hdmi cables
piece of **** wouldn't play any of the HD-DVD's. Go figure...So off I went the other day looking for a 'reasonably' priced HD-DVD player for now... This **** is almost as bad as moddin' our rides...well not quite.
I've always been into big TV's with big/quality sound so the mod bug struck again with the HD-DVD's...
After it was all said and done I ended up with the Toshiba HD-A3. Not the best but will do for now. Couldn't beat the price plus got 7 HD-DVD's for free...
I did a little test during the install and I have to admit I did notice a 'sight' difference using HDMI vs Component when installing the DVD player. I thought the HDMI looked slightly sharper but I'm using the HDMI cable for the HD DirectTV that I watch the majority of the time. After installing the Digital Optical audio to the ONKYO and Component for video with some minor 'tweekin' I'm pretty damn happy with the end results.
It's like anything else I guess...yes you can use the best of the best and notice a 'slight' difference if any, my wife doesn't notice any damn difference though, but it all boils down to the same ole' thing...how much money do you have to spend and how fast do you wanna go...
What exactly should I get for now until I get current with an HD DVD player.
Oh, I also have AT&T U-Verse with HD.
Help
If your cable box or DVD player has HDMI, but the AVR does not you could run the HDMI directly to the TV & optical cables to the AVR.
It's hard to say what the best way to set things up is without knowing what the capabilities of your components are.
There is also the placebo factor. I know high end audio guys who swear they can hear the difference between certain ultrapure copper cables, and some guys who even swear by using stuff like ultrpure silver instead. its like anything else, you can spend as much as you want on home audio. In the end 99.99% of the general population can't tell a most properly set up systems from one another unless there are just gross irregularities in the comparison.
I would be willing to bet money that if we take a controlled source and use a high end cable, and then switch to a low end cables and do a double blind back to back test that no one will be able to tell the difference.

