Radioshack, You're on Notice
What. The. Fuck. I've been a avid user and advocate of the last do-it-yourself electronics retail store for years. I've gone in to get equipment for projects and been offered jobs. I've struck up a relationship with the manager of a store that got me all sorts of feel-goodness. So I ask you, Radioshack, why hast thou forsaken me? Seriously. What the fuck?
So, here's the deal. I've been a man of many electronic components for years. I haven't had to actually go to a store to purchase cabling for my TV set up in... we'll say 10 years to not be silly, but it's probably closer to twice that. Really. (WARNING! TECHNOBABBLE AHEAD!!! WARNING!!!) But, on the occasion that I've needed to get a RCA -> 1/8in Stereo cable or some other less-common (such as two mono 1/4in -> 1/8 in stereo or somesuch) Radioshack has always been a safe haven of cheap-ass cabling. Until yesterday. Yesterday I decided to fix the setup downstairs at the house. See, right now we have two devices capable of playing DVDs. One is the lappy the other is the StayPlationDos. Neither are convenient if we want to watch movies, say, together. If I want to watch a movie while sitting on the not-so-comfy chairs at the table? Rawk, I got the setup to end all setups. If I want to relax and not have my ass start throbbing from being subjected to one of the worlds less comfy chairs? Not so much. Anyways...
So I went to Radioshack last night when I found out there was one by our house (thinking: "Hey! I could start doing projects again!") And to my dismay, they only sell RCA cabling in the assfuckretarded style of Monster Cable. Oh, and the $30 Radioshack off-brand Monster Cable. Seriously. If I had been in a bad mood when I got there I would have demanded to talk to the CEO, then I would've made a joke about how he was probably back at college fixing his resume. And they wouldn't have gotten the joke. But it would've been a hella-sweet burn. Oh yeah.. .. ... ..... .... anyhoo. So. Seriously. $30 was the cheapest they were able to get for RCA video cabling. And RCA video cabling is something that, unless you own a $10,000 home theater you really don't need to spend more than $3 on. Seriously. If you have a Standard Def TV (ie: square, not wide) you (as far as I'm concerned) shouldn't spend money on cabling and they should be given to you. Sure, a $30 cable would improve the picture, in theory. The thing is, with ~480 lines of resolution (versus the 720 or 1080 for HD) you really won't see the difference. With less than 35+in? You won't see the difference. I have not-so-hot components, feeding a clearance-from-Blockbuster AV switcher, feeding a TV from the 90's. I owe it to myself to not give two shits about what AV cable fits one part of the chain. The end result is going to be so degraded by link or another it doesn't matter, but now I don't even have the choice to purchase a shitty cable. I ask again. What the fuck?
-Jon