If you've recently invested in a new HDTV and Blu-ray player you probably already know that you need an HDMI cable to take advantage of the best possible picture and audio from your Blu-ray player. If you've ever shopped for cables, whether speaker wires or A/V cables, you know that these can vary widely in price. Hell, we've seen $500 speaker wire!

It turns out that HDMI cables tend to all be built the same, no matter what their cost. According to cNet's Crave site, "...it's easy to be persuaded by the salesperson at your local retailer that you need to buy a $50 HDMI cable to make your new gear work. They might say the expensive cable 'supports faster speeds,' 'has better video quality,' or that 'cheap cables don't support 1080p'--pretty much anything to get you to throw that high-margin HDMI cable in your shopping cart. But the truth is that expensive HDMI cables aren't worth it and the cheap cables available online are just as good." cNet recommends never paying more than $10 for a standard 6-foot HDMI cable.

Electronics House as well as cNet have found five of the best places to find HDMI cables on the cheap. We list them after the jump...

Monoprice.com
Turns out that Gizmodo, CNET and the folks at Audioholics all recommend Monoprice. They have every cable you can imagine and Electronics House found a foot of HDMI cable for as little as $3.

Bluejeans Cable
Bluejeans Cable is another site highly recommended by many “pro"-sumers. Like Monoprice.com, you’ll find all kinds of cables, plus an “HDMI information center” loaded with FAQs.

Amazon.com
Since Amazon works with many small retailers, a search for HDMI cables will most likely turn up some good deals. When EH searched they found a 6-ft HDMI cable for $4.54 (via SuperMediaStore).

CablesforLess.com
Their motto: “Saving the world… from High Priced Cables since 1996.”

Newegg.com
Another online retailer CNET editors have had good experiences. The site offers several HDMI cables for less than $10.

photo: waldopepper