Audio/Visual Cables: Need Help!

[Keebler Elf]

So I've hooked up my HD TV and it works fine and dandy (I watched Canada whip ass last night!).

Now I'm trying to navigate the masses of cables to streamline/upgrade as necessary. I've already removed a bunch of unnecessary cables and plugs from devices long since removed.

For starters, what is the ranking in terms of quality for cables? Is co-axial at the bottom, then the red/white/yellow, then the red/blue/green, then the HDMI cable? (I think there's an "S" cable out there too but the above are all I currently have on my systems).

My limiting factor seems to be the HD TV. It has 2 HDMI slots and 2 sets of red/blue/green slots (one of the green plug holes is surrounded by a yellow ring with the word Video next to it). These 2 sets are marked Component In.

Here's what I've got:

- VCR
- DVD/VCR recorder combo
- DVD player
- Xbox 360
- Rogers PVR box

I'm going to keep the VCR but not plug it in. Eventually I'll get rid of it but for now it's a backup. I have the Rogers PVR (using the HDMI cable) and the Xbox 360 (using the red/blue/green cable) plugged into the TV. That leaves the DVD player and the DVD/VCR recorder, both of which are currently using red/white/yellow plugs. I guess the DVD player could be superfluous since I have the DVD/VCR combo but the player is really new so I'm hesitant to toss it just yet. I don't see where the red/white/yellow plugs connect to the HDTV. There's room for red/white but nothing obvious for the yellow. Both the DVD and DVD/VCR have plug slots for red/blue/green. Should I be switching? I have 1 red/blue/green slot left available on the TV.

The TV also has an Audio Out (red/white) slot and a DVI In (HDMI2; also red/white) slot that are both available. The TV also has an AV 1 and 2 slot (red/white) that are adjacent to the 2 red/blue/green slots (dunno if you can have something in both the adjacent red/white and red/blue/green slots simultaneously).

All you audio/video experts out there, please help!

Here's a link to the HDTV manual (the connection panel diagram is on page 4): http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/c...10137796_[20080729]BN68-01795A-00Eng-0729.pdf

 

[Master_Bates]

personally, i'd switch to hdmi for the 360 because the games would look awesome.... and the red/white/yellow is the old red/blue/green.... you can just plug those cables into the component outs

 

[samcan]

Red, Green and Blue will pass 480p.1080i and 1080p its second on the food chain of cables. The red,white and yellow will work fine for the vcr, use rgb for dvd player.
I would suggest you join and read some info here.
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/index.php
It is an excellent site for all things electronic.

 

[Keebler Elf]

personally, i'd switch to hdmi for the 360 because the games would look awesome.... and the red/white/yellow is the old red/blue/green.... you can just plug those cables into the component outs

But where does the yellow plug go?

Hmmm, the HDMI cable connecting my TV to my Rogers PVR doesn't fit the Xbox. Do you need a special HDMI cable for Xbox?

Edit: Grrrr, just learned my Xbox 360 is an old one that's not compatible with HD. Bastards!

 

[Rockslinger]

But where does the yellow plug go?

Hey Keebler, I am cable challenged just like you. I dread the thought of connecting my new HD TV which the store said has to come from the manufacturer now. Apparently, the one I bought was re-sold because I couldn't do a cash and carry. What does one expect for free delivery? How did you get your HD TV so quick?

Did I tell you about the time I bought a flat screen PC monitor and tried unsuccessfully to connect it to my PC? Apparently, one cannot connect a digital monitor to an analog computer. Shoot! Query: Are the old big back monitors worth anything now or are they garbage?

 

[Powershot]

But where does the yellow plug go?

Hmmm, the HDMI cable connecting my TV to my Rogers PVR doesn't fit the Xbox. Do you need a special HDMI cable for Xbox?

Edit: Grrrr, just learned my Xbox 360 is an old one that's not compatible with HD. Bastards!

No worries, you can output 1080p over component out I believe. Make sure you go into your xbox settings and set it to 720p or 1080p now that you have a high def TV.

 

[Keebler Elf]

No worries, you can output 1080p over component out I believe. Make sure you go into your xbox settings and set it to 720p or 1080p now that you have a high def TV.

I'm confused. How do I do that?

My TV is 1080p.

 

[Keebler Elf]

How did you get your HD TV so quick?

I bought mine online on Christmas eve. Then I found out that it wouldn't arrive until Jan 3rd. Fuck that, I want to watch the World Juniors on it. So I went to the store and bought the same TV on boxing day. Then I canceled my online order.

Shipping was $55 (which was refunded since it hadn't shipped yet).

 

[Powershot]

I'm confused. How do I do that?

My TV is 1080p.

I can't remember, I don't have a 360 anymore, but it is definitely in the 360 settings menus somewhere.

 

[Rockslinger]

Are there any outcall SP's who are cable competent? Outcalls are legal, right? Connecting cables is also legal, right?

 

[tboy]

OK cabling 101:
RCA cables: RED WHITE YELLOW is the lowest form of transmitting a video and 2 audio signals from a source (vcr) to an amplifier or TV (in this case).

The red and white carry the left and right audio signals, the yellow is for the video. Red typically is for the right channel, white is for the left.

DON'T USE THIS CABLE FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN AUDIO. You paid a shit load of money for your HDTV and if you use the yellow? You wasted your money.

Next up is S video. Typically a round cable/plug with a little plastic orienting bar in the middle. This carries a better video signal ONLY than the yellow RCA.

Next up is component, this ONLY carries a video signal broken into the 3 separate channels. This is the three colour bunched cable which is Red Green Blue as samcan indicated. This is an analog signal.

Next up is DVI which is what most computer video cards output. I bring this up because many older DVD players have DVI instead of HDMI. I have an older upscaling LG dvd player that has a DVI jack and it won't work with the HDMI DVI adapter. It freezes so I had to go component. DVI is a digital signal.

HDMI is the best all around. It also carries an audio signal. I'm not sure if the audio is digital or not, (but I think it is analog) but the video signal is DIGITAL.

Now Audio also has a digital version which is a fibre optical cable which is digital. I don't think you're using a surround sound system so your tv may not have an optical input.

Red and White RCA cables are needed to carry your audio signals from your various components. These are analog. Basically they are the same as the red white yellow without the yellow. You'll probably need a few of these to connect all your components together.

Be prepared: for every piece you feed into your TV or surround sound amp you're going to add at least 3 analog cables (video, left and right audio) or 1 hdmi each. SO, if you have a DVD, cable box, playstation you're going to have 9 cables connected to your tv. (or 7 if you use HDMI for 2) plus 4 electrical power cords.

If you have a surround sound system you'll probably have 1 HDMI going to your TV and the rest will plug into the amp. This is the easiest because the amp controls everything and you only need 1 output to the TV but believe me, with 5.1 you're going to have at least a mile of wires.

Not to confuse you but a typical surround sound system will have:
DVD: either an HDMI or component/s video and 2 audio channels (2 cables plus power).
Cable Box: HDMI or component/s video and 2 audio channels plus power
Game Console: HDMI Component/S video and 2 audio channels plus power
Front speakers: 2 wires (left and right)
Rear Speakers: 2 wires (left and right)
Middle channel 1 wire
Subwoofer: 1 single RCA plus power (which should be connected to the auxillory recepticle on the back of the amp).
Plus power for the amp.

So, that's 19 different cables.

Just remember: for every item added to the system you'll most likely add 3 cables. So if you add your vcr you'll have 22.

 

[Rockslinger]

OK cabling 101:

tboy, you are simply amazing.

(I went back to the store to enquire about the delivery of my TV and the sign on the front door said they went bankrupt. Just kidding! TV delivered this morning (still in the box).)

A couple of questions:

1) Should all the equipment be UNPLUGGED during the cabling process?
2) If a cable is inadvertently "MISPLUGGED", will there be a big explosion or damage to the equipment? It has happened in my life where I "misplugged" sonmething and it caused an electrical short or something silly like that and it killed the appliance.

 

[tboy]

No, you don't have to unplug everything before cabling but it should be turned off.

You can't misplug an HDMI cable, it only goes in one way (kind of shaped like a flattened capital letter D).

If you plug an audio cable into a video rca jack, you just won't hear anything. Same as vice versa. Plugging a left cable into a right input jack will just reverse the sound.

Now if you try to plug in the power cord to the HDMI jack, you're in trouble lol......

These are all rca cables:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/HoundCables_Audio-Video_Regular_W0QQfsubZ169931619

These are component cables (basically RCA cables bundled into a set of 3)

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/HoundCables_Component_Regular_W0QQfsubZ168410419

These are HDMI cables:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/HoundCables_HDMI_Regular_W0QQfsubZ170433819

These are S video cables:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/HoundCables_S-Video_Regular_W0QQfsubZ171621819

It is pretty simple actually. Just plug the HDMI cable into the cable box and then into the TV. Then plug the audio rca cables into the right and left audio out from the cable box into the audio in jacks in the back of the TV.

Make sure you take note of which HDMI jack you plug into, you'll have to select this input from the setup menu on the TV.

 

[Keebler Elf]

And make sure when you can't get audio for your DVD player that the end of the cable to the DVD player is plugged into the HDMI and you don't just have one end connected and the other end hanging out in the wind.

Took me forever to figure out I had two cables, one plugged into the DVD and the other plugged in the HDTV, and neither of them were plugged into anything else.

D'OH!!!!

 

[Rockslinger]

Took me forever to figure out I had two cables, one plugged into the DVD and the other plugged in the HDTV, and neither of them were plugged into anything else.

Are you saying that you had one cable too many? Therefore, you should have used just one.

Canada Post has just delivered my Future Shop purchased HDMI cables.

 

[Keebler Elf]

No. I had 2 cables for 2 different devices but both only had one plug connected. When I was looking at the DVD, the cable was connected to the DVD and there was a cable connected to the TV. So I assumed they were the same cable.

Never assume.

 

[tboy]

No. I had 2 cables for 2 different devices but both only had one plug connected. When I was looking at the DVD, the cable was connected to the DVD and there was a cable connected to the TV. So I assumed they were the same cable.

Never assume.

LOL I tried not to say anything, I really really did....lol....but that's fricken FUNNY.

Almost as funny as my cousin calling me over to his place to show off his High tech surround sound system. So he puts us in THE spot, grabs the 1" thick owner's manual to show off his kick ass system.

So he turns it on, presses the DVD button, click, it switches to cd and turns off. WTF? he's thinking. Turns it on again, presses the DVD button, it switches back to CD and turns off. He's starting to fume now. Scrambling through the manual trying to figure out WTF is going ON.

Then click the unit turns on, switches to DVD and music starts coming out and he's like FREAKING OUT, until he turns around and sees me with the remote in my hand lol.....

 

[Rockslinger]

Then click the unit turns on, switches to DVD and music starts coming out and he's like FREAKING OUT, until he turns around and sees me with the remote in my hand

I'm sure there are many stories in the Cable City. I killed a camera once when I plugged it into the TV while the TV was turned on. Who in heck makes a camera that kills itself when plugging into a TV?

 

[tboy]

I'm sure there are many stories in the Cable City. I killed a camera once when I plugged it into the TV while the TV was turned on. Who in heck makes a camera that kills itself when plugging into a TV?

Did you try replacing the battery? The current coming out of the a/v jacks is so small to be almost non existent......

 

[Rockslinger]

Did you try replacing the battery? The current coming out of the a/v jacks is so small to be almost non existent......

Not to worry tboy. That was 3 years ago. I took the dead camera back to Black's and they gave me a new replacement but now I just have to remember to turn off the TV when plugging just to be safe.