While you should never blindly believe what you read on message boards, a poster at AVS Forums brings up a point that every PS3 owner should know. The poster claims that after his PS3 stopped displaying images on his TV, he called Sony regarding his warranty. Sony asked about the component cables he was using. When the poster admitted they were third-party cables, and not officially licensed Sony components, Sony allegedly told him his warranty was no good and he'd have to pay $150 to get the PS3 repaired.

Again, I can't confirm the validity of this story, but it doesn't seem out of line with Sony's history. Not only is the company notoriously difficult when it comes to warranties (the PS2's "disk read error" comes to mind), but it has always shown disdain for companies that make third party peripherals for its systems.

My point? Whether this story is true or not, you should always keep it in the back of your mind. I'm not suggesting you purchase the overpriced Sony branded peripherals, but I am suggesting you always tell Sony you did just that. After all, even if a PS3 is killed by third-party component cables, doesn't that say something about the quality of the PS3, rather than the quality of the component cables?