In the bustle of holiday shopping, it's easy to be persuaded by the salesperson at your local retailer that you need to buy a $50 HDMI cable to make your new gear work. They might say the expensive cable "supports faster speeds," "has better video quality," or that "cheap cables don't support 1080p"--pretty much anything to get you to throw that high-margin HDMI cable in your shopping cart. But the truth is that expensive HDMI cables aren't worth it and the cheap cables available online are just as good. In fact, our guide to HDMI cables says this in bold, at the top of the page:
CNET strongly recommends cheap HDMI cables widely available from online retailers instead of the expensive counterparts sold in your local electronics store.
The full guide explains all the reasons in detail, but the main takeaway is that you should never pay more than $10 for a standard 6-foot HDMI cable. Cheap HDMI cables can be found all over the Web--we've had good experiences with both Monoprice and Amazon. Then you can take the money you saved and get some gear that's actually worth it--check out CNET's Holiday Gift Guide for suggestions.
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