People have been wondering why the regular budget cable is out of stock on many cable types, there’s a good reason for this (we ran out of the type with multiple ground wires, which we tested as optimal for most consoles, ie the audio buzz caused by rgb/audio coupling is practically gone using our wiring methods and over the shortest possible lengths.)
We are still selling the snes options til they run out, because it used different cable: it did not need as many ground wires, it was playtested fairly recently by a respected content creator (Bob) and confirmed as better than adequate, and we still have that type of cabling in stock at any rate. Not for long, however.
We are not going to be replacing either *type* of regular cabling, because it’s 1. Not too cheap to replace anyway, it came from an American company - American component and cabling wholesaler/manufacturers aren’t as competitively priced as European equivalents. 2. Even though audio buzz is mostly gone, it attracts negative reviews when people run it through test cartridges, crank the sound all the way up at the highest rgb voltage levels (pure white screen) and make a video about it, accentuating an audio hum that’s normally not noticeable during play. Which is damaging. And you only need one person to do this to end up having an anxiety attack about it. Everyone hates customer complaints and bad reviews, but what people don’t see is what goes on in the background here - these cables are constantly revised. A single customer’s email can make us make hasty improvements to *every* future customer’s cable. Changing your cable *source* though is a slower process.
Yes, we are phasing out regular shielded cable.
As in, we are phasing out how it exists in its current form. We are making improvements to it. I’ve hinted at this before, but we’ve been wanting to drop this type of cable for *years,* you’re not even supposed to use it for video signals (not because it is dangerous, before people panic: but because of quality issues) and it only existed as a legacy of the days when nobody could easily source proper coax. Very few people can still source proper coax, fortunately we’ve had enough clout and bargaining power built up from years of *highly appreciated* customer support to be able to do this. However, the budget option still attracted enough sales and enough customer satisfaction to keep it around. And it’s not possible or practical to sell professional grade coax cheaply, so you can’t offer it as a budget line. It’s also time consuming to wire up and we don’t have time to sell it exclusively. We’re not trying to scam people by hoodwinking them into the higher priced option (it’s much better cable after all), we are just biding time and trying to be responsible with business profits.
Hence the cable *will* be coming back, not in its current form, but in a better shielded form.
We’re sorry about the delay to this as we needed to sell a respectable amount of the coax before investing in more cable. It sucks when all your cable types run out in the same few months, as you need to make two huge investments in a similar time frame. But this is basically what has happened. It’s not that we can’t afford it, it’s just that it’s risky to blow too much of your business funds at once.
We’ve built up enough now that I am about to put the order in to start the process to bring back a new, improved budget option.