cable advice (1 Viewer)

I am about to purchase a new rp hd tv and progressive scan dvd player. I also have an xbox that I will be using on the display. I would like to make the correct cable purchases the first time round. I am obviously a newbie at this and would like to know what components and cables I should buy the first time around to ensure the highest pq. thanks

Welcome Adam_mmmm,

Get a set of reasonably priced quality component cables.

AR (available at Best Buy) or Rat Shack as a nice set of rg6 w/rca ends for a reasonable price.

If you feel you need highter quality and don't mind the wait, try bluejeancable.com or bettercable.com.

If your tv has two hd inputs, same for x-box (will need the high def adapter). If not, use the s-video.

one can spend quite inexpensively on component video cables and still get cables that vastyly exceed the capabilities of your dvd player. For example...this.
Once one's met minimum standards for signal transmission, and the example above certainly does, then better becomes a subjective word that often takes on personal preferences. For example one can opt to exceed the bandwidth even further, or opt for different types of connectors, etc.

chu,

so if i purchase the cables on your provided link they will provide a very high level of quality for the price. However, I am curious if I was to spend double that, how significant would the increase in qualiy be compared to the link you have provided?

define quality.

I just simply want the resolution and picture on the television to be the best that it can be ie.clarity, definition, etc. If me using a different kind of cable than the standard will make a difference I would likley be willing to pay the difference. I just wanted to know what that cable or component would be so I can invest in it now and not wonder about how much of a difference it would have made later.

Well Adam, a person can ruin any cable by abusing it. You see, the output of your DVD player is somewhat under 50 MHz provided your outputting at the highest resolution. That's not very difficult for a cable more modest than the one I illustrated to handle. When a vendor says their bandwidth is some given number, let's say 1 GHz, that generally means that at some distance, typically 100 feet, a signal that's 1 GHz will be down 3 dB or approximately half strength. Now the signal you're putting out from your player is more than 40 times lower in frequency. When we factor in that you'll be using a shorter length, say 2 meters?, then the amount of signal loss is going to be a fraction of a dB. Now let's say you buy someone elses cable...a Belden or Canare. It's got a bandwidth of say 2.2 GHz. However at the lengths and signals you're running it would be marginally better but that margin is too small to write home about.

Yes, you can get different shielding options...let's say quad shield. Consider though those are shielding options designed for some extraordinary sources of RF interference which aren't remotely likely in a home environment.

So long as your center conductor is copper and you've got dbl shielding you're pretty much set. If you want, i'll give you other sources of fairly inexpensive cable that should be more than up to the task that you require.

I believe that the X-Box has a component cable hook-up that is design specific to the X-box (the game machine end of the cable doesn't have three RCA connectors). In this case at least you'll be limited to a small number of available component video connectors to begin with.