With the range and affordability of today's home entertainment systems, there's no reason why you can't have high sound and picture quality in your living room. High quality, superior cables can significantly improve your viewing quality. Component video cables -- sometimes included with your DVD player, HDTV and satellite cable box -- provide enhanced visual accuracy when compared to RF modulators or composite video cables [source: Schaub]. To ensure that your TV projects a crisp and vibrant picture, read the steps listed below and learn about how to connect an audio-visual source using a component video cable.
- Turn your TV and whichever audio-visual (A/V) source you are attaching (e.g. DVD player, satellite cable box, VCR, etc.) so that you can comfortably and accurately see the terminals and their labels.
- Plug one end of the cable into the terminals on the back of the TV marked Component Video or Component In. The cable has three plugs at each end (one for brightness and two for color signals) [source: Kindig]. The colors on the ends of the plugs will correspond to those on the terminals.
- Connect your TV to the audio-visual source by plugging the plugs on the other end of the cable to the terminals on the back of the audio-visual source marked Component Video or Component Out. Again, the colors on the plugs and terminals will correspond.
- Connect your TV and a receiver to the audio-visual source by connecting two sets of cables to the back of the receiver. These cables will either be supplied with your devices or can be purchased at any electronics store. The cables will connect to the TV and audio-visual source. On the back of the TV, input the three plugs into the terminals marked Component Video or Component In.
- Input the three plugs on the other end of the cable into the terminals on the back of the receiver marked Component Video Out.
- Input the plugs on the back of the audio-visual source into the terminals marked Component Video or Component Out.
- Input the plugs on the other end of the cable into the terminals on the back of the receiver marked Component Video In [source: Insignia].
Advertisement