Originally Posted by spiderplant

HD has a higher data rate than SD, and the cables need to have certain electrical properties to carry the required data rates.


HDMI is a two-way digital connection, where the TV can send the STB information about it's capabilities.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extende...ification_data

---------- Post added at 14:27 ---------- Previous post was at 14:17 ----------

Incidentally - the trade price of gold-plated HDMI cables starts at $0.10

http://lancom.en.alibaba.com/product...DMI_CABLE.html