HDMI Licensing exec explains cable differences {Engadget HD}

Sep 22nd 2007 1:40PM Well, Absent One, the two people that replied to you are just plain wrong. There is no real certification for the testing on these cables, it's simply up to the manufacturer. If they test to a certain quality, most manufacturers can be trusted to meet that minimum quality.

That's minimum quality, tho. Your cable will not stop working when it sees higher bandwidth. That's just not how things work. The cables are not smart, they are simply a link from one end to another. HDMI cables generally do not pixelate, either. That's usually a switcher, or some other bad interface connection.

For the most part, if you buy decent cables (check Monoprice for their mid-level offerings), they will probably suit all of your needs.