My rule of thumb is this: for cable runs under about 20' I'd recommend a Premium High Speed HDMI cable. They are passive cables certified by HDMI.org to meet all of the current HDMI 2.0 hardware specs and come with a QR label for authenticity. For runs over 20', I'd recommend a hybrid fiber cable from someone like Ruipro. They are expensive but do have very good reviews from actual users as far as reliability goes.
There is no truth that longer cables can fry a receiver. The hybrid fiber cables are active in that they draw a bit of power (very controlled) from the HDMI input. If a cable was to fry an avr, then it would be due to a power spike (faulty house wiring, lightening strike, etc) pushing a surge down the line.
Active cable should not be daisy chained. The best and most reliable HDMI connection, passive or active, is a single cable, source to sink with no extenders, adapters, wall plates, etc in-between. The ONLY way to future proof your cabling is run you cables in a conduit if you don't have easy access to them. Given the speed in which video standards are changing, you will more than likely be needing to upgrade your cabling again and with the use of a conduit, that make it so much easier and safer. The cable is just the data pipe. There are other factors involved with a successful cable connection like bend radius and strain on the HDMI input that also must be taken into consideration. The conduit, in conjunction with a pull string makes it very easy to fish the cable thru without pulling on the cable connectors (a very common problem which results in loss of reliability) and to control the bend radius.
