1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,960 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:08,920 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technologies? With 3 00:00:09,039 --> 00:00:17,639 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff looks dot com. Hello everyone, 4 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Palette. 5 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:23,279 Speaker 1: I'm an editor here at how stuff works dot com. 6 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: Sitting across from me again as usual, is senior writer 7 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. Hey there, and so today we want to 8 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:35,519 Speaker 1: talk about those entanglements behind your television set. Yes, and 9 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: this actually comes courtesy of one of our listeners. I'll 10 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: go ahead and read the a listener many. This mail 11 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 1: comes from Brian from Iowa. What's up, Tech Stuff? Guys? 12 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: You rule? I have a quick question. Can you do 13 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 1: a podcast explaining the differences between all the high definition 14 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:00,280 Speaker 1: hook ups for TV? For example, why is it that 15 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: the video component cord now has three cables red, blue, 16 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: and green instead of the old one yellow one? And 17 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: move on from there to the HDM my stuff. I 18 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:10,559 Speaker 1: know you could do this an email, but I feel 19 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:12,559 Speaker 1: like a lot of people are curious on this topic. 20 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:16,959 Speaker 1: So if it's no bother, can it be a podcast? Thanks? Well, Brian, 21 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:21,040 Speaker 1: it's a huge bother, but we're gonna do it anyway, 22 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: You're actually it's not a bother at all. I'm I'm 23 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: just I'm just giving you the business. So we're gonna 24 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:30,680 Speaker 1: talk about the different kinds of cables you used to 25 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 1: send video feeds and audio feeds as well to and 26 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: from your television. Alright, then, so where to start. Let's 27 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:40,840 Speaker 1: start with the old ones, like well, I mean we 28 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: CoA coaxial. Let's go with co axial. So coaxial cable. 29 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: This is the stuff that comes from cable boxes, satellite boxes, 30 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. And it carries a signal that 31 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: has both video and audio in it. Yeah, it's uh, 32 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 1: it actually can carry quite a bit of information, which 33 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: is why it's used in those connections. You know, it 34 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: can work on your cable modem and you know that's 35 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 1: a pretty high speed connection. Alternatives, of course, would be 36 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: fiber optic, but that's not something that you uh uh 37 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:12,840 Speaker 1: you would plug into your TV. Actually, a co actually 38 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:14,959 Speaker 1: has quite a quite a history. It was invented in 39 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:19,680 Speaker 1: so it's been around quite a while, right, and it 40 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: it carries a modulated signal that means that you have 41 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: to have some sort of tuner in order to to 42 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 1: uh tune into the signal that it that it's sending. Now, 43 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: that tuner might be a cable box or a satellite box, 44 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: or it might be a tuner that's actually in your 45 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: television set. Um. It all depends on the TV. Actually, 46 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: most new TVs probably have a basic tuner in there, 47 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: so you can plug the cable directly from the wall 48 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: into your television if you so wished. Um. Some cable 49 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,240 Speaker 1: providers do not like that so much, so you pretty 50 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:54,320 Speaker 1: much have to get a cable box for that. But 51 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 1: that's your basic video feed and audio feed into a 52 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: TV set. Um. And it's an antenna, I guess, because 53 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: you could get over the air broadcast antenna right right. Well, 54 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,080 Speaker 1: basically it's his copper wire and and his sheathings. So 55 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: you know, that's it. It's it's not that fancy, but 56 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: it it works. Yeah yeah, Now, I mean that's not 57 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:21,440 Speaker 1: it's not necessarily an ideal situation that you know, you're 58 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:23,920 Speaker 1: not necessarily going to get the best quality stuff that way. 59 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,800 Speaker 1: But let's let's let's talk about I wanted to go 60 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,400 Speaker 1: straight to composite video really okay, yeah, that's that red, 61 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: white and yellow set of cables, and of course only 62 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:35,320 Speaker 1: one of those is video. That's red and white are 63 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: the left and right audio channel. That's correct, and as 64 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: Brian pointed out, the yellow is video. Now he had said, 65 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: why our component cables come in why do they come 66 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: in threes instead of just ones like they used to 67 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 1: well number and they never they never came in one 68 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: chord because it's composite video, not component video. They are 69 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: two different things. Now. Composite video carries the entire video 70 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: signal in one stream. YEP, it's compressed to get it 71 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: in there. And as a matter of fact, it's really 72 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: uh good for NTSC Standard definition video. Yeah, so we're 73 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: talking about stuff that was used back in the old 74 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: days when you'd have these things called v c rs. 75 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: No no, not here either, but no, no, this is 76 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:23,480 Speaker 1: pretty much the stuff you would see in the old 77 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: and an older home theater equipment. So VCRs, uh you know, 78 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: super vhs even things like that. You would hook this 79 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 1: up with one of these yellow chords from the box 80 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: to your television set and that would give you the video. 81 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:43,840 Speaker 1: And and not just you know, home theater, but also 82 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:47,240 Speaker 1: video game consoles. A lot of video game consoles use 83 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: this as well. So for example, um Xbox, my old 84 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:56,440 Speaker 1: Xbox came with the composite video cord. You would have 85 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: to go out and buy a special HD chord if 86 00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: you wanted to get something in higher quality. And that's 87 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:05,919 Speaker 1: the thing the composite video, because it is a compressed signal. 88 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: You're not going to get HD quality video out of 89 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:12,039 Speaker 1: that signal. So even if you have let's say you 90 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,560 Speaker 1: bought a DVD player, I bought a DVD player, and 91 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:17,240 Speaker 1: let's say that you bought an h D t V. 92 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: I bought an HDTV, And let's say that you're using 93 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 1: a composite video to hook the DVD player to your HDTV. Yeah, 94 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: that I did that, Okay, So this is where I 95 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 1: would say, you foolish consumer. You have bought all these 96 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,720 Speaker 1: high quality products and you're using a subpar cable to 97 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:38,080 Speaker 1: hook the two up. Now you may remember we did 98 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: a podcast ages ago about does cable quality matter? And 99 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 1: we kind of came to the conclusion that ultimately it 100 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: doesn't really matter. Well, that really only counts for within 101 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: a specific kind of cable, right, Different kinds of cables 102 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,599 Speaker 1: matter a lot, and this is one of them. So 103 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: if you were to hook up your DVD player to 104 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: your h D t V, with a with a posit 105 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:04,240 Speaker 1: video chord, you would only get standard video out. You 106 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:07,039 Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to view HD content at all because 107 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 1: the cable itself is incapable of carrying that information. Yeah yeah, 108 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:16,839 Speaker 1: so don't do it. Yeah you know. Uh, since I 109 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,839 Speaker 1: have some older equipment and I'm saving up to actually 110 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: for real by an HDTV, UM, I still have a 111 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:26,960 Speaker 1: jumble of composite chords behind my TV. In fact, I'm 112 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:30,719 Speaker 1: using an ABC box to manage because I only have 113 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 1: a couple uh you know, inputs for it. Is it 114 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:39,159 Speaker 1: as easy as one, two three? Um? Not quite, however, Um, 115 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:41,360 Speaker 1: I do have one S video input on the back 116 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:45,840 Speaker 1: of my television, so well, S video is better than 117 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:50,559 Speaker 1: composit video. It's still not HD. No, it doesn't carry 118 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:54,560 Speaker 1: an HD signal. Now S video. It separates the signal 119 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: into two signals. The video signal, I should say, Uh, 120 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: you have your luminants signal, which is the level of 121 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 1: white in whatever the images at the time, and the 122 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 1: chrominance signal, which is the color information. So brightness and 123 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:11,559 Speaker 1: color essentially is what we're talking about. It get split 124 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: up into these two different signals. It's sent to your TV. 125 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: It gives you a better quality image than you would 126 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,960 Speaker 1: have with a composite video, but again it's still not 127 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: high definition. Now this is kind of confusing for people 128 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 1: who bought h D t V several years ago because 129 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,120 Speaker 1: s video that was one of the new things on 130 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:31,360 Speaker 1: these TVs that people were unfamiliar with, and it was 131 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: on the backs of DVD players and they just thought, oh, well, 132 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: this is what h D is not quite it's not 133 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: going to give you the quality that your h D 134 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: t V is capable of showing. Um, you know, not 135 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 1: the full ten a DP experience. I guess if you're 136 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:52,640 Speaker 1: on one of the smaller TVs. Uh yeah, D experience. 137 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:56,200 Speaker 1: Isn't that a band? It should be patent pending. I'm 138 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:58,960 Speaker 1: just gonna throw that in there. I think that's number four. 139 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: If you love swers are keeping track, just let us 140 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: know how many patents we have pending, you know, and 141 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 1: they're gonna put that up out of sequence, so people 142 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 1: are gonna wonder why we had four patents pending before 143 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:10,640 Speaker 1: we had three. What we need is we need someone 144 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:14,200 Speaker 1: to go out there and create a tech stuff Wikia, 145 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 1: create a tech stuff wiki and and and keep track 146 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: of all of our episodes and all of the patents 147 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:21,960 Speaker 1: we have pending. That would be nice because then we 148 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:24,440 Speaker 1: know what was that we've actually talked about. I'm sure 149 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:26,520 Speaker 1: all of you out there have plenty of spare times 150 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: time on your hands. Uh, so go for it. So 151 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 1: getting back to the cables and stdo Actually, the fact 152 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:35,360 Speaker 1: that you mentioned the chrominence and luminance, I had the 153 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: feeling that's going to come up again very shortly. It 154 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 1: probably will, so, Uh. The nice thing about this the 155 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:46,600 Speaker 1: S video cable, is that it's a it's a single cable, 156 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:49,960 Speaker 1: that's true, except it doesn't have sound. You still have 157 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 1: to use the red and white cables for sure. But 158 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: the nice thing about the nice thing about for our video, Yeah, 159 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:58,240 Speaker 1: it's just one cable as opposed to, uh to the 160 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,360 Speaker 1: the component cables, which we'll get to an minute. But 161 00:09:01,679 --> 00:09:04,560 Speaker 1: because it's just the one cable, that means less clutter 162 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:08,920 Speaker 1: behind your entertainment system. UM. Now, I don't know about you. 163 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:12,960 Speaker 1: My entertainment system is cluttered like crazy because I've got 164 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:15,960 Speaker 1: you know, five or six video game consoles, hooful to it. 165 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 1: I've got a DVD player, UM, I've got my my 166 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:25,319 Speaker 1: surround sound system. Um, there are a lot of components 167 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 1: to my entertainment system. So I've got a lot of cables. 168 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: So whenever I have an option to go with a 169 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:33,640 Speaker 1: single cable, I think about that quite a bit before 170 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:38,560 Speaker 1: going and moving forward and purchasing cables. Now. Unfortunately, I 171 00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: didn't get in on the best option available right now 172 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: because I purchased a television before they it became the standard. 173 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 1: But we'll get to that as well. Alright then, so 174 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:51,680 Speaker 1: I guess we can move on to the Component Video cables. 175 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:54,480 Speaker 1: And these are the cables that Brian was mentioning before 176 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:58,320 Speaker 1: right now that these come in red, green, and blue, 177 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:00,719 Speaker 1: I believe if I'm not miss again, yes, red, green, 178 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:04,240 Speaker 1: and blue, and you would you would might first think 179 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: that these cables split the video into those three colors, 180 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 1: and that each cable, you know, carries that color to 181 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:14,600 Speaker 1: the your TV and then it magically combines and then 182 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:17,720 Speaker 1: you've got a HD screen because Component Video is one 183 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 1: of the video cables that can transmit HD quality images. Well, 184 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 1: it's only partially magic, right, And it's also not not 185 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:29,559 Speaker 1: true that it's each color. That's not exactly what's happening, um, 186 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:33,000 Speaker 1: because one of them, it's actually split into chrominance and 187 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:36,120 Speaker 1: luminance again, it's just that there's one luminance and two chrominans. 188 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:39,839 Speaker 1: That is correct. Wow, you actually researched this one. I'm 189 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:43,520 Speaker 1: not just making stuff. Yeah. The one wire carries the 190 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 1: brightness signals, that's the luminance, and the chrominans. You've got 191 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:49,760 Speaker 1: one that that carries a signal that has the difference 192 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:53,959 Speaker 1: between blue and the luminance, and then the other one 193 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 1: splits it between the difference in red and the Lumit that. Wow, 194 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:00,960 Speaker 1: look at you. You know you and have an HDTV 195 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:03,520 Speaker 1: and you know this stuff. Um. So there are a 196 00:11:03,559 --> 00:11:05,880 Speaker 1: lot of things on the market now that run that 197 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:10,000 Speaker 1: use this these cables, including um like the Xbox. Again, 198 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:11,880 Speaker 1: I have an old Xbox. I don't have the Xbox 199 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:14,400 Speaker 1: three sixty, but I've got an old one and um 200 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 1: And one of the cables you could buy was a 201 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:21,960 Speaker 1: component video cable source and again does not carry audio. 202 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:26,959 Speaker 1: So you need a different audio cable to be able 203 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,079 Speaker 1: to get sound out of your whatever system it is, 204 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: whether it's a DVD player, video game console, whatever. Otherwise 205 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:37,560 Speaker 1: you're gonna have really cool video but no sounds. So 206 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:40,520 Speaker 1: unless you really like silent movies that look really really crisp, 207 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 1: you're gonna need another set of cables. Um, you know, 208 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: it would be really nice if we had I don't know, 209 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:53,000 Speaker 1: one cable that would carry all this stuff, one cable 210 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:56,319 Speaker 1: to rule them all, cable to bind them, so to speak. 211 00:11:57,679 --> 00:12:00,280 Speaker 1: Depends on how long the cable is. But okay, right, 212 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:04,840 Speaker 1: so U h d M I Okay, that'll work. That's 213 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:09,640 Speaker 1: your high Definition Multimedia interface cable. And this has become 214 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: more or less the standard for HD cables with televisions 215 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:17,760 Speaker 1: and components moving forward. And uh, it's a darn good 216 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:21,840 Speaker 1: one because it does carry HDI uncompressed video. It can 217 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 1: carry uncompressed video and audio, so now you can get 218 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:29,480 Speaker 1: high quality audio and video using one cable. And uh, 219 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:33,600 Speaker 1: it's it's really impressive stuff. Now. As I was mentioning earlier, 220 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:37,240 Speaker 1: the reason why I used the component video cables is 221 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:40,120 Speaker 1: because my television does not have an h d M 222 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 1: I uh input port, so I can't use it. And 223 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:47,800 Speaker 1: even if I could, I don't think that my DVD 224 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:50,319 Speaker 1: player has one either, so I wouldn't have anything to 225 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: plug it to. UM and uh, plus my DVD player 226 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:58,920 Speaker 1: broke ages ago, so I'm I'm in desperate straits. I 227 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:02,120 Speaker 1: watch all my DVDs. I'm Mac now, um, and I 228 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:04,719 Speaker 1: use my PlayStation two to watch DVDs. So yeah, here 229 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:07,079 Speaker 1: we aren't talking about high quality cables and we're like, 230 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:11,240 Speaker 1: all my equipment broke. I Actually I do have it 231 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:13,959 Speaker 1: on my list of things to do buy new stuff, 232 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:17,360 Speaker 1: but that's gonna have to wait for a little while anyway. 233 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 1: H d M I. So there's some great things about 234 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:22,520 Speaker 1: h d M I. For one thing, you've got that 235 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:26,920 Speaker 1: one single cable that carries everything. Um, that's uh that 236 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:30,959 Speaker 1: and it's also always being updated with new features. So 237 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:34,920 Speaker 1: it's it's one of those standards that's constantly evolving. UM, 238 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:37,280 Speaker 1: it's not going to be something that that is out 239 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:40,719 Speaker 1: of date in three or four months, because fortunately they 240 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:44,720 Speaker 1: work on they being the organizations behind the HDMI standard, 241 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:47,800 Speaker 1: work on making sure that it continues to meet the 242 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:53,439 Speaker 1: needs of consumers. So that's a good thing about h 243 00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 1: d M I as well as opposed to some of 244 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:58,440 Speaker 1: the older methods which were invented, uh serve their purpose 245 00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:01,079 Speaker 1: and now I mean they still work, they just don't 246 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:05,480 Speaker 1: work any better than they did way back when. Uh, 247 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:09,120 Speaker 1: and uh there's some other things that are maybe not 248 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: quite as good. There's no locking mechanism on an HD 249 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:15,520 Speaker 1: in my cable. So anybody could just rip rip it 250 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:17,800 Speaker 1: right off the back of your TV and take off. Well, 251 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:20,120 Speaker 1: that could happen, or you could, you know, jostle it 252 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: while you're moving your components around falls out. And if 253 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:25,440 Speaker 1: you're like me and you have a television system where 254 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 1: if something falls, it means you have to pull the 255 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:29,880 Speaker 1: damn TV all the way back out from the wall. Again. 256 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:32,800 Speaker 1: I've got a fifty one inch television and it's the 257 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:35,640 Speaker 1: kind on wheels. It's not a flat panel We're not, 258 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:39,360 Speaker 1: we're talking, you know, it's off flat panel display. So, uh, 259 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:42,240 Speaker 1: if something falls, then I have to move the whole 260 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:43,960 Speaker 1: TV out. And of course, since I've got so many 261 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:46,480 Speaker 1: cables connected to the thing from all the different video 262 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: game systems, and some of them are rather taught, it 263 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:52,520 Speaker 1: means I have to start disconnecting stuff from other things 264 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:54,920 Speaker 1: in order to get this one cable that's fallen out. Now, granted, 265 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,360 Speaker 1: unless you're moving your your system around a lot, it's 266 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:02,160 Speaker 1: probably not gonna happen. Um probably being the operative word here. 267 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:05,280 Speaker 1: Another thing that it has is um, well, it has 268 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:09,200 Speaker 1: HDCP copy protection. Yes, and you're a fan of the 269 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:12,440 Speaker 1: copy protection, as I remember Oh, yeah, I love copy protection. 270 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,000 Speaker 1: Let me tell you. You You know, he goes on and 271 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 1: on about that. Anybody who will listen, you know, because 272 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,200 Speaker 1: you know, I just love copy protection. I think it's 273 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 1: the best thing ever to prevent made from from exercising 274 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:27,560 Speaker 1: fair use of your stuff, the stuff that I own. 275 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:30,800 Speaker 1: I you know what, I think it's the best thing 276 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:32,640 Speaker 1: in the world. If I purchased something and I have 277 00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:35,320 Speaker 1: absolutely no way of creating a backup copy for my 278 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:39,360 Speaker 1: own personal use, so that Heaven forbid something happens to 279 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:41,360 Speaker 1: the original, I don't have to go out and purchase 280 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:45,360 Speaker 1: the thing that I've already bought. Once again, is that 281 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:51,240 Speaker 1: a soapbox on the floor. I'm sorry, I like it. 282 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 1: I'm just asking so. So, Yeah, the copy protection is 283 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 1: actually built into the cable. Yeah, it's um that's kind 284 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:05,040 Speaker 1: of irritating. And then there's some incompeted incompetibility issues that 285 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: we're in some of the early HD my cables, UM, 286 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:12,520 Speaker 1: where you couldn't get the h D content from one 287 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: source to your TV. Most of those have been worked 288 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:19,440 Speaker 1: out in in subsequent cables, but if you bought them 289 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:23,200 Speaker 1: early on, you might have experienced some problems. Now that's 290 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: not the only kind of cables that you can hook 291 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:28,040 Speaker 1: up to your TV. Uh And so we can talk 292 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:32,800 Speaker 1: about a few others. There's the Digital Visual Interface d I. Yes, 293 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:34,840 Speaker 1: d v I. It's actually very similar to h d 294 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:37,440 Speaker 1: M I, is it not. It's it's pretty similar, although 295 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 1: it has one advantage. Let me guess, no copy protection. Well, 296 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:44,840 Speaker 1: I was gonna talk more about Well some of them 297 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: don't support hd CP, so, but it does have copy protection, 298 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: so that's not it. No, it has as a little 299 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 1: screws that you can screw in. Okay, you were so 300 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:55,040 Speaker 1: excited about it. I figured it was the copy prodection. 301 00:16:56,120 --> 00:17:00,120 Speaker 1: D I does have copy protections, Yes it does. And 302 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:05,359 Speaker 1: if um, yeah, if you have a a monitor or 303 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:09,680 Speaker 1: a television that doesn't support h d C p um, 304 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:13,240 Speaker 1: it's not going to be compatible with whatever the source 305 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 1: is for your video, so then you won't be able 306 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:19,280 Speaker 1: to display it. And uh So this is one of 307 00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 1: those things where you have to make sure that your 308 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:24,359 Speaker 1: devices are compatible with one another before you use it. 309 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:26,800 Speaker 1: It looks like a little computer port, the kind that 310 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:28,240 Speaker 1: you would have on the back of any you know, 311 00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 1: monitor or on a computer card and you're on your 312 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:35,520 Speaker 1: desktop PC that kind of thing. Uh, and like I said, 313 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:38,000 Speaker 1: you can actually secure that one with little screws so 314 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:41,119 Speaker 1: it doesn't pop off like the h d M I could. 315 00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:44,159 Speaker 1: So there's that. Then there's a well, I mean, if 316 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 1: you want to take a step back, there's the v 317 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:50,240 Speaker 1: g A uh connectors as well, which also looks like again, 318 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:52,520 Speaker 1: this is something that you would see in computer monitors usually, 319 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:55,000 Speaker 1: but some televisions have them, and it would allow you 320 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:58,320 Speaker 1: to to maybe hook up your computer to your your 321 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:00,080 Speaker 1: television so that you can use your TV as a 322 00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:06,800 Speaker 1: giant computer monitor. So uh, some old HDTVs have them, 323 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:09,720 Speaker 1: some old set top boxes have them. Um, it does 324 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:12,080 Speaker 1: have the little thumb screws again, so you can secure 325 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:17,439 Speaker 1: your cable to your TV. It's a not really common so, 326 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:19,760 Speaker 1: I mean hardly anyone talks about it. Really. The most 327 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:24,879 Speaker 1: common ones you're gonna see are the composite component, S 328 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,639 Speaker 1: video and h d M. I Actually, I wouldn't be 329 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: surprised if S video started to kind of quietly go away. 330 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:35,119 Speaker 1: Um yeah, I mean it's you know, composite has been 331 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:38,399 Speaker 1: around and it's it's still leading a hearty, robust life. 332 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 1: Well and if you have any legacy UH hardware, like 333 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:45,639 Speaker 1: any VHS type stuff for old laser disc players or 334 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,200 Speaker 1: anything like that. Yeah, if you have anything like that, 335 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:51,840 Speaker 1: you need that composite video input or else you know, 336 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:55,920 Speaker 1: your your your That's when your equipment really becomes obsolete 337 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:58,560 Speaker 1: because you no longer have anything that can display the video. 338 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:00,679 Speaker 1: We'll put it this way. I've got to see stuff 339 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,520 Speaker 1: that's already got um some you know, tons and tons 340 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 1: of composite cables and then one s video input on 341 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: my older TV. When I do upgrade to h D, 342 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:15,040 Speaker 1: I'm gonna want h D M I. Right. Well, I 343 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:18,000 Speaker 1: gotta say that one thing about component video that's kind 344 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:24,000 Speaker 1: of nice is that it does not have copy protection. Ah, 345 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,040 Speaker 1: so you might want to go with that because you 346 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:29,120 Speaker 1: don't have to worry about, you know, no longer being 347 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:32,399 Speaker 1: able to make copies. So let's talk about audio for 348 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,000 Speaker 1: a second. Okay, let's talk about audio for a second. 349 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: So you really have a couple of different options. I mean, 350 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: you've got the HDM I, which carries audio on its own, 351 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:42,679 Speaker 1: but then you also have the the the red and 352 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:46,240 Speaker 1: white cables which, as you pointed out, carry the right 353 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:50,040 Speaker 1: and left speakers audio signals. But you also have one 354 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:56,560 Speaker 1: other option digital digital optical. Yeah, the optical audio I'll 355 00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:00,840 Speaker 1: put this is a users fiber optics and it transmits 356 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 1: audio through light. Oh that sounds like fun? Is that? 357 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:06,800 Speaker 1: Is that the best way to listen to I don't know, 358 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:10,720 Speaker 1: l O Electrical Orchestra. Yes, it's the only way to 359 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:14,159 Speaker 1: listen to the l that's any way I listened to 360 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:18,199 Speaker 1: l O. Fiber optic does have an enormous bandwidth, just 361 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:21,679 Speaker 1: a very fragile cable right and it it's um, it 362 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:25,000 Speaker 1: provides really good sound. It's not necessarily the full stereo 363 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:28,680 Speaker 1: sound that you would expect from a real like big 364 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,840 Speaker 1: home theater system for those you usually have. You will 365 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:35,600 Speaker 1: actually have a a setup where, um, you'll have feeds 366 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:41,480 Speaker 1: going to very specific speakers, so a front right, front, left, center, back, left, back, right, 367 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:45,760 Speaker 1: and then you know your left sub woffer is what 368 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 1: I was going to say. But all right, so um yeah, 369 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,880 Speaker 1: so but the the optical cable, it provides pretty good sound. 370 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:54,800 Speaker 1: I mean really good sound. Really. That's and that's what 371 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:57,000 Speaker 1: I have with my Xbox. You know my Xbox with 372 00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:00,800 Speaker 1: the component video cord. I have an opt cold uh 373 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:04,960 Speaker 1: audio cord which connects from the Xbox directly to my 374 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: sound system bypasses the television completely. Um, So those are 375 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:13,160 Speaker 1: the other kind of audio cables you might have. UM, 376 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:15,399 Speaker 1: let's say, I think we pretty much covered all the 377 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,120 Speaker 1: basic cables on a television. As we said, the ones 378 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:21,520 Speaker 1: you're more likely to see our your your composite component 379 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:23,879 Speaker 1: S video and h D M I UM component might 380 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:27,960 Speaker 1: actually go away as well, not because it's a an 381 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:33,119 Speaker 1: inferior product, but because it doesn't support copy protection. So 382 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:36,120 Speaker 1: you're you were starting to see movie studios and UH 383 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: and television studios really put pressure on manufacturers to stop 384 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:46,640 Speaker 1: supporting component video cables because they don't want their their 385 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 1: material to get copied like crazy. So that's unfortunate because 386 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:55,800 Speaker 1: it does provide a very good picture. Well you know, 387 00:21:56,280 --> 00:22:00,320 Speaker 1: once uh, once DRM gets involved, people are very very 388 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:06,240 Speaker 1: serious about protecting their intellectual property from perceived threats. Yeah, 389 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:08,879 Speaker 1: let's not go there. That's just gonna make me angry 390 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:11,879 Speaker 1: all over again. Okay, how about we, Uh, do you 391 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:14,240 Speaker 1: have anything else to say about cables? All right, we're 392 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: all tied up on the cables thing, so Brian, I 393 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:19,359 Speaker 1: hope that answers your question. Matt, Um, you can write 394 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:20,920 Speaker 1: to us later and tell us all the things we 395 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,199 Speaker 1: got wrong, or you can talk to us as soon 396 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,840 Speaker 1: as we stop recording. I mean he is capable of speaking, folks. 397 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:31,000 Speaker 1: He's not a mime or a mute. But this brings 398 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:37,440 Speaker 1: us to our second about of a listener mail. Thank 399 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:40,320 Speaker 1: you now this listener mail, we actually have a duo. 400 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:44,760 Speaker 1: I have to listener mails, so strap yourselves in alright. 401 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:47,520 Speaker 1: The first one comes from Hayden, who is years old 402 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:51,760 Speaker 1: from Eastford, Connecticut, and he says, Hi, guys, I was 403 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:54,720 Speaker 1: just listening to your augmented reality podcast and the listener mail, 404 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,320 Speaker 1: and you guys were talking about first person shooters. Personally, 405 00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:00,159 Speaker 1: I like shooters on the Wii. I don't know, just 406 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:02,879 Speaker 1: wanted to tell you guys what I think. Uh. I 407 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:04,879 Speaker 1: actually think that the w is is pretty cool for 408 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:07,119 Speaker 1: first person shooters too, mainly because you can use the 409 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:09,959 Speaker 1: we moat as you know, you can aim it like 410 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,199 Speaker 1: a little gun, and in fact, there are plenty of 411 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:15,440 Speaker 1: add ons out there where you can slip the moat 412 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:19,879 Speaker 1: into a gun casing and use it as a light gun. Um. 413 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 1: Here's another one though. This one comes from Eric Jonathan 414 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:27,679 Speaker 1: Strickland and Chris Polett. I think he meant Pallette. I 415 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,440 Speaker 1: would very much love to see a Tech Conspiracy's podcast 416 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:32,399 Speaker 1: come out soon. Maybe you could bump that up this 417 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:34,879 Speaker 1: the list. I would also like to say that I 418 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:37,800 Speaker 1: prefer the PS three controller, but I'm fine with xboxes 419 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:40,560 Speaker 1: as well. The ones I have the most problems with 420 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,199 Speaker 1: are the Wei it's not very accurate and too oddly shaped, 421 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:46,840 Speaker 1: and the computer mouse for games. Have a nice day. 422 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:48,800 Speaker 1: So we have one person who loves the we moat 423 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: and one person who doesn't love the w moat so much. 424 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:54,880 Speaker 1: I don't know, I'm a fan of I'm a fan 425 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:57,000 Speaker 1: of all of them. Really, yeah, I mean I don't 426 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:00,480 Speaker 1: like really the fat old X control, and of course 427 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 1: despise the PlayStation controllers. Yes, with a passion that burns 428 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:07,320 Speaker 1: brighter than a thousand exploding suns. Very short fingers, so 429 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:11,280 Speaker 1: it doesn't Yeah, I've got freakishly long fingers. Well, thank 430 00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:13,640 Speaker 1: you very much, Hayden and Eric. We appreciate your mail. 431 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:15,440 Speaker 1: If any of you wish to mail us, you can 432 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:18,000 Speaker 1: do so at our address, which is tech stuff at 433 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,120 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. If you want to learn 434 00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:23,399 Speaker 1: more about television cables, hd TV, that kind of stuff, 435 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:25,560 Speaker 1: we got plenty of that at how stuff works dot com. 436 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:28,560 Speaker 1: And I would like to remind our listeners. If you 437 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:33,160 Speaker 1: want to see us live, actually see video that involves 438 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:36,520 Speaker 1: Chris and yours truly discussing the latest tech news, you 439 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:40,240 Speaker 1: can tune in Tuesday's one pm Eastern. Go to the 440 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:42,920 Speaker 1: tech stuff blogs at how stuff works dot com. We 441 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,080 Speaker 1: put up a link and you can watch video as 442 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:48,000 Speaker 1: we talk about the latest news. And we have amazing 443 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:54,200 Speaker 1: special effects provided by Matt Frederick and uh. I hope 444 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:56,679 Speaker 1: you guys are having a great one. Crispy and I 445 00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:01,840 Speaker 1: we will talk to you again really soon for more 446 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,520 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Doesn't how stuff 447 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:06,760 Speaker 1: works dot com and be sure to check out the 448 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:13,439 Speaker 1: new tech stuff blog now on the how Stuff Works homepage, 449 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:17,040 Speaker 1: brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 450 00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:18,520 Speaker 1: It's ready, are you