got this hdmi cable. http://www.bettercables.com/hdmi-cable.aspx

finally got to test it out last night...

Wow... I didn't think it would make any difference. In fact I just figured it would be eye candy. Nope... the picture itself was better. I swapped back and forth between that cable and the "regular" hdmi cable and the picture was not as vivid and the contrast wasn't as good.

Compared to $400-500 for other "high-end" brands I just saved myself $250-350. That's nearly enough to pay for my ceiling speakers upgrade to 8" units.