As you pull your shiny new HDTV out of its (probably very large) box - and consider connecting it to your TV source, your DVD player, your home theater receiver, and all the other “stuff” in your family room or media room - you may have a moment of panic (or at least a small shiver of fear) when you consider how many different choices you have for cables and connectors. Never fear, HDTV For Dummies is here to help you. Cables are actually pretty easy when you think about them in terms of a hierarchy - some cable/connection types are (almost always) simply better than others - they give you a better picture or clearer audio. Once you know this hierarchy, you can quickly examine your connection options for any piece of equipment attached to your HDTV, choose your best option, and astound your friends. In this article, we explain analog and digital cable options for audio and video, and explain their positions within this hierarchy. We also explain how copy-protection systems may affect your options. Video Connections Look at the back of any HDTV (or any DVD player or home-theater receiver) and you see what scares many folks away from jumping in to hook up their own HDTVs and audio/video (A/V) equipment. There are just so darned many choices back there - who could possibly know which connector to use?

Well, we know. High-definition video There’s often a significant difference in the functionality and video quality of connections. Few cables can handle HDTV signals. Some DVD players have high-definition connectors. But when this article was published, none of these were HDTV DVD players. Instead, a circuit called a scaler (see Article 6) converts the standard DVD picture to work a little better on an HDTV screen. It’s a worthwhile improvement, but you probably should use all your high-definition connections for true HDTV components before you use a high-definition connection on a DVD player. Digital connections Digital video connections (such as DVI-D, HDMI and FireWire) are the best choice for often-used HDTV video connections, such as the link to your HDTV from a satellite or cable receiver. Not all HDTV devices use the same digital connections, but it’s usually worth the trouble to use digital connections when you can, even if you need an adapter for different digital connections. As the HDMI connection replaces DVI-D, you may find yourself in a situation where you need to use an inexpensive (under $50) adapter. For example, if your HDTV has an HDMI connector and your HDTV set top box or tuner uses DVI-D, you can connect your devices through one of these converters.

The first rule of HDTV connections: Use a digital video connection to connect from a source device to your HDTV, if you can. Digital connections almost always provide the best picture. Theoretically, HDMI connections can offer the best picture quality of any of the digital connections available on HDTVs, simply because these cables have so much bandwidth that they can offer uncompressed HDTV signal transmission. In the real world, however, any of these digital connections offers an exceptionally clear and sharp picture, and HDTV signals are almost always compressed for transmission or storage anyway. On some pieces of gear (typically HDTV cable set top boxes - discussed in Article 9), some of the digital connections may be disabled - the connections are physically present, but the software within the device that lets them work is turned off. So, for example, if an HDTV set-top box from your cable company has a FireWire port, you probably can’t use that FireWire port to connect a D-VHS recorder. Check with your cable company before spending money on cables and equipment that use these ports! The most common digital-video cable for HDTV is DVI-D. (DVI stands for digital video interconnect, and the extra D means it’s for digital TV.) If you’re using DVI-D connections, watch out for two problems: -  Not all DVI connectors work with HDTV. Make sure you have DVI-D cables if you use DVI-D in your HDTV system. Computers use another type of DVI connector that has a confusingly similar name: DVD-I.

The DVD-I connector has five extra pins (four pins around a central crosshair-shaped pin) on one side; these send analog video signals from computer video cards to computer monitors. You typically won’t find DVI-I in home HDTV systems. (There are some projection systems that are also used with computers to beam PowerPoint slides up onto the conference room wall.) You can use an inexpensive adapter to connect a DVD-I cable to the DVD-D receptacle on your HDTV - but you’ll only be able to receive digital video signals that way, not analog. -  DVI-D connections often require the HDCP copy protection system for true HDTV video performance. If just one of your HDTV components doesn’t have HDCP, you may not get true HDTV performance from DVI-D connections. (HDCP is explained in the sidebar, “No copying!”) HDMI has a couple of advantages in an HDTV system: -  You need only one HDMI cable to connect both HDTV video and surround-sound digital audio signals. -  HDMI is an extremely high-bandwidth technology (5 gigabits per second). It has extra bandwidth to accommodate future HDTV formats. HDMI connections often require the HDCP copy-protection system for true HDTV video performance. If you’re using any HDMI connections, make sure that all your HDTV components support HDCP. HDCP is explained in the sidebar, “No copying!” FireWire FireWire is the least-used HDTV connector. It can transmit both video and audio. FireWire is the only two-way connection for HDTV - the same cable can send HDTV video (and audio) to and from devices. This two-way connection is great for HDTV recording systems - for example, one cable fully connects an HDTV with a D-VHS VCR. We use the name FireWire throughout this article, but the same system is known by a couple of other names: -  Engineers and nerds call FireWire the IEEE 1394 Standard. (IEEE is the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.)

No copying! Film and television studios are worried about people copying their programs and distributing them to others.

HDTV (and DTV in general) is worrisome to the studios because there may be “perfect” digital copies. (Non-digital copies get worse when they’re recopied, so they aren’t such a threat.) These content owners have lobbied the government and manufacturers to include copy-protection systems in HDTV devices, such as tuners, set-top boxes, satellite receivers, and HDTVs themselves. These systems can keep you from making copies (or sometimes even one copy) of any HDTV program. The most common copy-protection system is HDCP (high-bandwidth digital content protection) - this system is in new HDMI-equipped devices and many DVIequipped devices. HDCP encrypts (scrambles) the content sent between devices like tuners and TVs. This encryption is a problem if you have a DVI connection where one piece (like a set top box) uses HDCP, and another (like your HDTV) doesn’t. That’s because the content owners have rigged the system to downres (down-resolve) HDTV programs to standard-definition unless HDCP is present at all points in the system. You could end up unable to get an HDTV signal on your HDTV! If some but not all of your HDTV devices have HDCP, then component video may be the only way to get a true HDTV signal between your devices.

Component video isn’t limited by HDCP, because component video isn’t a digital signal. We’re big fans of FireWire, but most HDTVs and HDTV devices use either DVI-D or HDMI connections instead of FireWire. The most common place to find FireWire is a D-VHS VCR. FireWire isn’t part of the HDCP copy-protection system. (HDCP is explained in the sidebar, “No copying!”). Instead, FireWire uses its own copy-protection scheme called “5C-DTCP” (or 5-company digitaltelevision content protection), which provides similar protection of content that the big TV companies don’t want you to record for yourself. The 5C system (that’s the industry shorthand for it) basically acts just like HDCP, letting only authorized (5C-equipped) equipment make recordings of “flagged” material. Analog component video Component video is the only analog video-cable connection that can handle HDTV or progressive-scan DVD signals. S-video and composite video don’t carry progressive scan. The component video signal is divided into three (you guessed it!) components: -  Y is the luminance (brightness) signal. -  Pb and Pr each carry part of the picture’s chrominance (color) information. Your TV uses these two chrominance signals to create the red, green and blue colors that can be mixed together to create any color on your display. (Sometimes, Pb is labeled B-Y and Pr is labeled R-Y.) Connection Component video connections use three normal analog cables. If you already have three standard composite video cables, you can use those cables instead of a set of “official” component video cables.

There’s no functional difference between the two, though many folks find it convenient to buy component video cables bundled together (so all the cables are neatly labeled, attached in the right order, and don’t get lost). If you’re routing all of your video cables through a home theater receiver (as covered in Article 19), check your receiver’s specs before routing component video connections through it. The receiver’s component video bandwidth specification should be -  At least 10 MHz for progressive-scan DVD players -  At least 30 MHz for HDTV connections Component video may be the only connection that allows a true HDTV signal in your system if some, but not all, of your HDTV components use the HDCP copy-protection system. (HDCP is explained in the sidebar, “No copying!”) Traditional video You’re probably not connecting only HDTV sources into your spanking-new HDTV. Most of the today’s TV content is standard definition in both broadcast media (over-the-air, cable, and satellite) and prerecorded media (DVD and VCR). Most source devices for standard-definition video use one of the following traditional analog connectors, not the high-definition video connections mentioned earlier in this article. S-Video The best traditional video connection is S-Video. If you can use an S-video connection, you should (unless you can use a high-definition digital or component video connection). S-video cables transmit the video signal in two separate channels: -  Luminance (brightness data) -  Chrominance (color data) Separating luminance and chrominance can deliver a better picture because it bypasses a circuit found within all but the smallest and cheapest televisions (the comb filter). Because an S-Video cable already uses separate conductors, your TV doesn’t have to separate this information out with its own comb filter. Usually this built-in separation provides a better picture on the TV. S-video connections often are found on DVD players, game consoles (such as Xbox), and many satellite and digital cable receivers or set-top boxes. Some VCRs also have S-video connections.

S-video cables are a bit tricky to connect: -  An S-video plug has four very, very delicate pins and a small plastic tab. It’s incredibly easy to misalign these pins and bend them (and even break a pin off). Easy does it. (But you knew that, right?) -  A properly aligned S-video plug easily slides in. The key is to line up the small plastic tab with the corresponding slot on the jack, and gently push. Don’t twist! If you’re pushing hard, it’s probably not aligned straight (and you’re probably bending pins). If the plug is hard to push in, stop and realign it. Composite video The oldest basic connection for separate video units is composite video. Composite video cable is a 75-Ohm cable with plugs called RCA connectors (the same connectors used by most audio cables). Composite video cables carry the entire video signal on a single conductor.

They don’t carry any audio - you need separate analog or digital audio cables for that. Composite video cables can offer a much better picture than a standard coaxial “antenna” connection. However, composite video really isn’t the best choice for higher-resolution analog sources, such as S-VHS-C and Hi8 camcorders, DVD players, and videogame consoles. Use an S-Video connection when you can. Coaxial cable Coaxial video cable (coax - pronounced CO-ax - for short) is the cable that’s probably either running down from your attic antenna or coming into the side of your house from the cable company or satellite dish. It carries both video and audio signals. A video system should only use a coax connection when you are connecting something directly to an outside feed (an antenna, satellite dish, or incoming cable line). Whenever you connect a device to your HDTV, any other video connection (even S-video or composite video) should give you a better picture than coax video.

An F connector has a small pin (the conductor) sticking out of the middle, and a metal barrel around the outside. Use screw-on F connectors if you can. Screw-on F connectors can make a much better (tighter) connection than push-on connectors. Audio Connections Audio connections aren’t as complicated as video. There are basically three choices, and only two deliver digital surround sound. Every video connection for your HDTV needs separate audio connections except coaxial cable (which you should only use for incoming feeds from antennas, cable services, and satellite dishes), HDMI, and FireWire. Digitizing your audio Digital audio signals (such as those put out by DVD players and HDTV tuners) are a digital stream of bits from the source device to either your receiver or HDTV, which decode this bitstream. If you have digital connections available between two pieces of gear, use digital, not analog: -  Some home-theater gear (like DVD players or HDTV tuners) requires digital audio for the most advanced surround-sound systems (for example, Dolby Digital). If you use analog, you’ll revert to a less effective surround-sound standard. -  The longer digital audio stays digital, the better. The biggest advantages of digital audio are -  Near immunity to interference -  A “pure” digital signal all the way to the receiver Digital audio can use either digital coaxial electrical cables or optical (Toslink) fiber-optic cables.

There’s very little difference in performance between optical and coaxial digital cables. The decision usually revolves around which system both your source devices and receiver happen to use. Digital coaxial Digital coaxial cables look basically identical to analog audio cables. They’re made of similar materials, and they use the familiar RCAplug connector. The internal construction is different, however - and coaxial digital-audio cables are designed to provide 75-Ohm impedance (just like video cables). We’ve tried, and can’t hear the difference, but thought we’d let you know that some HDTV enthusiasts think coaxial cables sound best. Optical (Toslink) Toslink optical cables are made of fiber-optic cabling (usually plastic fiber).

They transmit the digital audio as pulses of lasergenerated light, not as electrical signals. Toslink cables are particularly immune to electromagnetic interference. It looks like nothing else in the world more than the profile of a house, with a small pin (actually the end of the fiber) sticking out of the side. The “female” Toslink connector on your equipment may have a dust cap to keep the optical pickups clean while it isn’t connected. Remove (and save!) this dust cap before you try to connect. Attaching analog audio A couple of familiar audio connections still do a lot of the work in today’s entertainment systems. RCA cables The basic building block of any audio connection is the tried-andtrue analog audio cable (often called the RCA cable). You’ll find analog audio cables on the back of almost every source device you connect to your HDTV - ranging from HDTV tuners to 25-year-old VCRs. Generally, you should use analog audio connections only if you can’t make a digital audio connection. Analog audio cables are used -  In pairs (for basic stereo sources) -  Alone (for connecting a subwoofer to a receiver) -  In sixes (for connecting either a DVD-A or SACD player to the receiver, or connecting the external surround-sound decoder on a DVD player) Headphone and microphone jacks Some video sources (such as computers and camcorders) have headphone jacks and microphone jacks instead of RCA-type audio connections. If your gadget didn’t come with adapters to connect from these jacks to an audio component that uses RCA-type connections, the nearest electronics store usually has the adapter you need.