RCA or Composite Cables

These are the most common cables, used to hook up your standard VCR and stereo equipment. They are color-coded: red, white, and yellow. Red is for right audiochannel . White is for left audio channel . Yellow is for video. The entire video signal is transmitted by one cable. the lowest quality cable for a video signal. Most televisions, video camcorders, VCRs, and videodisc players will have RCA jacks for these cables

BNC Cables

A BNC cable is actually just another form of an RCA/composite cable. The end of the cable looks different from an RCA cable, but can be changed to an RCA end with an adapter. Most professional video equipment will have a BNC jack instead of a RCA jack. The physical connection is more secure because BNC cables twist and lock in place.

A BNC Connector is used in Serial Video Interface (SDI) connections. SDI is a professional video interface used for broadcast quality video. High Definition Serial Digital Interface (HD-SDI) uses two BNC connectors and is commonly referd to as Dual Link HD-SDI.

S-Video or Y/C Cables

Or SVHS cable can be found on most high-end televisions, all videodisc players, camcorders, digital cable and satellite set top boxes, and SVHS VCRs. S-video cables differ from composite cables in that they split video signal into two different components: luminance and chrominance. The S-video cable will offer marked improvement over a composite cable.

Component Cables

Component cables look just like composite cables. The difference is that, where a composite cable carries the entire video signal on a single cable, component cables split the signal in three. This connection gives a superior image over composite or S-video connections. The signal itself is referred to as either Y,Cr,Cb, or Y,Pb,Pr. The tips of the cables and jacks will be red, green and blue. Unfortunately, this can be a bit confusing because computer RGB connections are colored the same way. A good rule of thumb is that, if the connections are RCA type, it is usually a component cable. Computer RGB cables will usually be BNC type. Most high-end DVD players and HDTV tuners will have component connections.

RGB Cables

These cables look split the video signal into five. There are three different types of RGB cables:

Serial Didital Interface (SDI) connections. SDI is a professional video interface used for broadcast quality video. High Definition Serial Digital Interface (HD-SDI) uses two BNC connectors and is commonly referred to as Dual Link HD-SDI. SDI uses BNC connectors

The 5 different standards for SDI are:

DVI Cables

Digital Video Interface (DVI) cables look a little like a standard VGA cable, but they are slightly larger. Under ideal circumstances, the DVI cable creates a ‘digital to digital’ connection between video or data source and display device.

DVI is still developing, so there is no universal standard for the DVI cable as of yet. Currently projector manufacturers including InFocus, Sony, and Epson use different standards. Look for DVI to grow in popularity and become standardized over the next couple of years.

High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) over DVI is a recent development. The HDCP content protection standard has expanded the use of DVI in high definition DVD players and HDTV set top boxes.

Current Types

• DVI-A are used to carry a DVI signal to an analog display, such as a CRT monitor or an HDTV. Although some signal quality is lost from the digital to analog conversion, it still transmits a higher quality picture than standard VGA.

• DVI-D are used for direct digital connections between source video (namely, video cards) and digital LCD (or rare CRT) monitors. This provides a faster, higher-quality image than with analog, due to the nature of the digital format. All video cards initially produce a digital video signal, which is converted into analog at the VGA output. The analog signal travels to the monitor and is re-converted back into a digital signal. DVI-D eliminates the analog conversion process and improves the connection between source and display

• DVI-I  are integrated cables which are capable of transmitting either a digital-to-digital signal or an analog-to-analog signal. This makes it a more versatile cable, being usable in either digital or analog situations.

The officially DVI specification DVI equipment must maintain a signal at 5 meters (16 feet) in length. But the maximum length possible is never exact. In-house tests on varying equipment have produced strong signals up to 9 and 10 meters long. Tests at 12 meters generally resulted in signal loss and an unusable image on the display.

Keep in mind that when using DVI-I cables at extensive lengths, you may not be seeing a digitally-clear image on your screen. Because analog has a much longer run, your display may auto-switch once the digital signal is too weak. For this reason, long runs are best done with VGA, but if you really want to make sure you're getting the best (digital) image, use DVI-D cables and ensure that your display is set to digital input.

HDMI Cables

High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cables are a smaller version of DVI cables. With one added feature HDMI cables can also carry 16 bit, 8 channel, digital audio signals as well as video. HDMI is the best choice for AV applications. Developed by Sony, Hitachi, Thomson (RCA), Philips, Matsushita (Panasonic), Toshiba and Silicon Image, the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) has emerged as the connection standard for HDTV and the consumer electronics market. HDMI is the first and only digital interface to combine uncompressed high-definition video, multi-channel audio and intelligent format and command data in a single digital interface. HDMI offers significant advantages over analog A/V connections, including the ability to transmit uncompressed digital video and audio content. In addition to numerous device and display manufacturers, Hollywood studios and cable and satellite operators also support HDMI. The newest version is HDMI 1.3 (HDMI 1.3 PDF)

Versions

HDMI 1.1 - Released May 2004.

• Added support for DVD Audio.

HDMI 1.2 - Released August 2005.

• Added support for One Bit Audio, used on Super Audio CDs, up to 8 channels.

• Availability of HDMI Type A connector for PC sources.

• Ability for PC sources to use native RGB color space while retaining the option to support the YCbCr CE color space.

• Requirement for HDMI 1.2 and later displays to support low-voltage sources.

HDMI 1.2a - Released December 2005.

• Fully specifies Consumer Electronic Control (CEC) features, command sets, and CEC compliance tests.

HDMI 1.3 - Released 22 June 2006.

• Increases single-link bandwidth to 340 MHz (10.2 Gbit/s).

• Optionally supports 30-bit, 36-bit, and 48-bit xvYCC with Deep Color or over one billion colors, up from 24-bit sRGB or YCbCr in previous versions.

• Incorporates automatic audio syncing (lip sync) capability.

• Supports output of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio streams for external decoding by AV receivers.

• TrueHD and DTS-HD are lossless audio codec formats used on HD DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. If the disc player can decode these streams into uncompressed audio, then HDMI 1.3 is not necessary, as all versions of HDMI can transport uncompressed audio.

• Availability of a new mini connector for devices such as camcorders.

M1 Cables

The M1 Display Interface System is a standard created by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). A consortium of video adapter and monitor manufacturers founded in 1989, whose goal is to standardize video protocols specifically for digital displays. The M1 standard was approved in August of 2001. 

Compatible with DVI, VGA, USB and Fire Wire signals. The M1-DA connector replaces the VGA, DVI and USB connectors found on other projectors. Adaptors are required to connect to a VGA or DVI source. Like USB, M1-DA can provide power to external devices. The popularity of the M1 connectors is in decline because nearly all connections you will make will need an adaptor.

Variants of M1 connectors are in line with the DVI types.

• M1-DA - Digital and Analog. The most common type. It supports VGA, USB, and DVI signals.

• M1-D - Digital. Supports DVI signals

• M1-A - Analog. Supports VGA signals.

USB Cables

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard to interface devices to a host computer. USB was designed to allow many peripherals to be connected using a single standardized interface socket and to improve the plug-and-play capabilities by allowing devices to be connected and disconnected without rebooting the computer (hot swapping). Other convenient features include providing power to low-consumption devices without the need for an external power supply.

USB was originally designed for personal computers, but it has become commonplace on other devices such as PDAs and video game consoles. As of 2008, there are about 2 billion USB devices in the world. With the advent of Flash Memory Sticks USB Type A is a convenient way to make presentations with your projector without using a PC

USB Type B is used a a mouse connection on older projectors and is not compatible with Flash Memory Sticks. There are also mini versions of USB A & B commonly found on cameras and mobile phones.
 

VGA Cables

This is your standard computer monitor cable. It is typically male-to-male with three rows, 15 pins. or computer to projector connections. Some HDTV boxes have connections for VGA.