WEBVTT - TechStuff Looks at TV Connectors 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:08.119 Get in touch with technology with tex Stuff from dot Com. 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:16.480 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm Jonathan Strickland, 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:20.320 and today I'm doing a rare solo show. I don't 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:25.160 tend to do these, but as our office is preparing 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:29.280 to move, everyone is in crunch time and no one 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.120 was really available to jump in with me, which is 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:35.520 completely understandable. So I thought it would be a good 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:38.120 opportunity to look through the listener mail see if there 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.400 was something that I could tackle on my own, and 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:45.320 I found a great one. This email comes from Daniel 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:47.760 from Kentucky and he says, Hi, John, I hope your 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:50.760 time at CS was terrific. I did have a topic 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.040 suggestion for you all that came to my mind when 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:55.880 I was hooking up the TV I got for Christmas. 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:58.480 I'd like to think I'm tech savvy, but my head 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:01.720 spins when I'm asked what's the difference between different connectors 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:03.960 like H D, M, I, R C, A V G, 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:09.320 a USB, A V slash, F, etcetera. Like most consumers, 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:11.800 I don't really know the difference outside of being told 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:15.680 one device requires another connector. It would be informative if 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:18.520 tech Stuff covers the most common connectors, trying to explain 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:22.160 the differences and why certain ones were adopted and later discarded. 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:26.080 It had certainly helped my understanding of the issue. Well, Daniel, 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:28.280 that's what this episode is all about, Guys. We're gonna 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:32.080 look at TV connectors and kind of demystify things, explain 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:35.080 what all the different ones are, at least the ones 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:38.520 that you're most commonly going to encounter with televisions these days. 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:41.480 I'm even looking a little bit beyond the United States 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:45.320 with a couple of these. So there's gonna be some 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:47.960 connectors I'm going to mention that people, depending upon what 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:50.840 region they're and may never have seen and may never encounter. 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:52.840 But I thought it would be fun to kind of 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:57.880 go through them all. Now, I'm gonna begin with analog connections. Now, 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:02.840 analyot connectors transmit video signals through continuously varying the voltage 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:08.079 across that connection. That's how they generate the images you see. 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:11.200 And you've got different elements that make up an image. 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:14.280 The brightness of the screen and the color. Those are 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:17.880 the two main ones. But uh, there're synchronization issues as well. 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:20.160 There's a lot of stuff that has to come through 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:22.720 for you to get video and of course audio is 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:26.960 another component. Some of these connectors also carry audio, some 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:29.560 of them carry video only, and you have to use 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:33.679 a separate connector to get audio into your television or 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:36.960 from your television to some other component like an amplifier. 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.480 So let's begin with one of the most common, the 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:45.440 radio frequency connectors, are F connectors. That's the oldest way 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:51.040 to transmit video signals to your television using radio frequency power. 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:55.000 And these are coaxial cables. Now you might wonder what 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:58.680 does coaxial cable mean. We've seen coaxial cables you probably 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:01.640 are able to imaginin one off the top of your head, 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:04.880 but what does that actually mean. So the term coaxial 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:09.040 actually means that you have a a form linear form 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:12.560 in this case, because it's a cable that has uh 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:18.880 multiple substances that are all aligned along the same axis. Ultimately, 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:22.960 this means that you've got kind of a concentric circles. 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:26.560 So you have a core and then an outer layer, 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:29.120 and then a layer even further out from that, and 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:32.120 then whatever you know, it can keep going as many 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:34.680 times as you need, depending upon what you're doing. With 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:40.000 co axial RF cable, you're talking about essentially three main 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:43.600 layers and then a coating. So you have a wire 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:47.440 conductor as the core of the cable. Around that is 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:51.400 the dielectric, which is an insulating medium, and around that 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:54.960 is the outer conductor. Then on the very outside you've 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:57.200 got the protective layer that coats the cable and make 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:00.400 sure that it doesn't get damaged, it doesn't end up 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.600 causing interference with other cables, it doesn't get interference from 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:08.320 other things that's insulated somewhat. Uh So, the physical dimensions 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.280 and the material you use to make those different layers 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:14.320 is what determines the impotence and the attenuation of the 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:19.719 cable at different frequencies. What does that mean. Impotence is 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:23.560 the effective resistance of an electric circuit or component to 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:27.480 alternating current. That's dependent upon the combined effects of ohmic 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:31.359 resistance and reactants. And I could go into more detail, 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:33.480 but really that could be its own episode to go 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:38.520 into the basic terms of uh of electricity and voltage 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:40.280 that sort of thing. If you guys think that, that 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.039 would be a really fun or interesting podcast, right to me, 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:44.840 and let me know, I'll be glad to go through 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.600 that and kind of explain what all those terms mean 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:50.200 because they can be pretty confusing if you're not familiar 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:54.400 with them. Attenuation, on the other hand, that refers to loss, 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:58.600 in this case signal loss frequency loss. So in an 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:01.800 ideal situation, if you have a cable and you're putting 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:04.440 a signal into the cable, you know you're putting a 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.800 certain amount of energy into one end. Ideally you would 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:11.440 get the same amount out on the other end. But 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:15.560 that's not the way the world works. We actually lose 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:18.440 some of that power that goes into the cable, and 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:22.640 the longer the cable, the more loss you tend to encounter. 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:26.280 Other factors also play a role, including the materials you use. 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.880 So this is where a lot of those high end 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:34.880 cable manufacturers really try and and sell their products. They 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:38.240 say that the materials they use are much higher quality 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:40.960 and you're going to suffer much less loss as a result. 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:47.160 While that might be true over great distances, in general, 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:51.480 for the average consumer, the length of cables that we 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:55.120 typically need somewhere in the three to nine ft range. 0:05:55.839 --> 0:06:01.520 It's really negligible. It's it's not really detectable unless you're 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:05.360 talking about super cheap cables that don't have very good shielding, 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:08.120 in which case you could get a lot of interference. 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.400 So in the US we use the F connector, which 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:15.000 is standard in many parts of the world, although there 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.640 are other types of connectors as well, and a lot 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.440 of the old peripherals that you would connect to televisions, 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:24.599 like older video game consoles, connect through an URF connector. 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:29.240 It's also used for terrestrial antenna and cable connections. And uh, 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:33.920 you know it's called OURF radio frequency connectors because it's 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:38.280 actually using radio frequency power. Um, that's that's the key 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.159 to that. It's pushing those radio frequencies through a cable 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:44.560 as opposed to through it through the air. Now, next, 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:47.760 the next most common that I would say you you'd 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.880 encounter on the back of an average television is composite video, 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:55.320 also known as r c A connectors. Now, this is 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:58.919 a video connector. Typically it's yellow. You'll also find it 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:01.960 usually next to red and white r c A connectors. 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.400 The red and white, however, are for audio. The red 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:07.200 is for the right channel and the white is for 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:10.480 the left channel. Sometimes it's black not white, but it's 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:14.880 still the left channel. The yellow connector is just video. 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:18.600 Composite video is an analog video transmission cable. It can 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:22.520 carry video at standard definition resolution, but not higher. So 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.320 you're not going to get high definition or beyond using 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.920 this kind of these kind of cables UM, and all 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.760 the video information is encoded on a single channel. UH. 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:35.640 That means that the quality of that picture, it's probably 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:39.520 not gonna be as high as using alternate means of 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:43.200 delivering a signal to your TV. UM. That's where a 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.760 lot of the other connectors that came up have kind 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:48.720 of gotten the advantage, at least in the marketing world 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:53.400 by being said to be greater quality. Like S video 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:57.240 or separated video. Now that's a connector that carries two 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:02.320 encoded video signals. One is for the brightness or essentially 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:05.320 black and white, and the other is for the color 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:09.480 of the image. UH. The cable also transmits in standard definition, 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:13.040 but it's better video quality than composite it's just not 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:16.440 at high definition levels of resolution. So a lot of 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:19.080 people got confused about that. When S video first came out, 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:23.000 including myself. I was not familiar with S video and 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:27.239 this was when really your three options were composite video, 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:30.960 S video, and component video. Those were the three main ones, 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:34.280 and UH, S video looked like it was pretty easy 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:37.240 because it was one cable, although it only carries video, 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:41.080 not audio. Um so you'd have to use separate cables 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:44.160 to get audio to and from your television. Uh So, 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:46.800 if you were hooking up a VCR, for example, you 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:50.559 would need to have audio uh our c A connectors 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:54.160 to get that to your TV. Well s video like 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:57.199 it was easy because it was a single video cable 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:59.600 and it was supposed to be higher quality than composite, 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:03.240 but it wasn't really explained well at least not to me, 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:06.520 that it wasn't high definition. It was still standard definition. 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:08.960 So yes, it was technically a better picture, but it 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:13.040 wasn't a higher resolution. Moving on with more analog choices, 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:16.880 we've got v g A or video graphics array. Now 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:19.360 this is not common on a lot of TVs, but 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:23.000 there are some televisions that have it. Cables that are 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:26.079 v GA cables have three rows of pins. There are 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.160 fifteen pins total on the connectors. It's meant to connect 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:33.600 a PC and a display together, so not necessarily a television, 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:36.920 but some form of video display like a monitor. But 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:38.960 some TVs do have them, and they allow for the 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.959 transmission of analog display resolutions to a television and it 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:47.000 could carry high definition resolutions to the display, So this 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:50.040 one could actually do a higher resolution and say S 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:54.760 video or composite. Then we've got component video. These are 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:58.200 the red, green, and blue connectors that you might see 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.240 on the back of some televisions. And you might think 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.160 that those different colors indicate that each cable carries only 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:07.600 one color to the TV, because if you are familiar 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.400 with the way television's work, you know that there pixels 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.160 and TVs are made up of subpixels of red, green, 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:15.960 and blue, and that it's the combination of red, green, 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:18.960 and blue in different ways that creates the various images 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:21.920 we see on television and the different colors we see 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:25.720 on television. So surely component video that's red, green, and 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:30.320 blue carries those colors, right, Not exactly. The green connector 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:33.160 is actually in charge of carrying the video image in 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:35.559 black and white, so the brightness as well as the 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:39.760 synchronization data. The other two connectors carry the color information, 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:44.320 but essentially green is left up to the brightness as well. 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:47.520 It's another analog video cable, but this one can carry 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:50.640 signals of up to ten a DP or higher, so 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:54.400 this is truly able to give a high definition video 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:59.200 feed to your TV, and honestly, it's the kind that 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:02.440 I perfer over all others, and I'll explain why in 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.680 a little bit. But I need to talk about one 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:10.160 other analog connection that is not found here in the 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:12.400 United States. This is one that if you are in 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:14.520 the U S you probably have not seen one of these, 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.000 but if you live in Europe you probably have, and 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:21.200 that is Scart S C A R T. So unless 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:23.160 your TV is an old set from Europe, you're not 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:26.880 gonna see this. It was another analog transmission cable. It 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:30.160 has twenty one pens and carries both video and audio 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:33.480 and originated in France, which is why it's full name. 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:36.640 And please forgive me because I'm going to butcher. This 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:43.440 is the Sindicat de Constructors da Pereal Radio. Should roll 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.719 my arm on that one radio Receptors the Televisiere And 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:51.000 for all of my French speaking friends out there, um 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:58.600 monsieur mid Dame Jean Papa France maroismon. Alright, So those 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:00.560 are your analog connections. Those are the ones that are 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:05.559 going to create the video through varying that voltage. Then 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:10.160 we have digital connections. Now these deliver video as a 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:13.959 bit stream so essentially zeros and ones. Right, this is 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:19.719 not a variable voltage delivery system. It's purely digital. Now, 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:24.720 there's a common misconception that digital these days is better 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:27.400 than analog are Some people go the other way, saying 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:31.120 analog is always better than digital. The digital is better 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:35.240 than analog argument goes something like this. It says, since 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:39.480 televisions these days are digital devices, they're not analog TVs. 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:42.080 We have digital TVs now. If you're buying a new 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:46.319 one anyway, and since a lot, if not most, if 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:49.640 not all, of the main ways we get content these 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:53.840 days is also digital, then you want to have digital 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:57.520 connectors and digital cables so that you never have to 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:01.280 convert from digital to analog and back to digital again. 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.040 So in other words, if I'm watching a Blu Ray 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.719 and I want to connect the Blu Ray player to 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:13.160 my TV, I should use a digital cable because that's 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:17.199 a digital form factor or digital format rather. Uh, And 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.040 then it'll go through a digital cable to my digital 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:22.480 TV and never have to convert to analog where I 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:26.360 might have some signal loss or artifacts or some other problem. 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:30.559 That's the common misconception. Uh. The reason I call it 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.959 a misconception is not because of the conversion issue. That 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:37.520 really is a thing, but conversion issues are a thing 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:41.400 with pure digital as well, because every form of digital 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:44.960 uh information that will go to your TV is encoded 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:48.160 in a different way, and these different encodings mean that 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:51.560 they have to be decoded. You actually do have digital 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:56.400 to digital conversions. Uh. It's it's not like every television 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.720 can show every digital format and its native resolution. In fact, 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.760 it's trying to show any type of data to the 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:08.280 TV's native resolution, which often means it has to upraise something. 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:11.200 In other words, it has to add an extra information 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.040 to make up for the fact that the resolution of 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.720 the incoming stream is not the same or is lower 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:20.680 than the native resolution of the TV. That with that 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:26.960 in mind, sometimes we get bad digital to digital conversions. 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:30.680 There's digital error correction that's supposed to mediate this, but 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:34.320 occasionally you get a set or a series of components 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:37.720 that don't work so well together and it's it's a 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:42.480 disappointing experience. So, in other words, just because we're moving 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:46.040 to more digital formats and more digital sets, it doesn't 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:50.680 necessarily mean digital cables are automatically better than analog. On 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:54.040 the other side of this is the idea that analog 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.880 is always better because digital is a series of zeros 0:14:57.880 --> 0:14:59.680 in one, so it's always going to be a step 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:02.520 let type thing. It's always gonna have these these sharp 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:06.280 drop offs at some point, no matter how large a 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:09.600 uh bandwidth you're talking about, At some point it is 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:13.920 either a zero or a one, whereas an analog system 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:18.520 is a continuous signal, and therefore it is much more 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:21.640 natural and free flowing, and you're going to get a 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:28.080 much more warm or or satisfying experience from it, which 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:32.240 maybe in the very earliest days of digital was true 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:36.360 when we weren't really good at encoding, or we weren't 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:40.080 using very good samples bit samples, But these days it's 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:44.480 it's pretty much a bogus argument. I mean, there's we've 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:47.840 reached a point where it's beyond the ability for a 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.680 human to perceive the difference, assuming that you're using well 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:56.800 calibrated equipment. Obviously, if you were to take one system 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.320 and not calibrate it very well, and you took another 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.880 system and calibrated it extremely well, you're gonna notice the difference. 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.720 But assuming a level playing field, you aren't really going 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:10.640 to notice that difference. So really comes down to personal preference. 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:14.720 So why did I say I like those, uh those 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:19.360 component cables so much as opposed to digital ones. Well, 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:24.760 here's another thing that separates analog from digital. It's the 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:28.920 potential for dr M measures such as high bandwidth Digital 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:33.760 Content Protection or HDCP. Now, this is a form of 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:37.720 copy protection that was created by Intel, and it's meant 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:41.680 to prevent the copying of digital audio or video content 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:46.320 across various devices. So, for example, let's say that I 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:49.520 have a Blu Ray player again, and let's say I've 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.960 got a device that can burn to Blu Ray, and 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:57.080 I am a dirty, nasty pirate, and I decide I 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:01.400 want to steal in a movie and distribute it on 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:04.040 my own, or make copies, real cheap copies and sell 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:07.119 them on the street. So I go out and I 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:11.080 buy a copy of my favorite Blu Ray, which is 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:14.440 of course Bio Dome with Polly Shore, and I put 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:18.800 it into the system and I start making copies of Well, 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:22.040 I could just end up ruining the market obviously, and 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.000 then Paul Shore would never experience that great career comeback 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:28.439 that we're all hoping he has in the very near future. 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:33.480 Uh So HDCP is meant to counteract that. It's supposed 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:37.040 to prevent people from either sending hd CP content to 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:41.480 unauthorized devices or two devices that have been hacked to 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:44.960 allow for copying materials. So, in other words, if I've 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:47.840 got my Blu ray player and it's h d CP compliant, 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:50.920 and I've hooked it up using something like an HDMI 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:55.600 cable to another another peripheral, another system, in order to 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.040 try and copy the material that's being shown on that 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:00.520 Blu ray player or being played by that Blu ray player. 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:05.000 But because of that HDCP protection, it won't go to 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:09.960 my hacked system or my unauthorized system, and I won't 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:15.160 be able to make those copies. I'm prevented from doing it. Uh. However, 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:19.159 it's not entirely true. There's a hacked master key to 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:21.479 h d CP that was leaked way back in two 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:25.639 thousand ten. So technically you could end up with a 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.159 computer that has this on it, and you could end 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:32.520 up recording stuff from other devices, and and you're using 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:35.399 this master key, it fools the whole system into believing 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:39.280 that you're using an authorized device, so there's no problem. However, 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:43.520 this would essentially just record whatever was playing at that 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:46.399 time on the Blu ray player or whatever other media 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:49.119 device you happen to be talking about, it would not 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:53.200 get the entire experience. So if I were copying that 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:56.159 that Blu ray, I would get the movie, but I 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:59.840 wouldn't get the menus, I wouldn't get the added material. 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:02.480 It would just be whatever was playing at that time. 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:06.800 So there are other ways to actually hack or decrypt 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:11.919 the protection on disks. Then that's pretty much what pirates 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:16.000 concentrate on rather than just making a direct copy, because 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.680 most people want the full experience as opposed to just 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:23.080 the film. Although I don't know why. I mean biodom 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.880 by itself obviously a work of art, uh At any rate, 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:31.800 it's this DRM that has had a lot of people 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:35.640 who prefer to have unfettered kind of control of their 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:40.120 electronics up in arms. They disagree with it. They want 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:43.600 to have a device where they can do whatever they 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:46.399 want with it, especially if it means something like burning 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:50.840 a copy of a a movie you own, or a 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:53.920 music disc you own, whatever it may be, in order 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:56.560 for you to have a backup for your own purposes. 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:01.439 We have in the United States as established that personal 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:05.760 backups are not a copyright violation you can do that. However, 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:08.400 this is the sort of technology that prevents people from 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:12.240 doing it. So while it's not illegal for you to 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:15.919 make a backup copy, it is it can be illegal 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:18.800 for you to circumvent the technology that prevents you from 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:22.000 doing that, which is kind of crazy. And that's why 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:25.440 a lot of home theater enthusiasts prefer the analog set 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:28.360 up where you don't have this dr M issue. Then 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:31.480 with things like hd M I, which i'll talk about 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:34.800 in a second. That being said, we're seeing that a 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:38.320 lot of a lot of systems, a lot of peripherals, 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:44.240 a lot of television sets don't necessarily support these methods anymore, 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:46.080 and you have to use things like h d M I. 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:49.600 So we're kind of being pushed into that world whether 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:54.040 we want it or not. Go figure alright, So there 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:57.360 are other things that can limit your ability to use 0:20:57.520 --> 0:21:02.280 your devices if you're using something like uh a connector 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:05.600 that has hd C P on it subsort of HDCP 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:09.640 protection associated with it, for example, a limit on how 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:12.640 many devices you might be able to hook up two, 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:14.760 or how many displays you might be able to hook 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:17.760 up to a single device. And this might not sound 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:20.440 like it's a big deal, and for most consumers it 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:24.320 probably isn't. But imagine that you own a sports bar 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:28.199 and as part of the sports bar experience, you want 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:31.160 to have televisions up all around the bar that are 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:34.800 tuned to different channels to show the various sporting events 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:37.760 that are going on at any given time, and you 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:41.520 have them all connected to a satellite receiver. Well, if 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:45.400 you're using something that has HDCP protection on it, which 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:47.680 is sort of like saying a t M machine, uh, 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:50.600 you are limited to how many of those devices you 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:52.440 might be able to hook up to that satellite box. 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:54.680 For example, a lot of the really popular ones have 0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:58.119 a limit of sixteen displays, which is a lot. I mean, 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:00.960 if you were a regular consumer, that would probably more 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:03.879 than enough. I don't know anyone personally who owns more 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:07.560 than sixteen televisions, but if you have a large restaurant, 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:11.040 that might not be enough. And there are plenty of 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:14.440 people who have said you could be doing everything legally. 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:17.280 You know, you could be following all the rules, but 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:22.280 the technology itself has artificial limitations put into place to 0:22:22.480 --> 0:22:26.919 protect against copyright violations, and it's affecting people who aren't 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:32.240 even committing any sort of copyright violation. Okay, so that 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:35.080 was a long preamble to get into the digital side, 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:37.600 but it was important. And I should also say that 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:41.880 while I prefer analog for those purposes, my own home 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:44.719 system uses h d M I because I've got everything 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:50.480 running to a centralized receiver to control things, and h 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:52.719 d M I was just easier than having all these 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:55.520 other analog cables that could get tangled up with each other. 0:22:56.119 --> 0:22:59.560 So maybe I'm a hypocrite, maybe I'm lazy. I'm probably both. 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:05.520 Let's look at digital connectors and cables. First. There's display port, 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:08.879 which is gonna sound weird to anyone who is pretty 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:13.159 familiar with televisions because there are very few TVs that 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:16.520 actually have a display port connector. In fact, the only 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:19.680 one I am personally aware of is the Pana Sonic 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:24.600 TC L six five W T six hundred And yes 0:23:24.680 --> 0:23:26.879 I did read that off, because I can't just rattle 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:29.080 it off from the top of my head. There may 0:23:29.119 --> 0:23:30.800 be others out there, but that's the only one I'm 0:23:31.080 --> 0:23:34.600 familiar with anyway. Display Port connectors are usually meant to 0:23:34.640 --> 0:23:38.720 connect various components to computer monitors, not to televisions. The 0:23:38.840 --> 0:23:42.320 display board cable can carry audio as well as video, 0:23:42.440 --> 0:23:46.000 which means it is useful for TVs. Your typical computer 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:49.399 monitor doesn't have audio associated with it. Some do, but 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:53.440 the typical ones don't. It also has the optional implementation 0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:58.880 of HDCP and includes DPCP also known as display Port 0:23:59.000 --> 0:24:03.520 Content Protection, which was designed by Phillips. So it's a 0:24:03.520 --> 0:24:06.640 greater bandwidth than h d M I could actually move 0:24:06.960 --> 0:24:09.800 more data in the same amount of time as an 0:24:09.920 --> 0:24:13.520 hd UMI cable could or HDMI connector could, and it's 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:16.920