiting for stock to arrive I headed in for the click and collect bit of the process. Took three separate click and collect counters to get to someone to give me one, and then I had to wait for him to print an invoice for me to take to the cashier so I could leave the shop with the new device while they emailed me a copy of the invoice.
I thought the whole idea of click and collect is that you rock up to the front counter and they hand it over.
I haven't shopped there for years, only went back becuase I 'had to'
Amazon price for a 3m HDMI 2.0 cable is ~$8.30, delivered. Hardly Normal's cheapest price is $30
If Gerry was going to be changing his model under the threat of some real competitionm he'd already be moving, but he's not. As for click and collect - nope, I want it delivered, tomorrow, or today. If I'm going to go to the store I expect to just pick it off the shelf.
Harvey Norman were borderline criminal. My mother (63 years old) went to get her Fetch replacement for her tivo. Because none of the kids are around she paid the fee for harvey norman staff to setup and install.
Well, later in the phone conversation she mentioned to me that the installer said the HDMI cable that came with the Fetch was crap, so the installer replaced it with a $75 one and charged her for it.
I honestly felt like going for a drive to Harvey Norman Albury and choking the guy with the HDMI cable to show him the quality of it. Still pisses me off
Happened to my colleagues in laws when they bought a plasma tv. Absolute crooks they are.
Same here with my mother, except it was JB. "the guy was really nice and helpful and he told me that the picture quality would be terrible without a $70 cable"
and the thing is the parents are so sold onto it that nothing can change their minds
probably a combination of not wanting to admit to getting conned and trusting an outsider more because parents always know better.
"No matter what, though, there is absolutely no picture or sound quality difference between a $3.50 cable and a $1,000 cable."
You making this up. Gerry harvey himself tells me otherwise.
The funny thing is Gerry doesnt even use computers in his office. He probably wouldnt know what a HDMI cable was to begin with.
I'm actually curious if this is true. the officeworks guy or bunnings (forgot which) was telling me the few bucks cable HDMI was just as good for HDMI (not ultra?) as any other cable? I think i was looking at an eb games ps4 4k cable ($20 somethign on sale last month) and the end conversations with either the OW guy or bunnings was picking up their sub $10 HDMI cables worked just as well and you woudln't notice quality?
Is it true, anyone care to vouch? i assume there's a reason you pay alot more for some brands and hdmi cables, surely like charging cables you get what you pay for?
HDMI cables are electrically similar to cat5/6 Ethernet local are network cables, but with different physical connectors. You rarely see LAN cables advertised with unscientific nonsense.
With an HDMI cable, it will most likely work or fail with a blank screen (and perhaps an error message on the display). I've never seen an HDMI cable have a degraded image, but I think it would be painfully obvious if it happened.
With analogue cables electrical interference and degradation could cause reduced colour accuracy, distortion and static. Cheap analog cables could produce a picture that was lower quality, but still watchable. Historically bad images were mostly due to bad antenna cables. Also early VCRs and video consoles were often connected to the TV via an RF converter into the antenna input as older TVs didn't have direct video input.
I think it's the memory of crappy images in the pre-digital era that let's people fall for the false advertising on expensive HDMI cables.
It's "a HDMI" we aren't American.
@simulacrum: According to most of the articles I read, it's a 50/50 split in pronunciation. "An HDMI" just sounds dumb, so I will continue to write "A HDMI"
The nature of digital signals is that if the physical and/or electrical characteristics of the cable are fine, then a $3 ebay cheapie will work just as fine as a high-end cable, video-wise and audio-wise.
Zero perceptible difference.
The nature of digital signals (again) means that if there is a problem with the physical side or electrical side of the cable, the error-correction can't keep up & the audio/visuals degrade horribly. Could show itself as blocks, pauses, blanking out, etc.
Much like poor digital reception on a TV.
Chances are you can do fine with a cheap cable. But there are always 'buts'. That said, all mine are from ebay & work fine. There are all kinds of extenders you can buy that use ethernet and so on….I have no need for them. I have no need for longer lengths either. So a simple short cable suits me fine and has worked fine.
I once did have a problem with the connector degrading on a cable I had. (rust?) I had video issues. Replaced it with another ebay cheapie I had laying about and all is good again.
Summary
Most cables are overpriced, aimed at the gullible (like most accessories). Sometimes HDMI cables can be bad. When they are good, they work just as well as any high-end cable. Often they are good and you can get away with buying a really cheap one.
i assume there's a reason you pay alot more for some brands and hdmi cables, surely like charging cables you get what you pay for?
With charging cables the thickness of the copper wire really matters, more copper = less resistance = more current so your phone charges faster.
With digital if enough of the signal gets to the other end then usually it's fine so copper thickness ain't as bit a deal. Better cables will have thicker wiring to increase reliability and have better general build quality.
Think of network cables where the older ones don't have that rubber hood on the end, they still work just as well until they fall out of the socket as the clip was broken off. Build quality for the win!
HDMI & networks use a technique called twisted-pair, this means if you get interference it tends to get cancelled out in the wiring itself. You still do get interference so HDMI has shielding as well, networks don't bother as unlike HDMI if a packet get corrupted then they can ask for it to be resent, HDMI doesn't do that.
HDMI runs at a higher bit-rate than networking does as well so is restricted to shorter cable runs, the shorter the better. That's why long HDMI cables are a bit rare and higher priced comparatively (need thicker wires + more shielding), and also why you simply can't plug two short ones together or why those switch boxes cause problems.
… or you can buy this RCA 3m cable for $12360!!!
https://www.stereophonic.com.au/atlas-asimi-ultra-analogue-i…
Now … that is really going to ensure that the finest current will travel at a very long distance of 3m!!! lol
Bargain. Quick post it in the deals section.
Post is extra!
And .. good luck if Auspost can deliver to the correct location and on time!
Serious WTF does that mean the electrons in this wire all flow the right way, with no stray electrons.
I wouldn't listen to 24bit/192kHz WAVs using anything else, the difference is night and day! I do not use FLAC due to the lossless compression causing artifacts. Some fools even store their WAV's as zips which is even worse for the sound than FLAC!
I am sure that to the un-educated this sounds impressive, but FLAC compression does not cause artifacts!
FLAC reproduces the sound exactly the same as the original, uncompressed source.
Another click bait title….