Are fancy HDMI cables worth it?

We get questions along these lines from time to time, and Ben and I both know how hard it is to avoid getting suckered into scams like this. Your thought process (conscious or not) tends to go: I spent $1,500 on this new TV, what's another $50 for a cable? I don't want to ruin my investment in a nice electronics item by being cheap when it comes to one vital accessory.

That makes perfectly logical sense, and I totally get it. Heck, there's a small industry out there which will sell special, $500 volume knobs to people because they think it will make their music sound better. You fortunately don't have to be one of them.

The bottom line on cables is this: For analog cables like speaker wire, the jury is out as to whether the quality of the cable is of any importance. Some experiments have been done showing that listeners couldn't tell the difference between high-end speaker wire and coat hangers used to connect a stereo to speakers. But some listeners do seem to be able to tell some minor difference in a few controlled tests, and for those with sensitive ears, it may be worth the investment to spend a few extra bucks on thicker, name-brand speaker wire.

However, for digital cables like HDMI cables, the story is different: Digital transmissions are nothing but ones and zeros going over the line. The data either goes, or it doesn't, and you aren't going to see a better picture or hear better audio because of the price of the cable you bought. It's either going to work or it won't, and I've yet to see a study that has found any difference whatsoever in a $5 HDMI cable vs. a fancy $100 one. The laws of physics are simply working against that, although big-name cable companies will dispute this until they're blue in the face.

Your TV's features are wholly irrelevant in this discussion. Whether you have 1080p, 240Hz, or some kind of fancy 3D screen, none of that matters. The TV is still taking a digital signal from the video source, processing it, and throwing it onto the screen. The cable is irrelevant to the discussion.

One caveat: The quality of the cable's physical construction may be an important factor to consider. If you buy a super-cheap cable with thin or fragile rubber sheathing, it could indeed fail over time. Cheap cables may just not be physically built very well, may come loose, and may otherwise fail earlier than a cable with a higher-quality construction. This won't lead to a decline in video quality like you might see with a loose or failing analog cable -- it will simply go black altogether at some point and you'll have to replace the thing -- but if you're, say, running cables through the wall and you expect them to be there permanently, you might be wise to buy a more durable cable that can stand the test of time.

Still, in no case can I fathom that there's any need to spend more than $15 or $20 on a cable, even for uses like this. Anything beyond that, you're just paying for bonuses for marketing executives.

As for the $150 surge protector: No, I think any simple, grounded power strip will suffice for your TV. If you're looking for a battery backup system (or UPS) that will keep things running if the power goes out momentarily, then you'll need to spend more, but there's really no need for a UPS on a television. For most users, a $20 power strip will treat you just fine.