The Xbox 360 does have an official HDMI cable for sale from Microsoft. However you can also buy 360 cables from other manufacturers, which will be able to deliver similar quality for a cheaper price.

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As with many new pieces of leading technology the manufacturers often try and make the connections proprietary, in order to maintain revenue streams. Indeed the Playstation, Playstation 2, XBOX and XBOX 360 all had one end of their gaming cables that were specific for that product, while the other end was a generic connection for display devices, like a SCART connection, composite or component cables.

The first to buck this trend were Sony with their latest and greatest console the Play Station 3 or PS3 as it is more commonly known. They decided that they would fit the sleek black console with a standard HDMI connector allowing gamers to buy a cable from one of the top cable manufacturers. Microsoft were hot on the trail releasing a HDMI compliant XBOX 360.

As a result the cable manufacturers have developed gaming specific cables QED recently launched their QED Live product for the PS3 and Monster Cable also decided to exploit the opportunity that gamers provided by bringing out a whole range of gaming cables.

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New products like Televisions, Blu-Ray DVD players and Satelite decoders all have the shiny new HDMI connection, but older products even those that were ‘high end’ do not. Cable manufacturers to the rescue stage right, they have developed cables that allow devices with different connectors to work together. One such cable is the HDMI – DVI cable, DVI has been the connection of choice on many video devices and computers, allowing them to send high quality video images to displays.

The cable allows the old and new devices to communicate usually resulting in video being displayed in crystal clear digital quality.

The cable allows video protected by the Intel developed High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection to travel between compliant devices. HDMI and DVI both deliver the same the only draw back of the cable and DVI is the fact that it is restricted to Video only. Making the audio capability of HDMI redundant.

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Due to the particular use of the cable, people often want to have the best quality picture and sound they can get from their equipment. They want to make sure they are getting the best from their 1080i or 1080p HD picture and the best 5.1 or 7.1 Dolby Digital or DTS sound to the amplifier. To do this they will often opt for gold plated cables. The gold cables have better properties for conduction which provides a better connection between devices.

A number of cable manufacturers use gold to differentiate their standard range of cables from their high end cables. Often increasing the cost to something comparable to buying a gold chain from a jewellers.

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