Hi I am new to avs forums and the whole home theater in general.

here is my system

42" sharp aquos lc42d62u lcd 1080p tv
panasonic sc ht740 home theater
ps3
xbox360



here are my quistions, sorry if they are long or redundent.

1: ps3 is hdmi 1.3 compliant right? and hdmi 1.3 needs a special cable correct. Now this hdmi 1.3 cable male is the same size as any other hdmi male? so it would fit right into 1 of my 2 1080 hdmi inputs right? or does my tv have to be 1.3 compliant also?

2: now should I belive in all those flashy hdmi cables that walk on water over the cheaper ones? do they all serve the same purpose?

3: I know I wanna buy a hdmi switch. 3-5 inputs. does anyone have any recommendations? are there any 1.3 compliant? and does matter if i use a 1.0-1.2 hdmi cable on this switch or do all the cables have to be 1.3? do 1.3 still work if the machine say the xbox 360 hd dvd player wich is not 1.3 compliant ?

4: now the panasonic home theater. seems to only have 1 input and that is aux so i currently just manualy switch between systems so I can have surround sound and killer bass. does aux still output the sound quality the ps3 / xbox offer? Is there a audio switcher or something so i can just switch imputs and not have to do it the "ghetto" way? or should I get a new reciever and wich one should i get, that is not so costly? will this reciever be compatible with the type of speakers the panasonic model has? multi hdmi inputs (1.3 compliant???) and component( xbox360 is still component cables) and has the hdmi output so i can just knock out like 4 birds with 1 stone? this reciever, can it output 1080p?

sorry again if i sound some what retarded, im still a newbie to this whole subject, but i wanna learn as much as possible, so i can have a good and done RIGHT system. thanks for your time, i will post more quistions and responds as they come, hope to hear from you all.

Yes, PS3 is HDMI 1.3 compliant and you can use any HDMI cable but a majority of people on this forum and myself use monoprice or bluejean cables. I just ordered some HDMI cables from monoprice. Monoprice HDMI Cables (http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&style=) I've used the cheap HDMI cables (#2526) and they've worked fine but I just ordered the CL2 rated cables (#2283) to see if there was a difference in picture. I doubt there will be a difference but I need to satisfy my curiosity.

Also, monoprice carries hdmi swithers: HDMI Switchers (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=2777&seq=1&format=2) I have the 2x1 manual switcher and its performed great. Since I just bought a PS3, I'll be switching to the 3x1 with equalizer. Monoprice has the best prices on switchers and since they are presently out of the 3x1. I'll but have to rig it somehow.

I know nothing about Panasonic Home Theater units.

1. Yes the PS3 is 1.3 compliant and no you can use any HDMI cable. The TV does not have to be 1.3, you can still do 1080p through the HDMI 1.2

2. The $5 monorprice cable works great and has a great build quality.

3. What else besides PS3 are you going to need HDMI for? The 360 HD player doesn't support HDMI, only 1080p over VGA.

4. The highest quality audio from the xbox 360 is over optical cable, and for the ps3 it's lossless PCM over HDMI. You can also just do Dolby Digital over optical on the PS3 as well, which is good, just not as good as LPCM. No receivers are 1.3 compliant right now. 1.3 really isn't that big of a deal, the main thing it supports is Deep Color, which is a video with millions more colors but that nothing supports right now. The PS3 decodes LPCM already, and standalone HD DVD players decode Dolby True HD, so all you'd need is a receiver that accepts audio over HDMI. One of the cheaper ones are the Sony DG910 and 710 for under $500. The 910 has 3 HDMI inputs and passes 1080p and does audio over HDMI for your PS3 and optical for your 360.
If your speakers have normal speaker cable they should work, however if they have special plugs on the end they might not.

Hope that helps!

thanks alot you two for helping, you taught me some good stuff