What kind of HDMI cable should I buy?

In the days of your old hifi, buying quality cable was important, some people thought. Whether it was gold-plated audio cables, or special, super-thick speaker cables, the quality of your interconnects was an important part of making you you squeezed the most out of your old analogue hifi.

Not any more.

HDMI is a digital signal. It's either there or it's not. Which means that nuances from particular cable construction will have simply no effect on the picture or sound quality. Gold-plated connectors are a waste of time. All the tests - like these from C-NET for example, show that a cheap or expensive HDMI cable makes no difference.

Assuming you're plugging in a piece of equipment which you're not planning to physically move for a long time - like a typical set-top box, for example - there's absolutely no need to spend more than you need to on an HDMI cable. Go for the cheapest you can find - and almost certainly don't buy the expensive one in the TV store. Chances are, the store's making more profit on that cable than they are on your telly.

Amazon.co.uk have a large range of inexpensive HDMI cables. At Media UK, we're a particular fan of the Amazon Basics range, because they're cheap and their packaging isn't impossible to get into.