name brand cables

Hello again.
Another customer asked me today if he should purchase a name brand cable. While they are certainly pretty, for most applications they're just not necessary.
But, don't take it from me. This is what Consumer Reports has to say as part of their TV Buying Guide:
Don't buy expensive cables
"Prestige" brands offer very high-priced cables. You'll see some HDMI cables in the 6-foot-range (a typical length) selling for $100 or more, and longer cables cost several times that. We've found that modestly priced brands sold at most consumer electronics stores for half that price or less should be fine for typical use.
And from December 2006:
skip pricey cables
Margins on TVs are often relatively low, so retailers tend to push high-profit extras such as $200 cables. Ignore the sales pitch. We’ve found that modestly priced cables are perfectly adequate, and even those don’t come cheap.
And, lastly, from March 2007:
There’s little or no advantage in cables that cost hundreds of dollars. Shielded generic cables . . . should be fine and will cost much less.
Cables N Mor has found that we can offer you a much better value for your money by selling primarily generics. Like many consumer products our cables are often made in the same factory to the same specs as the name brand. Of course, our cables won't have the name brand and may look a bit different, but the quality is virtually the same.
So, that's all for this posting; just my thoughts on the subject of name brand cables . . .