No difference between component and cable connections?

[grampi]

When my new RPTV arrived the other day, I connected it to the satellite receiver the way I always have connected my TV's in the past with the coax cable. Reading through the satellite receiver manual I noticed it said coax is actually the worst connection, while component connections are the best. Then I disconnected the coax and connected the receiver to the TV using component connectors. I've gotta be honest here, I really don't see any difference in picture quality. Is there something else that needs to be done in order to get the full benefits of using component connections?

[AVMASTER]

is your satellite receiver capable of HD? on the Hitachi, those CV inputs should be wideband so they actually would be at their best with a progressive or HD signal. I do believe your RPTV has a DVI connect, if your sat receiver has it definitely use it

[IsmaVA]

The regular coaxial connection is the worst in terms of quality as it carries all the information (video + audio) via a single cable. The TV must separate all that into its different componets before it can be used.

Following is the composite (single yellow connector) which carries only the video info (the red/white connectors carry the audio part).

Next is S-video which not only carries the video separate from the audio part, but has the brightness info separated from the color info.

Then comes component, which further separates the color info into two components.

So, component is definitively superior to your regular coaxial cable connection. Now, as to why you see no difference between them . .that could be many reasons for that:

- your source might not provide a good enough signal for the component connection to make a difference.
- your tv might have excellent tuner circuitry that do a incredible job at separating the coax signal.
- you might not realized the difference.

Either way, if it looks the same to you then it doesn't really matters, and I would recommend using the component connection just because it is technically better, even if it is doesn't seem practically better in your particular case.

[grampi]

The regular coaxial connection is the worst in terms of quality as it carries all the information (video + audio) via a single cable. The TV must separate all that into its different componets before it can be used.

Following is the composite (single yellow connector) which carries only the video info (the red/white connectors carry the audio part).

Next is S-video which not only carries the video separate from the audio part, but has the brightness info separated from the color info.

Then comes component, which further separates the color info into two components.

So, component is definitively superior to your regular coaxial cable connection. Now, as to why you see no difference between them . .that could be many reasons for that:

- your source might not provide a good enough signal for the component connection to make a difference.
- your tv might have excellent tuner circuitry that do a incredible job at separating the coax signal.
- you might not realized the difference.

Either way, if it looks the same to you then it doesn't really matters, and I would recommend using the component connection just because it is technically better, even if it is doesn't seem practically better in your particular case.

Wait a minute. Now I'm confused. You say the 3 connector connection (the red, white, and yellow) is called composit? I thought this was the component connector. If this isn't the component connector, then what is?

[Smokey]

Wait a minute. Now I'm confused. You say the 3 connector connection (the red, white, and yellow) is called composit? I thought this was the component connector.


Red, white, and yellow is usually called composite A/V connection. Yellow is for composite video and red and white are for left and right audio channels. Composite video refer to when all elements of video signal are carried in only one wire. Another example of composite video is signal carried on coax cable from cable company.

Component video connection refer to THREE cable video connection (green, blue, and red) between TV and video source (which IsmaVA mentioned as being the best connection). HD satellite receiver will have component connection, but non HD satellite receivers will not. Try s-video connection. I think you will notice a difference.

[grampi]

Red, white, and yellow is usually called composite A/V connection. Yellow is for composite video and red and white are for left and right audio channels. Composite video refer to when all elements of video signal are carried in only one wire. Another example of composite video is signal carried on coax cable from cable company.

Component video connection refer to THREE cable video connection (green, blue, and red) between TV and video source (which IsmaVA mentioned as being the best connection). HD satellite receiver will have component connection, but non HD satellite receivers will not. Try s-video connection. I think you will notice a difference.

I will look through the satellite receiver's manual again. It talks about connecting components using component connectors so it must be an HD capable receiver. Are component connectors the same as composit as far them having RCA jacks on each end or is there a difference between the component and composit wires themselves? In other words, can I make a component connection using the composit connectors?

[This Guy]

yes. You could use a set of A/V composite cables as component, it's what I'm doing cause it was cheaper then buying "component cables."

[Ace H]

I've always wondered if there was a difference (internally) between composite video cables and component video cables.

[grampi]

I thought I was on to something but......

I started reading the satellite receiver manual again and I went back to the part where it talks about component connections. There's a little chart on the page that shows which connections are best, i.e., component, then S-video, then composit, then coax. I didn't notice before the little astrik next to the component connection which designates that is only available on a certain model receiver. Low and behold it isn't available on mine. What I though was a component connection was actually only a composit connection. I should've notice the connector colors were red, white, and yellow instead of red, blue, and green. With this realization, I connected the S-video cable expecting an improvement in picture quality. My guess is the difference between any of these different types of connections is very minute because I really can't see much of a difference, if any at all, at least not with a TV broadcast anyway. As a matter of fact, I also just found out my DVD player doesn't have component connections. Why would anyone make a DVD player without component connections? I will connect it using an S-Video connector as well. I'll see if I see any difference here as well.

[Smokey]

I've always wondered if there was a difference (internally) between composite video cables and component video cables.

Not if they are quality made. Just make sure it have a 75 ohm rating, and have good shielding :)

Grampi, if you have s-video capability, then by all mean use it. Although you might not notice any thing visually, but it is a better connection (than composite) :)

[kfalls]

Composite (yellow connector) as well as the component video cable are a 75 ohm coax-type cable where the red and white cables are for audio. So the cables are not the same. You have to have component hi-scan video cables for both progressive scan and HD video reproduction.