For audio and video lovers the good news is that there are many types of digital audio and video (A/V) cables to choose from. Usually these cables are made from either copper wire that is shielded and housed in strong casing or fiber optic usually made from clear plastic which uses pulses of light to send data.

Types of Digital A/V Cables

Two types of digital cables are either coaxial or optical in material. Here is some basic information.

Coaxial Cables

Coaxial cables use a copper center that is shielded from electrical interference with the help of aluminum. These cables are usually common place since most cable companies use them. They transmit data using electric pulses of energy through the copper wire. They are usually very high quality and affordable.

Optical Cables

Optical cables are made from very thin filaments of plastic (glass can also be used). They transmit audio and video signals via pulses of light. They are usually free from electrical interference and are much thinner than coaxial cables. They are also more expensive and because light can not bend, they can be used in situations where the cable is bent in extreme curves.

Types of Digital A/V Connectors

Component A/V connectors

Component video connectors are being used on many TV’s and A/V receivers. They are higher quality than composite cables such as RF cables or RCA cables and connectors. They are also higher quality than S-Video connectors which for a long time were used by videophiles for the best picture available.

Component connections deliver extremely high quality detail and color accuracy by splitting the video signal coming from a DVD player into three different signals. These signals are split into red, blue and green. It is important to note that video signals user higher frequencies than audio signals, so they deteriorate quickly. With component connections using digital coaxial cable with 75 OHM impedance, you can get an excellent high quality digital signal.

DVI (Digital Video Interconnects)

It is first important to note that DVI cables can come either as digital coaxial cable that are copper centered based or as fiber optic cable, which uses plastic or glass filaments to transmit digital signals.

DVI Cables

DVI cables use multi pin connections. They send high quality standard definition TV signals, along with HDTV signals. DVI cables transfer signals in pure digital form which is great if you are watching a movie on a digital TV set or LCD computer monitor.

There are a few kinds of DVI connections including DVI-D which carries only digital signals and DVI-I which can carry both digital and analog signals.

HDMI

HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface and it is a multi pin connection that can be used either with digital coaxial cable or digital optical cable. It is usually regarded as the premier connection for high end audio and video. Both audio and video pass through the same cable and it can accommodate up to 5 gigabytes per second of bandwidth so it is able to transfer from the source (high definition DVD player) to the your HDTV a pure A/V signal without any compression.