Thanks for all the replies, I take them on board. I was all set to buy the HDMI cable today but when I investigated I found that although the TV has HDMI 1.3 my Panny DMR EX75 EB Hdd/DVD is rated I think as HDMI 1.1, could be wrong, be gratefull if someone could tell me if this is correct, can't find it in manual.
Will the cable still work if one end at the recorder is 1.1 and the tv is 1.3, I did ask at a Sony shop, it was convenient at the time and they said the connection wouldn't work, they doubted that a 2 year old Panny would upscale.
Are they correct?
Terry
All the versions of HDMI are upwardly compatible - ie a 1.3 device will understand 100% of 1.1, the source device just won't be able to exploit the more esoteric/luxury features added since.
As your DVD player has a HDMI socket it almost guaranteed to UPSCALE as there is no point in having a HDMI otherwise. Even if you have lost its manual, you should be able to find the Setup menu choices offering various HDMI resolutions!
Conceptually the benefit of using that digital HDMI interface for your DVD-TV link is to reduce the amount of digital<->analogue processing, all of which will introduce some degree of approximation/sampling and be more prone to error.
Thus DVD disc = Digital -> processed in DVD player digitally still -> output over cable still as digital at a HDMI resolution -> processed by TV digitally still (and possibly 1:1 depending on resolution of TV) and displayed.
There is in fact no such thing as a 1.x cable. What there is are STANDARD cables that can be HDMI logo'd ie CERTIFIED (ie guaranteed) to deal with the frequency of data upto 1080i and HIGH SPEED above that.
HDMI is designed to work reliably with upto 10m of cable ANYWAY, so a standard length 2-3m cable used in a normal AV setup is NOT being stressed really.
See the horses' mouth : ie HDMI Licensing FAQ at
http://www.hdmi.org/learningcenter/faq.aspx
MORAL: buy a cable that is reasonably well made for £5, £10 tops. Above that and you are frankly being taken for a ride UNLESS you decide you want to value the picture generated higher because you invested more in its production! Alternatively spend the money you might have been suckered into spending on the cable on say a better Universal remote control that you'll get convenience and value from every day!
At least you were only delayed by the misinformation of the Sony people who make their living by "meeting AV customers needs" rather than being robbed!
PS
Visited the Panasonic UK website and in Support found the download for the manual for the DMR-EX75EB (based on your descriptiona above). That says explicitly (page 51):
"HDMI Video Format [576i/480i][576p/480p][720p][1080i][Automatic]"
so you have got 720p or 1080i - there is NO right answer if you have a 720 set, try them both and see which you prefer the look of
"Digital Audio Output [HDMI and Optical] [Optical Only]"
as raised by RockySpieler you can adjust this to suit where you want your sound to go.
So all in all good news - you can exploit your existing DVD/TV investment better for just a few pounds of expenditure
Enjoy!