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Just a quick and easy cable question (1 Viewer)

windswept

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Jan 3, 2009
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Paul
Sorry,headed to Church and I need to know if I need to pick up cables before I come home...No real time to search the forum...
Question;Are all RCA cables made the same,just color coded?
The reason I ask is I need some of the Blue,green,yellow ,red and white cables but I have a ton of the standard RCA cables (red/white and red,white and yellow) and wouldn't mind saving a couple bucks by just using these up...Will they work? I will be the only one working with the hook up/wiring...
Thank you and great site...
Have an awesome day...
Paul
 

Robert_J

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The red/green/blue combination cables are called component video cables. They are 75 ohm, coaxial cables. The yellow cable is composite video and it is again 75 ohm coaxial. So 3 of them can substitute for a component video cable as long as they are all the same length. Orange is the standard color for a coaxial digital cable. Still the same 75 ohm coax construction. Regular red/white cables are for analog audio. They are normally 50 ohm and not coaxial in construction. They do a poor job of carrying video signals.

If you can wait and order online, Monoprice and Bluejeans are the 2 recommended cable suppliers for this forum. If you need them today, be careful of overpriced cables. $100 Monster Cable works just as well as other name brands from Wal-Mart and Target.

-Robert
 

RickRO

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Dec 23, 2005
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In a pinch I have use the yellow, red and white cable for component for a temp solution until I have had the opportunity to get "proper" cables. Worked just fine for a temp patch. You won't have any problems. I agree with the other poster, go Monoprice or BJ cables or the "cheaper" alternatives at say Walmart. If you purchase Monster you will grossly overpay for what you get.

RickRO
 

windswept

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Jan 3, 2009
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Paul
Thank you guys for the info...I picked up the component cables and now that I know the difference I'll keep em...I did see the "pricey" Monster cables...
So how much better are the gold cables?
 

philkb

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Nov 6, 2008
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Phillip Bagley

If both the male and female mating surfaces are gold plated, you can generally leave everything connected without concern for quite a long time, perhaps many years. This is only true if the INNER connection in the jack is gold also. I've seen many gold-plated GROUND part gold but still plain metal on the inside. If only one is gold and the other plain metal, or both are not gold, then you should occasionally partially remove the plugs and rotate them a little in the jacks while the metals are still touching. This will clean off any oxide or other material off the surfaces and help ensure a good, noise-free connection
 

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