HDMI cable

[BillyB]

About to buy a plasma so of course I will need at least one HDMI cable if not 2 depending on the DVD player I use.I realize the HDMI cable carries both the audio and video signal so it's an extremely important question.This is the age old question about whether or not to spend big money on cables.I don't want to buy a $2000 plasma and skimp on the connection but I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips on how crazy I should go with this purchase.A 6' cable will be more than long enough so that should help me.There are a lot of Skeptics(including consumer reports)that don't believe in buying expensive cables saying they don't make any difference.That I don't believe.I also noticed doing a google that some people were actually questioning whether or not HDMI is even the right HD connection to use saying it has performance issues.They compared it to how the USB connection wasn't great when it was first introduced and only after many improvements did it become the good performer it is now.I know nothing about that but that just doesn't sound like a proper analogy as USB connections are primarily about speed I thought vs signal quality.They're basically saying to use the Component video connection(which I didn't realize was HD) which must mean you then also need a separate audio connection.This is confusing because I didn't notice any digital audio inputs(optical or Coaxial style) on the plasmas, just standard RCA although I could be wrong.I'd really like to hear what you guys think on this one.

[blackraven]

Check out www.bluejeancable.com they will make custom HDMI cables for less than 1/2 the cost of retail cables.

[Geoffcin]

About to buy a plasma so of course I will need at least one HDMI cable if not 2 depending on the DVD player I use.I realize the HDMI cable carries both the audio and video signal so it's an extremely important question.This is the age old question about whether or not to spend big money on cables.I don't want to buy a $2000 plasma and skimp on the connection but I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips on how crazy I should go with this purchase.A 6' cable will be more than long enough so that should help me.There are a lot of Skeptics(including consumer reports)that don't believe in buying expensive cables saying they don't make any difference.That I don't believe.I also noticed doing a google that some people were actually questioning whether or not HDMI is even the right HD connection to use saying it has performance issues.They compared it to how the USB connection wasn't great when it was first introduced and only after many improvements did it become the good performer it is now.I know nothing about that but that just doesn't sound like a proper analogy as USB connections are primarily about speed I thought vs signal quality.They're basically saying to use the Component video connection(which I didn't realize was HD) which must mean you then also need a separate audio connection.This is confusing because I didn't notice any digital audio inputs(optical or Coaxial style) on the plasmas, just standard RCA although I could be wrong.I'd really like to hear what you guys think on this one.

And it should be unaffected by performance issues that are used to support high priced analog cable arguments. If it passes a untruncated digital signal, then the quality should be the same no matter what price the cable.

[BillyB]

And it should be unaffected by performance issues that are used to support high priced analog cable arguments. If it passes a untruncated digital signal, then the quality should be the same no matter what price the cable.

OK.I thought I did read that cable quality shouldn't be a big issue with digital signals as they basically work or they don't work.If this is true then these $150 HDMI cables are doing the same thing as the $10 ones I see online?This theory would then also apply to Optical and Coaxial audio cables which I believe are both also considered digital?I realize this is probably one of the most commonly debated issues in A/V land,and I'm not going to spend huge money on an HDMI cable.I just find any $10 interconnect a scary thing but maybe that's the product of my Audio hobby.I guess I'll spend around $30 to $40 as that seems to be where most of these cables are priced and I'll at least feel like I bought something of decent quality.

[blackraven]

There shouldnt be much difference in digital cables because they are sending a digital code of 1's and 0's, therefore signal is either getting through or not. And in the short distances used in home theater and audio, errors do not come into play. However, with HDMI cables, with long runs over 10' you want a quality cable. Anolog cables are a different story though.

[BillyB]

Thanks for the replies as I did my homework and confirmed what you guys already said.The digital signal is less sensitive to interference and doesn't seem to perform much different regardless of price.It truly does either work or not work.Long story short I found a 6' cable with 24K gold ends for $8 online and ordered 2 of them. Seemed like a great deal and the shipping was also very reasonable.