For great justice!

When my father was in the midst of purchasing some new HD televisions, I told him to inform me at once if the salesman ever uttered the phrase "Monster Cable." Sure enough, he paused a discussion at "Big Box" in midstream, and I zoomed down to dissuade the salesman from that particular upsell.

It rhymed rather with, "Thou shalt not rob my father, period."

More from real experts via Kotaku:

Technical experts Digital Foundry sought to find out, pitting four HDMI cables — a cheap one, the two official cables sold by Microsoft and Sony and a ludicrously expensive Monster brand — against each other to see which ones gave the best results.

The findings? That in the vast majority of circumstances (excepting very cheap and very long cables) a sub-$2 cable bought over the internet gives as good a signal as the $130 Monster cables. While of course the price differences result in varying degrees of material build — expensive cables will "fit" better and feel sturdier — at the end of the day you're paying for picture signal, not looks or feel, so it's clear the gulf in prices just isn't worth it.