Okay, I'm really considering going with the HDMI cable for my sony XBR HDTV. I just wanted to know is there really a difference between my component cables that come with my cable box and a $65 HDMI. I'm rarely "cheap" when it comes to home theater but i have my suspicisions on this one because i can't see my picture getting any better. My second question would be, if i was to get this cable how do i hook it up to both my settop box (must) AND my ONkyo receiver (not as important) since it supports my 7.1 surround sound the clearest. I'm assuming this is better than a digital optical input??? Finally, how do i know which "video" ( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6)the HDMI is set to????
I just ordered some HDMI cables from monoprice.com. My buddy is using them from there & all though they are cheap in price, he hasn't noticed any picture problems. If you're going to go through your receiver, then your receiver must have HDMI inputs as well as outputs to go to the TV. I'm guessing you don't have either, so this may not be an option for you. Lastly, to find out which video, just plug it in & turn on your device and cycle through the videos until you see the right image on the screen. On my tv, I actually have an input labelled HDMI. Some TV models actually disable this input from the factory, so you won't see it as an option until you go into your TV settings and enable HDMI.
I also got my HDMI cable through monoprice.com since it's my first one I can't really compare it to anything. I guess I could go to BestBuy and get one and compare the pictures between them.
I'm still not convince the HDMI cable is worth it though but for what I paid for it I can't complain.
Also it's pretty easy like MIke said just cycle through the inputs..on my TV I can then reaname the inputs to match the devies I'm using.