Reader mail: How much should I spend on an HDMI cable?

Short answer: If you're spending more than $20 on a six-foot or shorter HDMI cable, you're being cheated.

Reader FXY writes: I'm buying a 37-inch HDTV from Sony (KDL37XBR6 Bravia) and want to know what the deal is with HDMI cables and Blu-ray players. I have found these cables vary in price from $30 to over $200 for a six-footer. I've seen Blu-ray and think its time will come but now is not worth the extra money. Thoughts?

Dear FXY: You do not have to spend $300 on a six-foot HDMI cable (although believe me, you can, and unfortunately many have). In fact, I don't event think you should be spending $30 on a six-foot HDMI cable.

Instead, how does $10 or less sound?

Now, if you go to Best Buy, Radio Shack, or one of the big-box retail chains, you'll be set upon by eager clerks who'll tell you that this $150 HDMI cable right here—the one with silver-coated conductors, ultra high-density quad-layer shielding, nitrogen gas-injected dielectic (whatever that means; I'm just reading the ad copy)—is essential for the true 1080p HD experience.

Well, maybe—if you're a home installer who's running dozens of feet of cable through the walls of a new house. But if we're only talking the six feet or so between your new Blu-ray player and your HDTV, you don't need to spend $100 on an HDMI cable.

Don't believe me? The videophiles Gizmodo pitted the priciest Monster cables against some cheap, no-name competitors, and finally concluded that "at short distances up to six feet (two meters), you can pretty much get away with any cable," although "cheaper cable tends to choke up" when transmitting 1080p video over long distances (think 30 feet+). 

So, where can you find cheap HDMI cables? First, stay away from the big brick-and-mortar stores—more often than not, they'll steer you toward the $100+ options. Instead, try such online stores as MonoPrice.com, Blue Jeans Cable (scroll down for the shorter cables), and even Amazon, where you'll find six-foot HDMI cables for $3 or less. That's what I got to connect my 46-inch Sony Bravia LCD HDTV to my PlayStation 3, and I'm a happy camper.

Convinced you need to spend $150 for quad-layer shielding? Go ahead, be my guest—just don't ask me to chip in.