prices for 4/4pin Firewire cables...

[Red96TA]

I was at Best Buy today looking for a 4/4pin firewire cable to hook up my miniDV to my laptop and they have the cable for $30. I get home tonight and ebay has sellers selling 4/4 cables for $1...does it make THAT much difference to go with a cheap cable?

[redwudz]

Well, I wouldn't buy a 1$ cable, but I also wouldn't buy a 30$ Firewire cable, unless it were the maximum 15ft length. Split the difference, and figure about 10$ to 15$ would be reasonable. I have several 5$ 30 inch FW cables and they work fine. Keep them short as possible. The only difference I have seen in the ones I have is the quality of the end connectors. I even have one of those miniature ones on a spool, about the size of a quarter that works OK. Tiny little wires, but no problems.

[ZAPPER]

I was at Best Buy today looking for a 4/4pin firewire cable to hook up my miniDV to my laptop and they have the cable for $30. I get home tonight and ebay has sellers selling 4/4 cables for $1...does it make THAT much difference to go with a cheap cable?

Just before X-Mas I HAD to have one to test out my new laptop. I looked online and liked the idea of the little retractable one. I went to a CompUsa and they didn't have the little one, and like you, I thought 29.95 was steep for the regular one. Bummer, so I figure that I can hit a Walmart on the way home, the one nearest my home didn't have any firewire, let alone what is starting to be the elusive 4 to 4. After a few more trips I was getting nuts, I couldn't find one anywhere else and thought that I would be driving 30 miles back to the only place that I had even seen one. As luck would have it, and in an act of desperation, I hit an older walmart. And I found one, and only one, mixed in with the USBs. No price on the package. No spot for it marked on the shelving, and took about ten minutes at the checkout to find out what it was going to cost. It was close to X-Mas, and the shoppers behind me where starting to mumble, I was thinking that if this thing is over 25 bucks, I ain't gonna buy it. But I would have to make a break for the door when the riot started. In the end? 19.95 I would have paid fifty at that point just to be done with the whole ordeal.

My advice, for what it is worth, buy the first one that you get in your hand!

[stiltman]

Think I got mine at Fry's for $9.99

[rallynavvie]

If the one you bought from Best Buy was Monster Cable brand or otherwise shielded with good rubberized connector housings then it may be worth it. I've got two really good shielded 1394 cables (one 6-6, on 6-4) that cost that much, though they are both 10-12' cables to reach recording components. I also have a few cheap cables that came with devices but I never really wanted to take any chances with them.