just need to add my two cents in regards to price. Yes there is a certain degreen of name brand markup, but they really are a superior cable manufacturer. For audiophiles there is nothing better that can be had without a professional installers liscence. You will really only notice the difference in a well designed room/car system. The cables are enginered to virtually eliminate any rf noise, that can be annoying, if your hearing is sensative enough to hear it. With monster cable video cables the best way to see how much better they are is to set your tv on the highest contrast and compare color bars. Monster cables have less bleed over of colors, and tend to not degrade through use due to overheating from using a non gas filled cable. Just my two cents. As far as for the xbox, they are not neccisary because the xbox does not have compatable internal cabling. A cable is only as good as it's source. The video in the xbox is run at a quality that was designed for xbox cables. you will notice a slight diference of standard xbox cables on a very high end tv, but not really enough to justify the cost. Acoustic research cables on the standard high def pack are just as good due to the xbox's own limitations. Hope this clears up this discustion.
Sorry for the spelling i'm half asleep.
*edit* some grammer and spelling