RCA, or Composite, Cables
These are the most common cables, used to hook up your standard VCR and stereo equipment. Typically, they are color-coded: red, white, and yellow. Red is for right channel audio. White is for left channel audio. Yellow is for video. The entire video signal is transmitted by one cable. This is the lowest quality cable for a video source, but again, it is also the most common. Most new televisions, all video camcorders, all VCRs, and all videodisc players will have RCA jacks for these cables.

S-video, or Y/C, Cables
This cable might also be referred to as a SVHS cable and 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. Most manufacturers make connecting these cables easy by color coordinating them. 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. Most high-end DVD players and HDTV tuners will have component connections.

Portable DLP™ Projectors and Component Cables
Portable DLP™ projectors usually have very little space for connections. Due to the space restriction, many have the 15-pin VGA connection double as the component connection as well. The projector will use the same three pins out of the fifteen-pin connector for component video that it uses for its RGB computer connections. The projector is designed to detect the type of signal it receives and process it accordingly. If you need a component cable for one of these projectors, you should order a cable that has a 15-pin connector on one side, and three RCA connectors on the other. Some larger projectors have separate component connections. Consult the spec sheets.

VGA Cables
This is your standard monitor cable. It is typically male-to-male with three rows, 15 pins. A VGA cable is used for computer to monitor, or computer to projector connections. Its only home theater application may be as a connection to an HDTV decoder, such as the current RCA model.

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. There are, however, only limited situations when this ideal circumstance occurs.

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