Have you ever noticed that the sound quality of a similar AV equipment, of your friend is far superior to yours, in spite of it being of the same make and same specifications. Have you wondered why and would like to know the answer? Well the answer is simple, it is cable connection .Yes! If you are using the right cables to support your AV devices, you will experience excellent picture and sound quality. Wrong cables connected to your equipment could reduce the quality of reception drastically.
As there are different types of audio cables available in the market, most of the consumers are not able to select the right one for their devices. In fact, a lot many people today are not able to understand cable parlance and the differences between different types of cables and hence end up buying cables which are unable to produce the desired results.
New generation AV devices employ digital connections to maximise the quality of the available audio video signals; presently, popular connectors are optical IN for excellent sound and S-Video for a perfect picture. The newest trend is HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) — this connection eliminates usage of separate audio video cables. HDMI cables carry both audio and video signals with minimal signal loss .
Unplugged tip for buying cables —Before going in for cables, one must consider certain factors — The type of I/O(input-output) connectors the systems carry. You must buy the cable of a reputed brand, not necessarily an expensive brand and neither a very cheap one.
The type of input connector will determine the type of cable to be used; For analog signals the popular one is RCA for both audio and video. Then there are s-video connectors for picture and optical in for digital audio. To match the above inputs the popular cables are RCA cables for analog signals, S-video for analog video schemes, optical audio cables for digital signals and HDMI cables for digital audio video combo.
A word of caution if you are buying HDMI cables. An expensive HDMI cable is not necessarily the best HDMI. There are other factors to be considered too, which we shall take up in our subsequent articles.
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