Coaxial vs. HDMI

[ThatPrsn]

After finding many coaxial wires for $4, that as I can see from my HDTV is giving my great 1080i signal of various HD networks, why is an HDMI cable that does the same thing cost upwards of 5 times as much?

I realize the fact you can't exactly connect more than 1 coaxial cable to your TV, I was just curious after putting up with paying an unbelievable amount.

 

[imported_Tick]

Because they can. Everyone already has Coax, so the market is small. Almost no one has HDMI, and it's the next big thing, so the market is huge. Their is no reason other than that, at least as far as I can tell. I can't imagine HDMI costing more than 1.5x as much to make.

 

[Genx87]

Doesnt it have something to do with DRM?

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: ThatPrsn
After finding many coaxial wires for $4, that as I can see from my HDTV is giving my great 1080i signal of various HD networks, why is an HDMI cable that does the same thing cost upwards of 5 times as much?

I realize the fact you can't exactly connect more than 1 coaxial cable to your TV, I was just curious after putting up with paying an unbelievable amount.

Coax is cheap because it's really simple to make. But the gear to encode/decode QAM over coax is considerably more complicated and expensive than the all-digital stuff that handles DVI/HDMI. It also has problems with interference in some environments.

B&M retail stores charge obscene amounts for DVI/HDMI cables. You can get them online for much less. It's going to cost more than coaxial cable just because it's actually more complex to make.

Doesnt it have something to do with DRM?

You can use HDCP over any digital connection. HDMI is just the most common one (Firewire being the other big one that uses it.)

 

[icarus4586]

Yeah, the only real reason that HDMI cables are so expensive is because they're new. That, and a lot of places overcharge for cables no matter what type.

 

[sjwaste]

Cheaper cables: http://www.monoprice.com

No, I'm not a shill, I just read Hot Deals a lot.

They also have a $30 wall mount for LCD/Plasma if you were wondering why those are way overpriced everywhere. Great site.

 

[ThatPrsn]

Only one person answered my question, which was mainly, why don't DVD players use coaxial, seeing as it is so much cheaper. And apparently it's because the conversion takes a lot of money, but what I wonder, is couldn't they have the DVD player put out that signal, and have there be no conversion within the DVD player by changing DVD's so that they give out the pre-converted signal. But I guess that would mean that they wouldn't work in computers, quite the perdicament...

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: ThatPrsn
Only one person answered my question, which was mainly, why don't DVD players use coaxial, seeing as it is so much cheaper. And apparently it's because the conversion takes a lot of money, but what I wonder, is couldn't they have the DVD player put out that signal, and have there be no conversion within the DVD player by changing DVD's so that they give out the pre-converted signal. But I guess that would mean that they wouldn't work in computers, quite the perdicament...

...DVDs are digital. Coaxial cable carries analog signals. DVI uses a raw digital feed. Most HDTVs are digital. It makes very little sense to use an analog carrier in the middle, and adds a considerable amount of complexity.