Okay I'm making my first jump into the HDTV world and I think I've decided which HDTV I want, Samsung LN40A550, but now I need to figure out how many HDMI cables I need and specifically what kind. Based on the research I've done on the forums I've figured out that any 1.3x category 2 cables will suffice and apparently the lower AWG # I get the better, though under 6 feet the AWG # is not vitally important. The questions I have unanswered however are as follows:

-On the monoprice.com HDMI cables page, there's a lot of mention about being silver/gold plated or having a ferrite core, or in-wall installation cables. Since I'm not going through any walls I'm assuming I can ignore the in-wall installation cable options but what about the rest? Should the gold/silver plating or ferrite core matter in my decision?

-Just to check my math, so to speak, I'll need one cable to get from my HD cable box to the HDTV, one to get from my Xbox 360 to the HDTV, and one to get from my speakers to the HDTV bring my total to three required cables. Am I missing a connection anywhere? The cable box, 360, and speakers all go straight to the HDTV itself, right?

-Finally, the cable box and 360 are going to be sitting right next to the HDTV, and the speakers, or the subwoofer that will be connecting to the TV will be a few feet below the TV. How much slack should I account for when choosing a length? In other words, if the straight distance between the 360 and the HDTV was three feet should I get a three foot cable? Five foot cable? Six foot? Ten foot? If I'm aiming to get a lower # AWG cable since they're supposedly best, but less pliable, I just want to make sure I don't underestimate and wind up bending the cable too hard and warp the signal or get a cable that's too long and again affect the signal.

Thanks in advance to anyone who responds, I really appreciate it.

Connectors are gold plated to reduce the connection resistance and minimize oxidation that could cause an increase in connector resistance.

Silver plating refers to the wire plating which slightly reduces the high frequency losses in long cables.

Ferrite cores reduce the effects of EMI interference. They are generally not needed in a normal house installation.

Speakers don't use HDMI. Speakers just require standard 2-wire speaker (zip) cord. HDMI is only for the combined digital video/audio signal from the outputs of your cable box and Xbox to the TV.

You want to allow sufficient cable length for smooth transitions so there's minimum stress on the connectors. You might run a piece of solid utility wire between the two points with the desired curves and then measure the wire length. Better too long then too short. A few extra feet of HDMI cable won't affect the signal significantly since HDMI either works perfectly or badly, there's no subtle degradation. The larger wire gauges are only needed for long lengths. For example, Monoprice has 28AWG category 2 rated cables up to 10' long.

Okay I'm making my first jump into the HDTV world and I think I've decided which HDTV I want, Samsung LN40A550, but now I need to figure out how many HDMI cables I need and specifically what kind. Based on the research I've done on the forums I've figured out that any 1.3x category 2 cables will suffice and apparently the lower AWG # I get the better, though under 6 feet the AWG # is not vitally important. The questions I have unanswered however are as follows:

-On the monoprice.com HDMI cables page, there's a lot of mention about being silver/gold plated or having a ferrite core, or in-wall installation cables. Since I'm not going through any walls I'm assuming I can ignore the in-wall installation cable options but what about the rest? Should the gold/silver plating or ferrite core matter in my decision?

-Just to check my math, so to speak, I'll need one cable to get from my HD cable box to the HDTV, one to get from my Xbox 360 to the HDTV, and one to get from my speakers to the HDTV bring my total to three required cables. Am I missing a connection anywhere? The cable box, 360, and speakers all go straight to the HDTV itself, right?

-Finally, the cable box and 360 are going to be sitting right next to the HDTV, and the speakers, or the subwoofer that will be connecting to the TV will be a few feet below the TV. How much slack should I account for when choosing a length? In other words, if the straight distance between the 360 and the HDTV was three feet should I get a three foot cable? Five foot cable? Six foot? Ten foot? If I'm aiming to get a lower # AWG cable since they're supposedly best, but less pliable, I just want to make sure I don't underestimate and wind up bending the cable too hard and warp the signal or get a cable that's too long and again affect the signal.

Thanks in advance to anyone who responds, I really appreciate it.

The question might be that how long distances are your cables going to be ? I have noticed that cheaper solutions will work fine with short distances like under 6 feets but when you start to make longer tractions problems are in the sky... Zesta hdmi products seems to work fine between 3 to up to 65 feets with full resolution of 1080p and 10.2Gbps TMDS and many cables will not support so long distances. Use the cheapest that you can get and only the length you need...