Whilst I understand purists will want 1080p for native BluRay, etc (although a purist might also want to make sure his/her set is compatible with 24p); 1080i doesnt make any sense to me. On a 1366x768 TV (so called HD Ready) the image is downscaled to fit the resolution (plus interlacing is a bit rubbish frankly) and on a 1920x1080 TV (so called Full HD) the image is de-interlaced which can result in a nasty image. Any Freeview HD / SkyHD source would be much better set at 720p wouldnt it?

Certainly will

I will be sitting closer than I'd like to the TV until I eventually move out, and it's specs meant I could minimize doubt and any potential problems in the future

Don't worry, I'm getting a couple of cheap HDMI leads today

I actually disagree with this.

My three year old PVR started freezing, so I sent a polite email asking for their assistance to get it repaired. They replied within an hour to my email and I received a full refund a few days later. I can't complain at that!

Peter.

I would say on the whole that people will have both good and bad experiences of most retail stores.

It all depends on the person you deal with, though to be fair a lot of the bigger stores have really, really [LIFTED] policies that prevent the staff from doing much that's actually useful to the customer...

No, the DSG really are sh1t no matter what angle you come at them from, but needs must

OK, are HDMI cables all much of a muchness, or is there any difference to the '1080p' ones I'm noticing? Aren't they all essentially the same?

I have a cheapy HDMI cable and it carries a 1080p signal.

I'm looking at these as quite possibly the ultimate in cheapness (all in) :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000 ... -4&seller=

It is a digital cable, as long as it can carry the signal without distortion, it will work. The isn't any difference between cheap or expensive ones, as long as the cable itself is sound and doesn't suffer from dropped data through interference...

Yeah, what da man said. I bought a HDMI cable from one of those shops that you guys all seem to hate... I think I paid about a fiver for it, and it's fine

My understanding of digital cables is they are not prone to interference like analogue ones. I'm sure it still wont stop Currys recommending a £50 cable for a £40 DVD player (I honestly saw this at a shop in Doncaster) but you shouldnt worry about it too much. Of course purists will say it makes a difference at the high end and I've no doubt it does but for most something cheap-ish will be just fine.

If I had a good Blu-Ray player and wanted the 'desired' 24p playback at full res I might be tempted to pay around the £40 mark max. Even though cheepies work on the otherhand there's no point paying £700 for a TV, £400 on audio and £200 on a BD player for example to connect it with a fivers worth of cable.

It also depends on how you deal with that member of staff. People seem to forget that the people working for the store/restaurant/garage/hospital/government office are people too. If you go in ranting and raving, chances are they're not going to be as keen to deal with you and you may end up getting fobbed off. Be nice, pleasant but confident and chances are you'll get a good service, even discounts or stuff thrown in.

That's what I figured and will not be spending more than a fiver now I know for definite, though apparently some of the older cables have different HDMI standards:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Defin ... e#Versions

It may be Argos for me unless the Tesco ones have details on the packaging, not that it really makes much difference to my viewing, but both stores are in the one shopping centre anyway