Component Video cables

fredweis

Junior Member
Feb 17, 2005
14
0
0
I just purchased a plasma TV and I was told by a friend that I need a high performance component video cable to get the most out of it. Does anyone know any high performance component video cables out there? Also waht are the differences in these component video cables?
 

ribbon13

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2005
9,343
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Component video transmits seperate color signals. Its way better than composite. Somewhat better than S-video. Not as good as HD15 or DVI.

1.5'
3'
 

cryogenic666

Senior member
Feb 27, 2005
250
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If you have the option of DVI, go that route.. beyond that, go with component as that's the ONLY way you can get 720p or 1080i resolution. S-video and composite top out @ 480i.
 

MrChad

Lifer
Aug 22, 2001
13,507
3
81
Originally posted by: cryogenic666
If you have the option of DVI, go that route.. beyond that, go with component as that's the ONLY way you can get 720p or 1080i resolution. S-video and composite top out @ 480i.

Actually, S-Video maxes out at 400 lines vertical resolution and Composite maxes out at 220 lines.
 

rbV5

Lifer
Dec 10, 2000
12,632
0
0
Originally posted by: Blain
From best quality to worse...

Component
S-Video
Composite
Coax

Its always interesting to me how coax is always placed at the bottom for quality. I just looked and notice that simple coax carries my Digital cable signal from the cable company to my house as well as my OTA HDTV signal from my antenna to my PC, and my neighbors DirectTV dish to his home. Why do they use coax if its the worst of the bunch?

Actually, S-Video maxes out at 400 lines vertical resolution and Composite maxes out at 220 lines.

Thats simply not true. Both s-video and composite (rca) are capable of carrying the same 480i signals. The difference is that s-video keeps the Chrominance and luminance components seperated, while composite or RCA mixes them together.
 

PurdueRy

Lifer
Nov 12, 2004
13,837
4
0
Originally posted by: ribbon13
Component video transmits seperate color signals. Its way better than composite. Somewhat better than S-video. Not as good as HD15 or DVI.

1.5'
3'

Component cables have nothing to do with keeping colors seperate. It keeps Color difference seperate. I bet you knew this and were simplifying but I just want to clarify. The green cables does NOT carry the green colors, the red cables does NOT carry the red colors...and so on. I heard some best buy employees telling this to customers and I just had to roll my eyes
 

Auric

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
9,591
2
71
Originally posted by: rbV5
Originally posted by: Blain
From best quality to worse...

Component
S-Video
Composite
Coax

Its always interesting to me how coax is always placed at the bottom for quality. I just looked and notice that simple coax carries my Digital cable signal from the cable company to my house as well as my OTA HDTV signal from my antenna to my PC, and my neighbors DirectTV dish to his home. Why do they use coax if its the worst of the bunch?

There is a difference betwixt what the cable itself is capable of versus the standard for which it is used. For example RG-6 coaxial cable will carry all the above signals perfectly and can be used with appropriate physical connectors. Coax as above refers to Radio Frequency and is thus considered worst in regard to VTR and old TV connections since additional modulation is required versus direct composite video. Digital encoding allows increasing the number of signals over RF on the same cable. Contrary to popular belief, digital cable TV/Sat may decrease quality when over compressed and it is the HDTV standard which allows (but does not require) increased quality.
 

Lemodular

Senior member
Sep 15, 2004
521
1
71
Originally posted by: rbV5

Its always interesting to me how coax is always placed at the bottom for quality. I just looked and notice that simple coax carries my Digital cable signal from the cable company to my house as well as my OTA HDTV signal from my antenna to my PC, and my neighbors DirectTV dish to his home. Why do they use coax if its the worst of the bunch?

A simple coax that carrie signal to your Cable STB, your computer, and your neigboor's DirectTv are only carrying digital signal (that inlude among other things video and audio signals). The connections mentioned above (except the DVI, HDMI or any derivatives of that) are all compared as annalog mediums. In that comparison, the Coax is indeed the lowest form since it is the medium that carries both audio and video in the same line. All others separate their signals.
 

Vegito

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 1999
8,329
0
0
i seen the difference.. they were big between svhs and component.. didn't believe my eyes :)