Composite video cable is most frequently used and lowest common base in AV audio video cable connections. Information on composite cables you need to know.
The name of composite video cable is quite self-explanatory, namely a composite signal is composed of the entire modules of the video signal. But please don’t get mixed up with component video cable here. They are different kinds of AV audio video cables. Composite video cables are the most frequently used cable kind and the lowest common base in video signal connections.
If you know very little about composite cable but are planning to buy one, it is highly advisable to go over the following short summing up about composite cables first. Composite video is the analog baseband video standard that was introduced to be used in home theater initially. Essentially it is just NTSC standard-definition video. In addition, it is with no RF modulation.
Composite video cable allows video signals only. In other words, it doesn’t carry audio signals along at the same time. However, this is one of the most essential functions required in any video devices. How to solve the problem like this? Actually it is quite simple. If you ever examine the composite cables, usually you can find three cables, among which one is composite video cable and the other two are composite audio cable. And normally composite video cables are a single conductor with RCA plugs on each end. But occasionally you can also find other plugs like BNC or F-connector too.
Like just mentioned, composite audio video cable is usually bundled together. And they use three different colors to tell them apart. Red is for right channel audio. White is for left channel audio. And yellow is for video signal. However, in some special occasions like in a projector installation, sometimes you need to separate the audio signal from video signal. In this case, you’d better to buy and run composite audio cable alone. However, in this kind of applications you’d better use the same length in all the separated RCA composite video cable and audio cable. Otherwise, it is likely to cause significant desynchronization between video and audio signals as the length of the cable increases.
Given that composite video cable is easily mixed up with component video cable, here it is necessary to compare them in brief. Composite video is transmitted by a single cable while component video needs three because analog component signal consist of three individual signals, namely one for brightness and the other two for color encoding. Composite video supports only standard definition signals while component video supports both standard and high definition signals. Since component signals are divided into three different parts transmitted through red, green and blue cables, one component video cable can be replaced by three composite video cables. Of course, to do the same job, component to composite converter is another option too.
Actually, besides of the mentioned composite and component video cable, other popular video connection options also include S-video cable, HDMI cable, RGB video cable, VGA video cable and DVI Video Cable and the like. You need to choose these optional video cables based on your different applications as they are designed to be used for different purposes. In your applications, especially the standard-definition VHS tape deck, composite video cables are highly recommended as it is the best solution to let baseband signals in and out. However, if better analog or digital video standards are available in other applications, composite cable is not the best choice any more and you should choose the others.
When you are purchasing composite video cable or any other AV audio video cables, choosing a trustworthy store would be the priority for you. Actually you can find high quality composite cables at affordable prices in many electronics stores. Personally I prefer electronics retailers like Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, Radio Shack, Sear’s and The Home Depot and so on. As for the price, it ranges from $5 to $30. Anyway, if possible purchasing a high-end item would bring you unexpected benefits and possibly save you a lot of troubles in the future. No doubt, a high quality composite AV cable is a worth investment if you would like the better AV audio visual enjoyment.