Radio Shack Gold Series A/V Cables As Component? (1 Viewer)

[Chris-R]

Howdy.

My local shack salesman claimed the dirty little secret that there is no difference between the Gold Series Stereo Audio/Video cable and the Gold Series Component Video cable, except $35. I went in there to buy components to build my own component video cable (I already have RG6), and I walked out with A/V cable.

Is this right? Or should I be heading back up to the store?

Cheers,
/chris

 

[ThomasL]

It's possible that they are using the same 75 ohm coax and shielding for the video cable and the L/R audio cables on their 3 headed A/V cable. Without having the specs or cutting it open to see, you really don't know. In addition, you don't know if this is the same quality coax that they use for their 3 headed component video cable. If you were planning on making your own with some Canare L5CFB or Belden 1694A RG6 cable, I'd stick with that unless you can get a hold of the specs from Radio Shack and they state that they are all the same.

cheers,


--tom

 

[Chris-R]

The lack of specs available is exactly why I posted. Neither case says what the specs are and as such I am hoping someone knows the answer...

/chris

 

[Guy Kuo]

I cut one apart. The three cables are the same between the audio and video coaxes. You can use the AV cable as a component video cable just fine.

 

[ThomasL]

Thanks Guy for sacrificing a cable

I'm not surprised that they are the same and it's interesting to think of the profit margin on the one labeled component.

cheers,


--tom

 

[Chu Gai]

Well you could've emailed Radio Shack for more information. I did this some time ago and you can find the results here.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I used a Radio Shack Gold Series A/V cable as a component video cable for awhile when I initially upgraded to a progressive scan DVD player. The cable worked fine. As stated above in this thread, all three cables are identical 75 ohm coax, which is exactly what a component video cable requires.

The only thing I really dislike about RS Gold Series cables is the connectors are always too tight, making it very difficult to plug/unplug the connectors from my components -- I am always afraid I will damage the connector on my components because of the force required. I usually avoid the brand for this reason alone.

 

[luke_ha]

i dont plug unplug ever so i like the tight connector but thats just my opinion.

 

[GrahamJW]

Scott:

I found the same thing with the Rat Shack Gold Series cable. One of my RCA audio connectors on my VCR has a loose connection inside (I think it has partially separated from the circuit board) becuase the connection is so tight on the gold series cable. I thought it was just me, but I see that it is the nature of these cables. I believe in tight connecitons, but the gold series cable is too tight IMO. If you have to plug it in once and leave it, it is okay, but if you move around alot, you may break an RCA connector. When I was on the move I believe it was the constant reconnection that eventually broke the RCA audio output.

cheers..John

 

[Mark Basile]

I was curious about a possible difference in component cables and wanted to judge for myself whether different cables made a difference. I'd been connecting my Toshiba set to DVD player using Radio Shack's gold component cables, and then tried Bettercables Component cables. There was an immediate and obvious increase in clarity and color saturation.

Last night I purchased their Coaxial and Blue Truth Audio Interconnects. We'll see if those make a difference as well