"an expensive HDMI cable will make NO difference in the quality of your picture OR sound"
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3&thread.id=828972&view=by_date_ascending&page=1
You still got hosed.
I got a dvi to hdmi 16 foot cable for 9 bucks at monoprice. A 6 ft one at Best Buy is about 80 bux.
HDMI cables are a huge huge ripoff. Tell your Best Buy salesman to piss off when he tries to upsell you all kinds of crap. Including the $200 surge protector and filter, overpriced, unnecessary junk.