Consumers Wary of Digital Media Adapters?

Consumer electronics companies are rabidly touting digital media adapters to connect PCs to stereos and televisions...but consumers are much more likely to opt for a cheap cable.

A new survey from Parks Associates finds that when consumers want to hook up a PC or notebook computer to a stereo, television, or home theater, they’re much more likely to opt for a cheap set of cables than fork over money for a digital media extender.

“Simple and cheap will beat expensive and complicated among shoppers looking for a way to connect entertainment devices,” said Parks Associates’s director of research John Barrett, in a release. “What would you pick? The cables are not only cheaper but also easier to install, and you sacrifice only a few features.”

The company’s Digital Media Habits II survey found that while about nine percent of U.S. broadband users have hooked their computer up to their stereo systems, about 50 percent of those respondents use RCA or similar cables to connect the devices together, where only 28 percent reported using some wired or wireless media adapter. Similarly, only 4 percent of respondents said they’d hooked a computer to their television, and 31 percent of them said they use S-Video or similar cabling to connect the two, where 30 percent use a digital media adapter.

Typical digital media adapter solutions have retail prices in the $100 to $200 range, whereas a set of cables can be picked up from a local electronics store for as little as $10.

Parks Associates speculates the simplicity of cabling solutions appeals to many consumers over the bells and whistles of digital media adapters. “Nobody wants entertainment to make their lives more complicated,” Barrett said. “It’s supposed to be fun.”