Plasma TV: Connecting To Home Theatre

Types Of Video Connections

There are many types of video connections available to be used depending on the need. The major types for plasma TV/Home Theatre are Composite Video, S-Video, Component Video, Digital Visual Interface (DVI) and High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI).

Composite Video

Also known as RCA connector because of having a yellow marked single jack, it is a combined video signal that delivers both colour and luminance information on a single cable. Most video equipments use this lowest grade of video signal. If high quality composite video cables are used, composite video can produce good quality picture. For some cable boxes and VCR, this video connection is often considered the best option. However composite video is not recommended for use in plasma TV because of its ability to feed only about 250 lines that would produce bad quality picture for a plasma TV.

S-Video

In this video connection, a round 4-pin plug is used to separate the colour and luminance parts of a video image. This results in improved picture quality over the composite video because of assignment of processing channel to each portion of video signal. However in a plasma TV composite video works as fine because separation of the information on reaching the plasma monitor can be done by the video processing circuits within the plasma itself.

Component Video

This is the most commonly used video connection in a plasma TV. Luminance, hue and saturation, the three components of a video signal are separated by this high-grade video signal resulting in acceptance of high-definition signal up to 1080i. However having component video switch with high bandwidth is necessary to ensure passage of extra information through an HDTV signal.

DVI & HDMI

DVI Video providing highest signal quality can accommodate through a single connector both analog and digital monitors. DVI-D is the most used in Home Theatre. HDMI is very ideal for plasma TV as it offers very high quality digital video. All HDTV formats are supported by HDMI cables.