"First, when speaking of HDMI (or any digital cable for that matter), cable quality DOES NOT make a difference in picture quality. As long as a digital signal is making it from one end of the cable to the other, the picture will be as good as it can be. What cable quality WILL make a difference on is on how long the cable will last. Obviously a sturdier cable will last longer. Monster cable and the salesman making a huge commission selling them will tell you it makes a difference. I am here to tell you that in terms of digital cabling, quality makes no difference in picture/sound quality AT ALL.

Secondly, digital to analog and analog to digital conversion does not come into play in this instance. The fact that your TV had an HDMI cable tells us that it is a digital TV. The digital disc is read and the digital image/sound is transported through the HDMI cable to the digital TV. End of story. There is no conversion because the signal stays in the digital realm from start to finish. That's why HDMI is better than component. With component, the digital signal is read from the disc, converted to an analog signal, transported by cable to the digital TV, where it is converted back to a digital signal. In this instance, digital to analog and analog to digital converters, as well as cable quality, all come into play. But you didn't ask about component, you asked about HDMI...

Buy the cheapest HDMI cable you can find and feel confident that you have the best picture and sound that your TV can produce."