what is the difference between hd composite wires and hdmi cords? which is better? sound wise too?

See the differences on Wikipedia.org... Component is Red Green Blue analog,, and your equipment has to convert the signal to analog send it out, the TV gets it, has to convert it back to digital, than it is displayed. that being said, the picture is still pretty crystal clear. HDMI is a digital cable dig into your equipment, dig up the cable, digital displayed (after processing of course). HDMI is theoreticly better, and eiser to hook up. I use an HDMI for my Upconverting DVD player, and a Component for my HD cable box, the Component is crystal clear so it's really really good. Theoreticly HDMI is better. Sound wise, if you want suround sound, people usually hook up thier S/S processors directly from thier cable box or dvd player. sound at the tv isn't really effected by analog or dig that much. You'd have to have an ear the size of an elephant top hear the diff. Ultimately, HDMI is gong to be your better connection. Reason being is that HDMI supports the very highest resolution standard there is...1080P, that is only now becoming available on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVD players. While the vast majority of people don't have displays that will show this resolution...5 years down the line, that will change. Composite video (single video cable) is the oldest and lowest resolution form of video hookup, it carries video only, not audio, and is not High Def capable. You are probably referring to Component Video, which is a 3 wire standard. Component is actually quite good, and it is arguable whether it is better or worse on most displays capable of 720P or 1080i. At this point, if you have the choice between the two, I'm recommending HDMI to my Home Theater clients because HDMI will ultimately be the better standard.