Don’t let all the different colours confuse you. It’s not as difficult you may think. Here’s the lo-down. RCA (developed by the “Radio Corporation of America”) cables transmit signals from your audio visual equipment such as your television, monitor or amplifier to the devices you want to play such as your DVD, Blu-ray or X-Box. These devices have inputs for RCA cables that have been colour coded to help you insert the corresponding coloured cable into them, as each colour carries a different type of signal.
Another distinction that we need to make clear is the difference between a component cable and a composite cable. As the name suggests, a composite cable sends 3 separate signals in the one cable, 1 x Video and 2 x Audio. A component cable sends 3 analogue video signals in one cable. Another cable will be needed to send the audio signal (use either a stereo RCA, and optical or digital coaxial cable).
COMPOSITE + AUDIO One colour transmits the video signal, and the remaining two transmit the left & right audio signals.
Black &/or White Cables – Whether your cable is black or white doesn’t matter in this instance. Both do the same thing. Black or white cables carry the left-hand stereo sound. This cable should be plugged into the white input. If your cable is black, the signal works exactly the same as if it was white.
Red Cables – Carry the right-hand stereo sound. Plug this into the red input on your TV or component.
Yellow Cables – Transmit the images to your TV or component. Composite video is always sent through a yellow cable. Brightness and chrominance are combined into one connector, in the yellow video cable.
COMPONENT DIGITAL VIDEO – This trio of cables (red, blue & green) transmit 3 analogue video signals from your device to your television, monitor or projector. Transmitting twice the resolution as composite video (red, yellow, white), this is often preferred for those with higher definition televisions. The colours are as follows:
Red- Red Chrominance Blue- Blue Chrominance Green- Green Luminance
As it is a component video cable, audio cables will need to be added to complete the connection. So what happens when you find yourself holding a cable with 5 ends? This cable set will have 3 RGB digital video heads together with 2 analogue audio heads, similar to the composite audio cables we discussed previously.
ORANGE - COAXIAL OUTPUT - The orange co-ax cable is a digital audio coax it is for carrying a 5.1 signal, it is the only other way to get surround sound other than HDMI or Fibre optic. Your DVD player may have a black connection for this digital audio coax.
Purple- Subwoofer Jack
The purple input at the back of your receiver is typically a subwoofer jack. Any audio cable can be used in this input. The cable does not have to be purple.
