Hello all, I just bought a huge-ass (well, huge-ass for me) HDTV from Futureshop. The manufacturer (Samsung) also threw in a Blu-ray DVD player, which is cool. Anyway, the guy at Futureshop tried to sell me super-expensive power "cleaners" and super-expensive HDMI cables. So, not having had a HDTV before, I thought I would ask those who do and who know more than me whether such ridiculously expensive things are required. As my friend said, if you spent over $3000 for your TV, you'd think you could just plug it and it would work. So... are (LCD) HDTVs particularly vulnerable to "dirty" power? I live downtown in a pretty new apartment building, so it's not like there's a lot of power outages happening. If a power filter/cleaner is needed, surely I could just buy one with the least number of outlets (say 2) and then run extension cords/power bars from that, right? Because I'm thinking that a power bar or extension cord is not going to introduce a lot of "dirt" into the power that's already being cleaned coming out of the outlet. Finally, HDMI cables. Is there really that much of a difference between HDMI connections and other, more established, and FAR cheaper ones (s-video, composite, rca)? If so, does anyone know where to get decently-priced ones? Because I'm sorry--I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around paying a minimum of $100 for a cable. I want my HDTV picture to be good but I'm not obsessed about it being 120% perfect. I know Futureshop people have a rep for way over up-selling customers so I thought I'd check around first before I spent another minimum $200 on "clean" power and HDMI cabling. Any info and shared experiences would be appreciated!
I have a really crappy old TV, but I have to agree with your friend that when you buy and HD TV it would just make sense that they include the HD cable that you are supposed to use! Go figure.
