To Get The Best Signal For TV, You Need A Component Video Cable

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Can I just say “Cranky in the morning”

Do any of you feel cranky this morning? Well folks Mr. Maxman is feelin a little on the grumpy side right now.

Mrs.Max and myself were up most of the night with our little girl Missy Max. Yes like most normal folk out there (not that the Maxman is normal) will agree that when you have little ankle biters running around there can be some drama at times. Anyway more on that later ok?

Cables & Connectors

Now many of you have been on me lately to give you some info on different types of cables and connectors for your HT systems and I will be honest with you folks, the Maxman has kind of been avoiding this topic.

Sorry!

You know Maxman’s motto “Maximum value minimal confusion” well that’s the problem.

You see I know about the whole cable thing and what it does or what is best for different applications. The problem I’m having is how to explain it without all the ramble bamble industry jargon that comes with it.

Being low on electric sugar probably doesn’t help either. Anyway enough of my sympathy searching crap.

Component Video

As you’ve probably figured component cables carry the video (picture) signal from the source (DVD player) to the display (TV) and like S-Video they do not carry audio.

Now component is relatively newer than S-Video and composite and before HDMI arrived on the scene component was pretty much the latest and greatest as far as transporting a video signal was concerned. So at the time I guess you could say that a component video cable would give you the best signal for TV.

One of the main reasons for this was it was the only analog signal cable at the time that could support progressive scan and high definition resolutions that were emerging in the world of consumer electric’s. DVD players were also starting to make component the output of choice.

How it Works?

So we know that video cables regardless of the type are designed to carry brightness (luminance) and color (chrominance) they just do it in different ways.

1. Composite combines the signal and carries it through one wire.
2. S-Video splits the signal in two and carries it along two separate wires one for brightness and one for color resulting in a better quality picture than composite.
3. There is also RGBHV which splits the signal 5 ways, color is split into red, blue, and green while the other 2 parts of the signal are what is known as horizontal sync & vertical sync.

Stay with me people cause here is where it gets a little mickey mouse (confusing).

Component is similar to RGBHV in that it splits the signal into the 3 colors but what it does differently is it will take the horizontal and vertical sync signals and combine them with the green (luminance) signal also known as Y.

The red rather than carrying just red it carries red minus total luminance also known as Pr.

The blue like the red carries blue minus total luminance also known as Pb.

So once this signal gets to your TV it will read the Y, Pb and Pr to determine the amount of green, blue and red that is needed and combines it with the incoming horizontal & vertical sync signals to give you the intended picture.

Did ya get all that? I’m not done yet.

Component can be summed up as a “Multiscan Format” and what this means is it can deliver the signal with as many lines and any frame rate it chooses.

So no matter what kind of resolution you may have on your TV, component can deliver any signal from 480i right through to 1080p. Its predecessors Composite and S-Video could not do this.

Something it does have in common (as mentioned above) with Composite and S-Video is that it does not carry an audio signal, so once again a TOSLINK cable would be a good choice for your digital sound requirements.

Final Word

Now Maxmaniacs remember when you go to install or should I say hook up your DVD player to your high def TV, if you want to take advantage of that progressive scan feature don’t make the mistake of using a S-video or Composite connector. You want to use a Component connector. OK?

PS

If you’re concerned for Missymax she was just having a few bad dreams. Too much Fantastic Four and not enough Anne of Green Gables if you ask me.

It’s not her fault her dad is a movie fanatic.

Maxman Out.

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