paulears Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 My TV went bang, lots of smoke - so I decided to simply get a new one, so in the end found a really good deal in my local Comet, rather than the more usual on-line sources I have. The TV isn't the subject of this topic, it's what happened afterwards. We've all got used to the extra guarantee scam, where it almost doesn't matter what you buy as long as you buy a guarantee, but this was different. The young bloke took me to a power saving gadget. Basically a flashy version of the auto power off multi socket that some utility companies are giving away to their customers. Turn you TV to standby, and the other sockets cut out saving you money. This one was that kind of thing, but also had in and out for satellite, netork and telephone. The gadget was fitted to a stand with a 13A outlet, and showing a digital watt meter. The display with a single TV on standby was drawing 30W. He then unplugged the TV, plugged in the gadget, and the power meter dropped to half - 18W. "So how does this work then" I ask. He shows me a picture of a 'dirty' mains waveform, tells me the gadget cleans it all up and all that noise which was using up the power, no longer is - so I will save half of the wated energy? Er.....? Gullible people will no doubt shell out £100 for the gadget, expecting to save half their electricity costs. What is the point in filtering satellite, network and phone circuits? The actual gadget is made by Monster Cable here. Some interesting claims. They also tried to get me to spend £80 on an HDMI cable by the same people. I bought the TV, said no to everything else - and the sales guy looked glum. I bet they make more profit on the cable than the tv? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 P.T.Barnum said it best - there's a sucker born every minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 The actual gadget is made by Monster Cable here. That'll be the problem, right there. Monster are well known for this kind of thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pritch Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 I used to work with a chap who was convinced of the benefits of his terribly expensive HDMI cables. He didn't like it when I interrupted him giving advice to other people about how they needed an £80 cable with their new TV and DVD player with "So, you get better quality ones and zeroes, do you?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Well would I spend £80 to save 15watts? Would said device last long enough to pass the pay off time? Will the salesperson eat tonight if he only sells base items with no "also sell" items. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomHoward Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 How does the actual in-store meter work then, is it rigged? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted September 27, 2009 Author Share Posted September 27, 2009 My best guess is that it generates mains noise - harmonics and other rubbish, then the filters cut it out - 'saving' electricity. Just a con, I'm pretty sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilflet Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 that product page has as a feature 'patented color-coded outlets and matching cord labels' how the hell is the concept of labeling things patentable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Looked a bit like this? Reading I was getting a bit excited and thought they might of come up with a plug that will respond to the off signal and turn off the power to the TV. I would also assume that their sales policy is to "sell the item and sell the highest priced accessory's" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stillwave Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 I help a retired friend of the family pick a TV at Currys. Had I not been there she would of easily been duped by the claims of the £99 HDMI cables. after the 'sales advisor' went into the storeroom to check the TV was in stock I explained the reasons for the cost of these cables & told her I knew I could get a reasonable priced one elsewhere for less than £5. Out of curiosity I asked the 'sales advisor' where the "sensibly priced" HDMI cables were to which he retorted he could knock the price down to £20, it was a different 'sales advisor' who processed the sale at the tills who also tried to sell us a HDMI for £30!?!?! I imagine the 'sales advisor' makes up a number that they believe they can fleece out of the customer, IIRC the cheapest cable on the shelf was £79.99 (and was a ....b b Belkin). AFAIK the ports on the extension wouldn't be for filtering satellite, network and phone circuits? they are usually for 'Spike Protection' just incase you accidentally use a lighting rod as a 4 port router ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 I fear that, as environmental concerns and "climate change" are rammed into the public consciousness, scams like this will become far more common in coming years. As soon as any concern becomes popular, there will be those who try to make a fast buck off it. (My favourite audio scam was the guy who tried to sell me a gold-plated TOSLINK lead and swore blind that the gold would make a better connection...on a fibre optic cable!) Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 "So, you get better quality ones and zeroes, do you?"Slightly in defence of using reasonable quality cables with digital systems... A poor cable will degrade any signal be it analogue or digital. And whilst it's tempting to think of digital signals as either '0' or '1' it is a bit more subtle than that. A cable which degrades the slew-rate of a digital signal, by limiting the bandwidth, can introduce audible effects. Many digital audio signals are self-clocking; to recover the data you have to lock a clock to that same data. A degraded signal can be more difficult to recover the clock from and you can introduce jitter on the recovered clock which can propagate errors down the digital stages. If that digital stage is your final DAC then you can measure, and maybe some people can hear, an audible effect. ...but note that I said 'reasonable' quality cables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slipstream Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 I got the free tv switcher off'r from Eon - tunes to the remote and switches off all the TV bits when the TV is turned off - except the sat which takes 10min to reboot - if you're an Eon customer go via their website and claim one. Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinE Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 What is the point in filtering satellite, network and phone circuits? I guess this is for people who have an NTL/Virgin box (phone line) or Sat dish attached to their TV and who want to stop lightning etc from getting into their home cinema system without the bother of unplugging everything during a thunderstorm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan Hope-Streeter Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 << I guess this is for people who have an NTL/Virgin box (phone line) or Sat dish attached to their TV and who want to stop lightning etc from getting into their home cinema system without the bother of unplugging everything during a thunderstorm. >> The phone line already has a GDT fitted in the master socket, to protect against spikes caused by thunderstorms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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