Pb Py Y cables, which is best and can I substitute for the time being? (1 Viewer)

[Tory]

I'm a little ignorant to this. I usually use the red white and yellow connections that come with the various devices I have but I just got a new DVD player and I would like to hook it up through these as I understand it is superior and the back red yellow and white connection is used for a switch box for four video game systems, another is used for Direct TV and I don't like to use the one in the front unless it is for my Super NES when I get the whim.


Anyway, I see a couple of the wires and they are expensive, or at least to me right now as I am now broke and I will not have any money until the first. I can use the front for a while I guess but if I use a Red Yellow White cable for the Pb Py Y video signal, will it work? Will it damage it? I have a spare of those plus extra speaker cables.

Also, which brand do you recommend as being superior for a nice price?

 

[Cornelius]

You can use those (they won't damage anything), but they probably won't work as well as a regular component video set. A good, but cheaper brand of video cable to look at is AR. A more expensive and better one can be found at www.bluejeanscable.com.

CJ

 

[Steven_Jobe]

"....and better one can be found at..."

There is nothing better about blue jeans cable instead of AR. You can even get the cheap RCA(the thick ones, not the normal out of the box ones) from Home Depot or Radio Shack or sometimes even Best Buy. There will be no image difference between any of those. You pay for the name not the quality and all will have the same results. The picture quality between cheap and expensive cables is "snake oil," or a load of crap..........

So, long story short, spend as little as you want. I'd suggest the Phillips ones from WalMart or the RCA ones from the places I mentioned above. You'll achieve the same quality for much less.

 

[Cornelius]

And your basis for saying this... opinion or science?

CJ

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Please, let’s not go there!

Tory, the cables should be specifically for video – the thickness of the outer jacket means nothing. Expensive cables may make a difference, but I expect only if you have really expensive, high-quality gear to go with it. If not, anything of decent quality will work.

FYI I tried using the cheapie red/white/yellow cables once for component connections on my sister’s in-laws system and I thought it actually looked worse than a single composite connection! But then again, I really had no experience with their equipment and have no idea how good it is.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Bob McElfresh]

I'm afraid I have to disagree with part of this.

Blue Jeans uses Belden and Canare coax which are sold to the broadcast industry and have performance data such as frequency response charts, rate of return, etc, that prove it is compatible with standard, progressive and 1080i HD video signals. This is what professionals use.

AR is sold to consumers and like Monster, they refuse to release technical specifications. They just say "Component" video and let the consumer assume it is compatible with HD video.

Will you see a difference? Depends on your system.

A display about 35" or less pushing 480i (standard video) - you wont see a difference.

A HD display 50"-100" rear or front projector pushing 1080i video - you stand a much greater chance of seeing a difference.

So they can show a difference, but not perhaps for Tory's system.

Tory: Here is my advice: Get a Acoustic Research or Radio Shack SVideo cable. Your "Yellow, Red, White" cables are a Composite video and Left/Right audio.

Home Theater magazine compared all 3 cable types from a single DVD player to a Reference quality 50" RPTV and here is what they determined:

Composite (single yellow cable) : baseline quality
SVideo (single cable with funny 'keyboard' connector) 20% better than Composite
Component (3 RCA cables): 25% better than Composite

So there is a BIG jump going from Composite to SVideo, but only a little more increase going to component.

Try this: Get a SVideo cable -should run you $20-$30.

Your DVD player has both composite and SVideo outputs - run BOTH to your television.

Pop in a brightly colored DVD and freeze on a frame with lots of straight lines and contrasting colors.

Toggle your TV back and forth between the Composite and SVideo feeds and the difference should be visible.

Hope this helps.

 

[Tory]

Thanks for all the recommendations, I will look into everything when I get some more money. I have had problems with plaid and tweed on screen, especially in black and white so this may solve that problem. I used the composite for the component and it looks about as good as anything else, but I don't intend to keep it that way, especially if it can eliminate that problem.

 

[Steven_Jobe]

Opinions or science whichever you believe it to be....Search these forums, you'll see posts on many people doing tests with different "quality" cables with the same result and no difference whatsoever. Also my own little bit of science as I too have tested many different ones on all of my TV's(Sony VPL-HS20 projector on a 92" Da-Lite screen, Sony KV32HS510, RCA 36" analogue TV, Sansui 27" analogue, Sanyo 13" analogue, RCA 27" analogue, Toshiba 36" HDTV, GE 20" analogue). And on all of those I have tested Monster, AR, bluejeans, phillips, RCA, and the out of the box cables and have seen no difference. Also google it and you'll find many with the same results. Including places like AVS forums, here, audioreview, epinions, hometheatermag, etc. So spend your high dollars and I'll go cheaper and do just as well.