Composite Cables for Component Connection? (1 Viewer)

[John Brill]

Collegue at work purchased a new TV last night and balked on purchasing "Component Cables" due to price (store only carried "Monster" brand cables so I don't blame him). He asked me, knowing I was into HT, if he could simply use 3 composite video cables he had lying around the house to achieve the same results. After all, they both use RCA type plugs.

My first reaction was no... but I'm not so sure as to why that would be the case

. If I was at home I'd try it out and preliminary internet searches are coming up blank... Anyone here know why, or why not, this is acceptable to do?

Thanks a bunch.

JB

 

[leafswillwin]

yeh you can use three composite connections for sure. Its a much cheaper route because most composite cables are very bad quality. Lets say you have some nicer ones like 3 digital coax cables you could use those too. neways the point is yes you can use three composite cables as long as they line up on each end.

 

[David Norman]

If they are decent quality video cables, I wouldn't think there would be a problem as long as you make sure to keep the connections straight (red to red, gr to gr, bl to bl). Any decent 75 Ohm cable should be sufficient.

I got a great deal a year ago for some closeout AR components for 90% off and have ended up using those for Composite Video, Audio connections, and component without problems. I wish I had ordered several more sets to be honest. For short runs, even those cheap throw in Yellow composite cables might work in a pinch -- it can't hurt to try them. Technically, it would be best if they were all about the same length and quality as well to avoid any (mis)timing issues though with shorter runs this probably isn't mush of a problem.

Otherwise, monoprice and blue jean cable are inexpensive and fast shippers is he still wants official components. If he has a long run, is trying go with a 1080p signal to a larger projector, etc, then it might be more important to go with a bit better cable than the throwins.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

3 Composite video can be used and if of decent quality should work just fine... I've used yellow/red/white temporarily while waiting for better cables to arrive with decent enough performance. There's no need to worry about "(mis)timing issues" since the electrons traveling across these cables are moving MUCH faster than the human eye/ear could ever perceive, even at lengths of several miles.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

Absolutely. Video cable is video cable. The real cheap narrow-gage ones you get with a DVD player or so on aren't great, but you can use them as long as it's not critical ; a heavier-duty one will serve as well as an equivalent cable labelled "component video". If one of the cables is significantly longer than the others, the added propagation lag could in principle generate colour fringes, but you'd need several dozen feet to get an appreciable difference (principle is the same as ghosts in monochrome — component video is much less sensitive to phase errors, group delay, &c. than composite video).

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Hi John.

Did your friend buy a HD TV?

Most Composite and Component cables were designed for standard-video signals which top out at about 4 Mhz.

Progressive video from a DVD player goes up to 12 Mhz.

HD video - goes up to 35 Mhz.

If your friend is hooking up 3 composite cables to carry an HD video signal - it will appear to work. But you may notice loss-of-focus on some images, a "softness" in contrasting colors.

Component cables made for HD video run about $10/ft from custom web sites like www.bluejeanscables.com (I use the Canare-based cables in my system, but the Belden cables have many happy fans around here).

Hope this helps.