Black Bars and HDMI Cables

[hphansen]

I am new to the forum so please excuse me if I am reposting. I just recently purchased both a Blu-ray player (Panasonic DMP BD30K) and an HD DVD player (Toshiba A3) Both of these players are hooked up to a Panasonic TH-PX600U plasma. The problem that I am having is that all of my movies both Blu-ray and HD DVD have black bars on the top and bottom. I am wondering if missed something in the setup or is this just the nature of the beast?

My second question is regarding HDMI cables. I heard that there is no difference between a normal HDMI cable and a very expensive "Monster Cable" version, because this is a digital signal and it either gets there or it doesn't. Can anyone verify this? Does it make sense to pay $100.00 for a 3 ft HDMI cable?

Thank you in advance for all of your opinions -