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Cable Tips - How To Get The Best Connection Solution For You
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Cable Tips - How To Get The Best Connection Solution For You
Cable
Confusion.This
article aims to clear up some of the confusion about which cables you
should use to connect you HD Plasma or LCD TV to all of its
accessories. We will answer questions like which cabling standard is
'best', how to connect them, should you buy the really expensive gold
plated variety? And what is the difference between the likes of HDMI,
DVI, Scart, Component and how do you identify what you have or are
about to buy?
This is not meant as a technical
reference and I will avoid jargon and technical specifications as much
as possible.
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What
Are All These Different Cable Types?
 This type is called HDMI and
it is the connection type most prefferable. Quite simply it is the most
up to date and has a huge throughput compared to most of the others.
This means that all the extra information required for a superb HD
picture along with all the sound information as well. It is also the
most widely adopted among manufacturers of new AV equipment. And
because it is sound and vision in one cable it makes for less of a
spaghetti junction behind the TV. HDMI is also an evolving standard
with improvements always on the horizon.
 This is
'Component' also a high quality solution capable of full HD transfer.
It is however less common on new equipment and because it has three
cables for picture and you need a seperate one for sound it makes for
more of a wire muddle. If your new flat panel has one of these ports(or
one set I should say) that would be a good thing.
 This is DVI.
Yet again this is a superb quality connection but it does not have the
throughput of the best. It can be really usefull if you want to connect
a PC to your television as many good quality graphics cards have a port
for this type of plug. So again it is good to have one of these and it
would give a sharper, clearer picture for PC use than a regular monitor
connection would. It is also possible to convert from DVI to the latest
standard.
 This is
scart. You probably recognise it as it has been around since the 1980s.
And as you would expect from a technology that old it has past its best
before date. It is advisable to avoid connecting any significant
accessories via this method. If you do you will not be getting anything
like the best possible from your HDTV. It is worth having 1 or more
scart sockets for any old stuff you might want to connect to though.
Playstation 2, Gamecube, old DVD player or old SKY box all would use
scart.
 This is called S-Video.
Avoid connecting anything important via this one. It is not a high
quality connection. You will usually see one of these on a plasma or
LCD in conjunction with to of the old mic/speaker connections. This is
usefull for connecting many camcorders and a good manufacturer will put
s video on the side of the panel. If your TV does not have DVI or your
television does not have the reguar PC SVGA slot then this might be an
option for working your computer or laptop on your new display.
Which
Connection Is Best For Me?
That
depends on if you already have your home cinema kit yet or are about to
invest in one.
Are you about to
purchase?
If this is
you then the decision is easy. Go for a television with as many HDMI
sockets as possible. A good number is three but the more the merrier.
And of course it makes sense where possible to get the accessories like
DVD players or HD games machines to match.
What
do you have available?
 Ideally you
will have an HDMI connection fror everything you attach to your plasma
or LCD screen. If not it doesn't matter because there will certainly be
other options that might suit your current or future attachments. If
not then you can always use an adapter. The one pictured left converts
a DVI device into an HDMI one. The signal quality is not the same as if
it came from an actual HDMI device but it is very good and solves a
problem. You can get many simmilar adapters from the various other
connection types.
 If you simply
do not have enough of the right type of socket then you can get a
switch box. This device allows you to plug multiple devices into the
switch and then connect the device to just one socket of the TV. You
can then flip through all the devices as you wish without having to
plug and unplug anything.
Should
I Buy The Top Price Cables?
It is a
little known but true that electrical retailers are making smaller and
smaller margins on TVs, DVD players and speaker sytems etc. This is so
because of competition but mainly because of growing internet use
buyers are more price aware and can easily home in on the cheapest
supplier for the make and model they want.
 So they have
to make money elsewhere, from YOU. One way is the dreaded
extended warranty. The other is over priced, all singing and
dancing cables. The packet pictured left contains an HDMI 'Monster'
cable and will set you back £100 at a certain UK retailer.
The sales person will tell you how great the shielding is. He
will waffle about throughput and gold connections. There are some real
and theoretical advantages to all these features. But the difference to
the human eye and ear on even the most state of the art equipment is
negligible. If you want to make a significant difference to your image
quality then calibrate
your TV.
You might be suprised how
persistent, even pushy the shop assistant is about the cable. If you
further consider that you might want an HDMI connection to and from
multiple devices then you can see how ludicrous the situation is. I
suggest you look the sales person squarely in the eye and ask him to
confirm that this is the cable he uses. He will probably squirm briefly
and drop the subject. Dont be suprised if there is not a cheap
alternative available and you have to look elsewhere. Dont worry, if
you shop around you should be able to get a good quality
brand name cable for about 20% of the price.
Plug
It In.
And as long as the connections are
firmly in you should get great picture and sound. To make sure you get
the best possible from your equipment I have a few suggestions.
Keep
the cable length as short as possible to avoid interference. Especially
if you are using scart. With the latest HDMI this is much less of an
issue but it is still possible to get electrical interference that
causes distortion. Even if you have already purchased one these
expensive AV leads and the sales person told you how well shielded it
was, it is still worth applying these suggestions. And of course the
shorter it is the tidier it will be.
If you do have
excess cable coil it in a figure eight. This takes advantage of the
laws of physics and ensures the minimum interference. In addition try
to set it up so that any AV cables(thats wires carrying picture or
sound) do not come into contact with power leads. If they do have to
cross try and arrange it so they cross at right angles. This minimises
the possibilities for charge traveling from power to picture lead.
Just
a note about cable tidys. Based on what I have just said it is not
always a good idea to have all your cables scrunched up together. It
might improve what it looks like behind the TV stand but it may also
cause minor imperfections in the picture.
I hope
this article has been of some help. If you don't mind please visit some
of our Google adverts to help fund our web site.
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