In my previous life as a Circuit City slave, one of my several embarassing duties bearing no effect on my paycheck but every effect on my continued employment was that I "push" Monster Cables on customers. This after already pushing them to buy extra memory cards and extended warranties.

Monster Cable has itself a nice little niche of owners who think that paying $50 for a 6 foot component cable that would otherwise cost $8 will make their "stuff" look "better." Ask any professional audio-video type person whether Monster cables are worth the money and they'll probably laugh at you, unless they happen to sell Monster Cables and make a commission.

The sad truth is that you don't need fancy cables made of mithril and sprinkled with magic pixie dust -- nay, HD pixie dust! The cables could be made out of the rarest material on earth, but the quality of the connection depends on the weakest point, like the cheap solder they use to secure the connectors or the bulk, industrial jacks the TV maker puts in. You'll probably gain more clarity by adjusting the picture settings on your TV than by buying $50 cables.

This is especially true with digital connections like DVI and HDMI. The signal is digital, it either works or it doesn't. $50 cables aren't going to make it work more.

Nevertheless, Sony wants in on that game. Now instead of being faced with the consumer dilemma of, "Should I buy this $8 cable or this $50 cable that does the same thing?" people can expect to consider, "Should I buy this $8 cable, this $50 cable that does the same thing, or this $50 cable that does the same thing?"

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