2 stupid questions! :3

Is there a difference between official Microsoft's VGA HD AV cable and 3rd party VGA HD AV cable? It's just so much cheaper.. :O And is the VGA cable the best choice for my TV (26" Samsung HDTV, native resolution 1366 x 768.)? Thx!

I have a 21 inch lcd moniter that I use for gaming and I originally bought a mad katz vga adapter because it was longer and cheaper but I was getting ghosting on the moniter for some reason. I returned it and got the Microsoft one and haven't had an issue. I'm not sure if I just had a defective vga adapter but it's something to keep your eye on - perhaps the mad katz adapters aren't shielded as well?

In regards to washed out colors - the spring update fixed that by allowing you to select expanded color sets for lcd moniters.  If you are using an LCD TV, I'd probably just stick with the component though.  It seems you obviously care about the money and so I don't think you will get your money's worth of value in moving to VGA; unless your TV doesn't take component for some strange reason...