"Ethan Winer" ethanw at ethanwiner dot com writes:

Hi Folks,

I just upgraded to a new "progressive" DVD player and of course the salesman
tried to sell me a $50 component video cable to connect it. So for now I'm
using a regular three-wire RCA cable meant for composite video and
Left/Right audio, and it works, but I'm wondering if I really would benefit
from better cables.

Practically all analogue consumer video interfaces are designed top use
75 ohm coaxial cable. This is the right cable to use in all those
applications and gives guaranteed performance. If you use something
else, then the results you cet can vary from good performance to poor
performance depending the cable used, cable length and sometimes
even on equipment used. Usually with showr wires od few meters
the "normal RCA cables" do not cuase problems on normal TV signals.
But when cables get longer or you have higher resolution signal
(progressive video from DVD, HDTV signal, computer VGA signal),
problems are more easily seen.

The cable you used most propably is designed to have two
different types of cables it.
RCA terminated video cable is generally 75ohms.
The audio wires are general purpose shielded audio cable,
that can have considerably different impedance than 75 ohms
and has generally considerable higher attenuation than
video coax cables (bnecause of different insulation material used).
I have also seen video + audio cabls where all three wires
are all the same general purpose audio cable type..

Depending on the distance from the video source to display
device distance, you might or might not benefit from the better
cables. If your cables have length of one meter or so, then
changing cables most propably do not have any noticable effect.
If your cables are 10 meters long, you most propably can
see some difference.

--
Tomi Engdahl (http://www.iki.fi/then/)
Take a look at my electronics web links and documents at
http://www.epanorama.net/

These cables are over priced. Production facilities normally buy this cable
by the spool, cut off what they need, and put on their own connectors. You
can use any standard 75 ohm rated RCA video type cable, and it will not be
critical for your player.

I would not use audio cable, because you will loose its response. If you
shop around at the local electronics parts distributors, they will most
likely have cables for about 1/2 of what you were quoted.

--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"Ethan Winer" ethanw at ethanwiner dot com wrote in message
...
Hi Folks,

I just upgraded to a new "progressive" DVD player and of course the salesman
tried to sell me a $50 component video cable to connect it. So for now I'm
using a regular three-wire RCA cable meant for composite video and
Left/Right audio, and it works, but I'm wondering if I really would benefit
from better cables.

Thanks for any advice.

--Ethan

These cables are over priced. Production facilities normally buy this cable
by the spool, cut off what they need, and put on their own connectors. You
can use any standard 75 ohm rated RCA video type cable, and it will not be
critical for your player.

I would not use audio cable, because you will loose its response. If you
shop around at the local electronics parts distributors, they will most
likely have cables for about 1/2 of what you were quoted.

--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"Ethan Winer" ethanw at ethanwiner dot com wrote in message
...
Hi Folks,

I just upgraded to a new "progressive" DVD player and of course the salesman
tried to sell me a $50 component video cable to connect it. So for now I'm
using a regular three-wire RCA cable meant for composite video and
Left/Right audio, and it works, but I'm wondering if I really would benefit
from better cables.

Thanks for any advice.

--Ethan

These cables are over priced. Production facilities normally buy this cable
by the spool, cut off what they need, and put on their own connectors. You
can use any standard 75 ohm rated RCA video type cable, and it will not be
critical for your player.

I would not use audio cable, because you will loose its response. If you
shop around at the local electronics parts distributors, they will most
likely have cables for about 1/2 of what you were quoted.

--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"Ethan Winer" ethanw at ethanwiner dot com wrote in message
...
Hi Folks,

I just upgraded to a new "progressive" DVD player and of course the salesman
tried to sell me a $50 component video cable to connect it. So for now I'm
using a regular three-wire RCA cable meant for composite video and
Left/Right audio, and it works, but I'm wondering if I really would benefit
from better cables.

Thanks for any advice.

--Ethan

These cables are over priced. Production facilities normally buy this cable
by the spool, cut off what they need, and put on their own connectors. You
can use any standard 75 ohm rated RCA video type cable, and it will not be
critical for your player.

I would not use audio cable, because you will loose its response. If you
shop around at the local electronics parts distributors, they will most
likely have cables for about 1/2 of what you were quoted.

--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"Ethan Winer" ethanw at ethanwiner dot com wrote in message
...
Hi Folks,

I just upgraded to a new "progressive" DVD player and of course the salesman
tried to sell me a $50 component video cable to connect it. So for now I'm
using a regular three-wire RCA cable meant for composite video and
Left/Right audio, and it works, but I'm wondering if I really would benefit
from better cables.

Thanks for any advice.

--Ethan

Folks,

http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/compon.htm

Thanks JW, that's a great link.

And thanks to all the rest of you for clarifying this for me. I'll go buy
some cheap, but correct, cables today.

--Ethan

Folks,

http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/compon.htm

Thanks JW, that's a great link.

And thanks to all the rest of you for clarifying this for me. I'll go buy
some cheap, but correct, cables today.

--Ethan

Folks,

http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/compon.htm

Thanks JW, that's a great link.

And thanks to all the rest of you for clarifying this for me. I'll go buy
some cheap, but correct, cables today.

--Ethan

Folks,

http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/compon.htm

Thanks JW, that's a great link.

And thanks to all the rest of you for clarifying this for me. I'll go buy
some cheap, but correct, cables today.

--Ethan

What color subcarrier? NTSC/SECAM/PAL use a color subcarrier but this
is component out from a DVD so there is no reason to encode color
information with a subcarrier.

"Richard Crowley" wrote in message ...
"JWV Miller" wrote ...
Here is a website that seems to be a reasonably accurate
answer to your question:

http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/compon.htm

One thing that you might do is to plug in just the yellow
cable to the yellow jacks. The resulting image will be
monochrome but will show the maximum bandwidth
(sharpness) possible.

Actually it will show you *exagerated* artificial sharpness
because the color subcarrier will make edges look sharper
than they would if you were looking at just the Y
(monochrome) signal.

Agree that "industrial" 75 ohm cables are quite sufficient.
If you went to the studios that produced that video, do you
think you would find them wired with "Monster" or other
boutique cable? Not bloody likely.

If you really want "the good stuff" use Belden 8281 precision
video coax. (Except that is so darn stiff and requires special
connectors.)

What color subcarrier? NTSC/SECAM/PAL use a color subcarrier but this
is component out from a DVD so there is no reason to encode color
information with a subcarrier.

"Richard Crowley" wrote in message ...
"JWV Miller" wrote ...
Here is a website that seems to be a reasonably accurate
answer to your question:

http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/compon.htm

One thing that you might do is to plug in just the yellow
cable to the yellow jacks. The resulting image will be
monochrome but will show the maximum bandwidth
(sharpness) possible.

Actually it will show you *exagerated* artificial sharpness
because the color subcarrier will make edges look sharper
than they would if you were looking at just the Y
(monochrome) signal.

Agree that "industrial" 75 ohm cables are quite sufficient.
If you went to the studios that produced that video, do you
think you would find them wired with "Monster" or other
boutique cable? Not bloody likely.

If you really want "the good stuff" use Belden 8281 precision
video coax. (Except that is so darn stiff and requires special
connectors.)

What color subcarrier? NTSC/SECAM/PAL use a color subcarrier but this
is component out from a DVD so there is no reason to encode color
information with a subcarrier.

"Richard Crowley" wrote in message ...
"JWV Miller" wrote ...
Here is a website that seems to be a reasonably accurate
answer to your question:

http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/compon.htm

One thing that you might do is to plug in just the yellow
cable to the yellow jacks. The resulting image will be
monochrome but will show the maximum bandwidth
(sharpness) possible.

Actually it will show you *exagerated* artificial sharpness
because the color subcarrier will make edges look sharper
than they would if you were looking at just the Y
(monochrome) signal.

Agree that "industrial" 75 ohm cables are quite sufficient.
If you went to the studios that produced that video, do you
think you would find them wired with "Monster" or other
boutique cable? Not bloody likely.

If you really want "the good stuff" use Belden 8281 precision
video coax. (Except that is so darn stiff and requires special
connectors.)

What color subcarrier? NTSC/SECAM/PAL use a color subcarrier but this
is component out from a DVD so there is no reason to encode color
information with a subcarrier.

"Richard Crowley" wrote in message ...
"JWV Miller" wrote ...
Here is a website that seems to be a reasonably accurate
answer to your question:

http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/compon.htm

One thing that you might do is to plug in just the yellow
cable to the yellow jacks. The resulting image will be
monochrome but will show the maximum bandwidth
(sharpness) possible.

Actually it will show you *exagerated* artificial sharpness
because the color subcarrier will make edges look sharper
than they would if you were looking at just the Y
(monochrome) signal.

Agree that "industrial" 75 ohm cables are quite sufficient.
If you went to the studios that produced that video, do you
think you would find them wired with "Monster" or other
boutique cable? Not bloody likely.

If you really want "the good stuff" use Belden 8281 precision
video coax. (Except that is so darn stiff and requires special
connectors.)

"JWV Miller" wrote ...
What color subcarrier? NTSC/SECAM/PAL use a color
subcarrier but this is component out from a DVD so there
is no reason to encode color information with a subcarrier.

By "the yellow jacks" I was assuming you were refering to
the composite video output. Otherwise, it might be less confusing
to actually define the signal rather than the color of the connector.

"JWV Miller" wrote ...
What color subcarrier? NTSC/SECAM/PAL use a color
subcarrier but this is component out from a DVD so there
is no reason to encode color information with a subcarrier.

By "the yellow jacks" I was assuming you were refering to
the composite video output. Otherwise, it might be less confusing
to actually define the signal rather than the color of the connector.

"JWV Miller" wrote ...
What color subcarrier? NTSC/SECAM/PAL use a color
subcarrier but this is component out from a DVD so there
is no reason to encode color information with a subcarrier.

By "the yellow jacks" I was assuming you were refering to
the composite video output. Otherwise, it might be less confusing
to actually define the signal rather than the color of the connector.

"JWV Miller" wrote ...
What color subcarrier? NTSC/SECAM/PAL use a color
subcarrier but this is component out from a DVD so there
is no reason to encode color information with a subcarrier.

By "the yellow jacks" I was assuming you were refering to
the composite video output. Otherwise, it might be less confusing
to actually define the signal rather than the color of the connector.