I understand your frustration. I have a new DVD player that I will be using the 5 cable setup with at the end of the month when I get my new receiver. The first thing that went through my mind was, Dammit, 5 more cables!

I have been using Radio Shack gold series for a while now and they seem to be great. Very well built, and low cost. Don't get suckered into the "Gold Fusion" line of radio shack cables. They seem to be inferior in build quality and about double the price. I always look for build quality over everything else, not name brand.

I think you can get .5m cables. Look at:

http://www.partsexpress.com/index.cfm

They seem to have a good selection.