MONSTER WIRE.... Yay or Nay ? (long)

[B-Line]

Hey All,

As Christmas is the season of buying, I have gotten some plasma's for around my house/office.
Every time my bro and I get into the mode of TV shopping, we get into a debate on the wire's neccessary to accomodate a quality picture.
As many of you know, buying HDMI, Composite, Digital Audio, etc. cables can be VERY expensive. I thought it would be interesting to start a dialogue about when and where cabling is overkill.

For example, HDMI cables seem to come (from Monster) in 3 different sizes. 600, 800, 1000. A 1000 gauge wire (12ft.) can cost a couple hundred bucks. So the question is, is it really going to give you a better signal than a 600 gauge cable?
-- Now before we jump into this conversation, it's important to note that any hi-grade cable is going to be an improvement over crappy low grade cable. But when you start making values on the difference between 600 gauge cable and 1000 gauge cable, is there really any difference?

Lets say for example, you are running HD Direct TV. That signal is coming into your receiver on a COAX line anyway. And since digital is simply transferring 10011000101. Why should the cable make a difference except to block out interfearance?
-- Some people have said that companies like MOSTER have made hundreds of millions of dollars selling people stuff they don't need. For example, huge gauge wire and power conditioners. (My electrician has told me over and over that California's power is very consistent (at around 118) or something and there is NO need for expensive power conditioners... It does not improve quality of signal.

So I guess one of the questions here is, diminished returns. When do we reach diminished returns on cables and what is just a waste of money. Of course for speakers it's important to run thick wires, and you should always use HDMI vs. S-video, etc. but at what point are we just spending more money on stuff we don't need?

I recently bought a 1080p plasma and hooked it up to my PS3 for blue-ray. I connected it using a 600 gauge wire from monster (vs. a 1000 gauge wire for monster) and I could not imagine this tv being capable of having a better picture regardless of wire. The picture is insane.. So who is buying these 1000 gauge wires?

Thanks, B