[johnnycakes]

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may be mistaken but unless your dvd player is a upconversion dvd player the best picture you can get is with the component cables (DVDs are at 720p -i think- and HDTV is 1080i). now if you are hooking up you HD cable box you need the hdmi or dvi cables (whichever one your box/tv supports). If you want true HD DVDs you need a specfic player that upconverts the resplution to 1080i, they have them at BB, just ask the salesperson. And on a side note, i got a 6' HDMI cable at radio shack for $50.00. maybe check there, sometimes i need instant gratification so mail order won't always work for me. later

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Uh, this is a little off.
First, all DVDs are standard def.
There is currently no such thing as a "HD DVD"
DVDs are encoded at 480.
An upconverting DVD player will take the 480 quality image and upconvert it to an 1080i image before sending it to the TV. But the source is still 480.
It does help but compared to HD content (i.e. HD broadcast channels), it's just a well polished turd (But it's the best available today).

So, your DVD player has HDMI output, but does your TV have HDMI input? A lot of HD TVs have DVI input but not HDMI. If this is the case, you can get an DVI to HDMI cable.
DVI and HDMI are the same video quality. The difference is HDMI carries audio also.
If your TV has DVI input only, you'll need to run audio cables from the DVD player to your TV/receiver.

Standard Def: 480
HD: 720, 1080

Hope this helps.