Learning Your Cables and Connectors
If you have never installed a home theater system, you may feel a little overwhelmed when you initially bring your equipment home. Especially if you want to integrate existing equipment into the system, perhaps your CD player, an audio tuner, personal computer or gaming equipment, as well as any other components.
You have a choice. You can hire an expert to install your equipment for you -- for a large price. Or you can learn what all those connectors and cables are there for and how to properly install them yourself in a reasonably short session. Now the good thing about learning to do it yourself is that if you decide to relocate your home theater system, or if something by chance gets disconnected, your don’t have to call that over paid professional, you can do it yourself!
DIY Cables & Installation
Home theater systems can include components such as DVD players, VCRs, stereo components or video gaming equipment. These will all integrate into your central entertainment component, the television, and then output to the speakers, both loudspeakers and sub-woofers, are at the ends of the chain. Your goal is to get source signals into the central point, where they will be displayed and the audio signals sent out to the speakers.
If you purchased one of the popular theater-in-a-box systems, you'll have almost everything required including color-coded connections and a map to guide you through the process. Do not, however, do anything until you read the Owner's Manual.
But not everyone wants to use the theater-in-a-box. You may already have many of the components you need and simply want to integrate your system, perhaps adding a new High-Definition Television or AV receiver and Surround Sound. This means you'll need to understand the various cables required.
Let's look at those cables individually:
- A Composite Video Connection sends both color and black and white video signals together along the cable. The end of this type of cable is commonly known as an RCA video connection and, if your equipment is color coded, will probably be coded yellow. This type of cable connection is circular with a single plug-in prong.
- Don't confuse the cable above with a Component Video Connection, which also sends color as well as black and white signals but sends them separately. This type of cable is used to connect video source devices, for example a DVD player, to a television or other video output device. This cable will have three RCA type plugs (in rare cases, three cables may be used instead) with red, green and blue color-coded tips. The two types of cables known as Component Video Connections for use in the home are the Y,Pb,Pr which is a Progressive Scan video input/output connection or the Y,Cb,Cr which is Interlaced Scan video input/output connection. If the cable is included with your system, it really isn't important to know which is which, but if you must purchase a cable, refer to your owner's manual to learn which type you need.
- An S-Video cable sends the black and white signal separately from the color signal. This analog cable results in more color definition and sharper edges.
- High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cables are used for high-definition equipment to connect a video/audio source to an output device such as a television. This type of cable allows the signal to be transferred digitally.
- RF coaxial cable connections are used for transferring video and audio signals from an antenna, satellite or cable connection to the video output device. It may also be used to connect components such as a VCR to a television and can have push-on or screw-on connections on each end of the cable.
- For digital audio signals, including Dolby Digital, DTS and PCM, digital coaxial audio connection cables are used. This type of cable will be used to connect an audio source such as a CD player to an audio/visual receiver or Surround Sound processor. Look for an RCA connection on the ends of these cables.
- Another way to transfer digital audio signals is the digital optical connection, which uses fiber-optic cable to get the sound from a source to the processor or output device. This connection is called a TOSLINK.
- High definition televisions often double as a television and a computer monitor. For this purpose, you may find a video graphics adapter (VGA) monitor input option on your television. A VGA cable is used for this connection, just like the one on most personal computers.
- A Digital Visual Interface (DVI) connection is a cable which can transfer a digital signal that contains only video from a source signal such as a DVD to a video output device such as a television, using only digital information. This type of cable is frequently used with high-definition equipment because it provides greater image quality.
- The Digital Video (DV) connection is used for connecting mini-DV camcorders to DVD recorders and some other devices. It can also be used to transfer multi-channel sound signals such as DVD-Audio from a high-end DVD player to an audio/video receiver or output device. It is also used from sending HDTV signals from a high-definition cable or satellite box to a TV or VCR but it is not widely used this way since HDMI or DVI is more popular for this purpose.
- You may also need analog stereo cables (speaker wires) to send the left and right stereo audio signals from component units like a CD, VCR or other sound device to your Surround Sound processor and out to the speakers. These cables are color coded with "Red for Right" making it the mnemonic way to remember which color goes to which receiving end of the system.