Best component cables silver or copper

Try renting a few different types from The Cable Company and try them at home yourself.

I gotta tell you, I've been really impressed with the Tara Labs RSC (Rectangular Square Core) component cables. They really do a phenomenal job.

Granted, they're a little pricey, but some exploration and a wanted ad on the 'GoN should produce a few offers that are appreciably less than retail.

For video silver plated copper is the best, once the silver plate is thick enough. Some comp. sell variations with 1% to 6% silver coating at increasing $$$.
I use AQ HDMI cable, the middle of the line with a Denon DVD5910 and am happy.
The biggest difference I have seen from video is with proper power conditioning. The increase in clarity and definition is well worth the price!

The reason silver plated copper works so well for video and not so well for analog audio is that at video (and digital) frequencies, which are very high, nearly the entire signal rides on the skin of the conductor rather than through the core. This means that a silver plated copper conductor can effecively sound like a pure silver conductor but at a lower cost.

Silver, when done right, tends to outperform copper, but silver is not always done right. The purity of the metal, method of drawing or casting, grain and crystal structure, all make a difference. Also the dielectric can have as much of an effect on performance as the conductor itself.

DH Labs component video cables work very well for me, and the LAT International are excellent for video as well. Both are copper with silver coating, though LAT explains that their coating is applied under high pressure (or something) to "fuse" the silver into the copper creating a near alloy. Silver plated cables have never worked for me for audio, but these two are the best video cables I have used. Curiously, the LAT International digital IC seems to work well too.