Regarding the OPs original question I kind of disagree with what bestbang4thebuck that most HDMI receivers are not yet fully implemented. I would have a agreed six months or so ago but the current batch of HDMI receivers are looking pretty nice. They are even getting fairly affordable, such as the JVC. Bestbang4thebuck is probabally referring to the lack of HDMI 1.3 and the new Dolby and DTS formats. I'm just not that sure at this point that 1.3 is worth waiting for. So far the new formats have been decoded in the players and work with HDMI 1.1. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that if I was in the market for a new receiver today it would be awful difficult to ignore the HDMI models.

I have to agree with gonk that BetterCables have gotten kind of pricey. I hadn't bought any of their cables for a few years and was mildly shocked by the prices when I recently checked. BlueJeans cable makes a very nice affordable cable. I make my own interconnects using the same material as BJ, (Canare and Belden) and am very pleased with them. I've also had good luck with AVCable.