HDMI Cable and Consumer Rights Not Included

Why in the hell doesn't the HDMI cable come packaged with the HD DVD or Blu-ray player?

That's a rhetorical question.

It's also a stupid question: if Sony and Toshiba can get chumps like me to buy the vitally necessary cable separately, than why not?

This trend of "cables sold separately" started around the time of the first DVD players. I remember bringing my first Sony DVD player home and quickly discovering that I had no cables to connect it to my TV and AV receiver. Another trip back to the store, another $50 worth of audio and video cables, and I was finally able to get the stupid thing to work.

It's consumer gauging crap like this that makes me want to chuck an HD DVD player through a corporate office window. These cables seem to get more and more expensive with every gadget iteration. Deservedly so? I bet not. For some reason, a six-foot HDMI cables averages $50, 16% of the HD DVD player itself. I doubt seriously there is $50 worth of materials or labor in that cable. Rather, it's a necessary component an American consumer needs to get their DVD player to work, so pay it or use that new toy as a paper weight. Better yet, return the player, stick to the DVD format, and give Toshiba and Sony the bird.

At least some stores advertise the cable isn't included; that tiny, but horribly important, detail is hardly obvious from the players' packaging. Yesterday, I walked into Best Buy and saw a big stack of Blu-ray players strategically placed smack dab in the middle of the entrance. A big yellow sign announced that the HDMI cable you need to hook the player up to your TV is NOT included, but that Best Buy carries them for "your convenience." If only Sony and Toshiba were so forthright. But then again, I'm sure Best Buy gets an ear full, not the manufacturers, when some poor slob comes back to the store complaining that he can't hook the player to his TV.

But honestly, this crap needs to work out-of-the-box. There's absolutely no reason why American consumers should have to pay what amounts to a hidden fee on high-end electronics like HD TVs and DVD players. If the HDMI cable really is worth 16% of the DVD player, then package it with the player and jack the price up to reflect that. Don't make consumers guess and track and wander aimlessly trying to get their high-end electronics to work. The entire affair is complicated enough as it is.