AV Accessories

Audio Cable

Can i use a RCA audio cable for a Digital Coaxial cable?

Have some spare,are the rca audio cables (red/white) the same as component cables?

They can be used in place of component RGB. Hopefully these are high end RCA audio cables with gold plated connectors and noise cancelation shielding.

Good luck!

Should Cars Have High End Audio Cables

For years it has been well understood in home audio that cables can have a tremendous impact on a sound system, both good and bad. Choose the right cables and you can expect a system to come to life. Choose poorly designed cables, and you may forever be wondering why you can’t get your system to come to life.

Car audio however, has been a different story. While many companies still offer coaxial interconnect cables, most have come to realize that the basic twisted pair design offers far better noise rejection in a vehicle. And then… Nothing. That’s it. Innovation seems to have hit a brick wall at the shielded twisted pair interconnect in car audio. This begs the question; Should Cars Have High End Audio Cables?

To begin with, let’s briefly go back to home audio. After many years of fighting an uphill battle, the idea that cables make a difference has become a mainstream ideology amongst audiophiles. But it isn’t just audiophiles who can hear the difference. In fact, in our own testing, the differences can be heard by just about anybody, even on very modest audio systems. It just takes a willingness to discard any preconceived notions and actually listen to some music.

So, if cables make a difference in home audio, is there a reason why it shouldn’t matter in car audio? The quick answer is no. The following outlines some of the reasons why cables matter just as much, if not more, in car audio.

Many people are under the impression that car audio uses shorter cables than home audio, and therefore does not need to bother with high fidelity cables. This is completely incorrect. While the typical interconnect length in a home audio system is about 1 meter, vehicles will frequently use 5 or 6 meter interconnects to put amplifiers in the trunk. In terms of speaker cables, car audio almost always uses cables longer than the 6-8 feet used in most home audio setups.

Vehicles represent a far more challenging environment for cables than home audio systems. Two typical sources of noise in cables are Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) and Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). In vehicles, the entire chassis is frequently used as the ground return path. This allows noise from car components such as the alternator to be inducted into the audio cables via EMI. In terms of RFI, unless proper shielding is used, the longer cables in cars will act as antennas and pull in more noise. A third source of noise in a vehicle is vibration. This is of course far worse in a vehicle than in a home system. Pear Cable is the first company to bring out a car audio cable that virtually eliminates the noise caused by cable vibration. The TRIBODeadÔ technology present in the Comice Silver Interconnect is an electrically conductive plastic layer that prevents static electrical charges, caused by vibration, from building up in the cable.

- Is Quality Sound Just for Home Audio or does it have a Place in Car Audio Too?

Some people feel that a car audio sound system will never be as good as a home audio system, and therefore high fidelity cables are a waste of money in a car. This is a faulty conclusion. The experience of listening to music in your vehicle while driving down the highway is unique and cannot be replicated in the home audio environment. The bottom line here is that many people spend more time listening to their car audio system than their home system, and they want it to be the best that it can be. The characteristics of bad audio cables (listening fatigue, poor realism, overly bright treble, or general noise) will all still be audible in a car audio system. Just like home audio, the wrong cables in your vehicle will kill the listening experience.

At the end of the day, many people want quality sound in their vehicles. If you are installing an aftermarket system in your vehicle and you care about sound quality, you need to care about cables. If you are only interested in having the loudest car, without regards to accuracy, then high fidelity audio cables probably aren’t for you. Otherwise, it simply doesn’t make sense to shell out good money on amplifiers and speakers, only to hook it all up with mediocre wire. Car audio enthusiasts are every bit as serious as home audio enthusiasts, and now there is finally a cable company that is serious about serving their needs.

Article written by Adam Blake.

About the Author

car entertainment - car audio - car dvdplayer

Dvd Vcr

How do I plug in my ps3 into my dvd/vcr player?

I have just got a ps3 component cable today. When I try to plug it in the tv it works fine but when i try to plug it in my sanyo dvw-7100 dvd/vcr with component output in the back it won't play. Can somebody help?

That's because a DVD/VCR is not what you hook a PlayStation 3 into as the PlayStation 3 is it's own DVD player and Blu-Ray player as well, they can't both share the same connection and display picture. You only hook the PlayStation 3 up to a TV or a AV receiver if you have one but the Sanyo player you're talking about isn't one so just hook your PlayStation 3 up to your TV and you're good.

All Region Dvd Player: Play With The Regions

Imagine watching the Niagara falls right in front of your eyes seated on a sofa. The home theater system helps us to watch a variety of movies right inside our homes. An all region DVD player is a smart choice while setting up your own home theater.

A DVD provides enormous space to store data from all walks of life. No wonder it has become the most popular storage device today. A DVD is used to store movies,pictures,data and even books!

However, DVD is prepared in a different format in various parts of the world. In Asian countries the format used is PAL format while the Americans follow the NTSC format. These two different formats cannot be read by the same DVD player.

An All region DVD player provides multitasking and decodes DVD irrespective of the format in which it is created. It is a region free DVD player and provides complete access to the DVD irrespective of the source of origin.

The code free portable DVD player pays no heed to the code or the format from where the DVD has originated. It is a smooth operator and effectively plays the DVD as soon as it is inserted. This ability of super ceding the code and playing the DVD without bothering about the region of its origin makes it a multi region DVD player.

An all region DVD player can also be useful in playing the old video cassettes. The DVD VCR multi system provides an unique opportunity to view DVD from all regions and also view video cassettes.

The all region DVD player has a very sleek design and fits very well in the cabinets. The DVD player cab be attached to wide screens so that life size images can be viewed. This is a very good alternative to watching movies on the computers or mobile as the eyes are not strained.

In the era of outsourcing, it's very difficult to imagine where exactly your DVD is coming from. The world is now a very small place and you might pick up a DVD from any country during your visit. It can be agonizing to come back home and discover that the DVD is not readable.

Thus,an all region DVD player is the most compatible solution which will enable you to literally watch any DVD in the world.

Sam Stores is an on line outlet which offer a wide range of all region DVD player in sleek designs.

About the Author

Peter is a well known author who writes on topics related to electronic items like Region Free DVD Player, pal digital camcorders, Voltage Converter.

Optical Digital Audio

Samsung Makes a Run at Camera Glory at PMA 2010
The Samsung TL500 serves up an incredibly bright, ultra-wide-angle lens; the TL350 has a high-speed burst mode; and new pocket camcorders take aim at the Flip.

The 50th Anniversary of the Optical Disc

The 50th Anniversary of the Optical Disc.

From the “Laser Disc” to “Blu-ray”

History of the Optical Disc

In 1958, 50 years ago, David Paul Gregg invented the first optical disc using a transparent disc technology. The disc is 30 centimeters in diameter and uses an analog format and laser technology. It is therefore also called a “Laser Disc” He patented his design in 1961.

A later development of the Optical Disc were patented in 1969.

In 1967, David Paul Gregg's company, Gaus Electrophysics, contacted Royal Philips Electronics, but was met with disinterest.

The laser disc player sold only about one million units in the United States and approximately four million in Japan and the last LD released in Japan was the “Tokyo Raiders” in 2001.

Laser Disc Museum gives some interesting history of the Laser Disc. See the link below:

http://laserdiscplanet.com/museum.html

One of the influential contributors to Audio, Video and Data recording, is Kees Immink.

Dr. Kees A. Schouhamer Immink was born on December 18, 1946 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He Joined Philips research laboratories in 1971.

His contribution to the technology of digital audio and video has enabled all of us to listen to audio and watch video on reliable, high quality media. Dr. Immink's coding methods are essential to CD's and DVD's. For a full biography about Kees Immink see the website:

http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/biography/immink.html

The Compact Disc (CD)

The Optical VideoDisc, although a major development to be used in later research, was not a great success. I recently talked to a number of people about the Optical Video disc, but they had never heard of it.

The Sony/Philips team was not idle, and building on some of the laser disc technologies, they set out to develop a new digital audio disc; in contrast to the earlier OpticalDisc, which had an analog format.

In 1979, they set up a task force of engineers led by the prominent Kees Immink and in 1980, the group produced a Compact Disc (CD) Standard, called the Red Book.

Compact Disc format

The CD uses a red laser to scan the patterns of bumps on a mirrored surface which are interpreted as bits. These bits can be assembled into bytes. A CD can hold about 700 megabytes of information or about 80 minutes of music.

The Red Book gives detailed information on the design of the compact disc and was released in 1980 by Philips and Sony.

It was adopted by the Digital Audio Disc Committee and ratified as IEC 908.

The development of the CD was the combined work of a large number of scientists working as a team. The Compact Disc Story, written by Kees A. Schouhamer Immink provides a lot of background information. See the weblink below for the full story.

http://www.exp-math.uni-essen.de/~immink/pdf/cdstory.htm

The CD, available on the market since late 1982, remains the standard playback medium for commercial audio recordings to the present day. Various formats of the CD were later developed. Some of the common formats are:

1. Audio files CD

2. Data storage CD-ROM

3. Write-once audio and data storage CD-R

4. Rewritable media CD-RW

By 2007 200 billion CDs had been sold world wide.

Search for a new way to play video movies and “super density” data storage.

The time was ready for a new way to play Videos and provide a higher capacity disk to store data and programs. Cd's were rapidly replacing the audio tapes and the VHS was coming to an end. Data often had to be stored on multiple discs.

Two teams set to work to produce a video disk to replace the VHS tape; the Philips and Sony team and Toshiba.

Philips and Sony started the Multimedia Compact Disc (MMCD) and Toshiba the Super Density Disc. Notice the emphasis on each of these, “Multi Media” and “Super Density”. Of course both of these had both the video and data capabilities in mind.

Multi Media Compact Disc (MMCD) 1990s Philips and Sony

The MMCD was designed as a single sided compact disc, with a single or dual layer. The capacity for a single layer is 3,7GB , compared with 7.4GB for the dual layer. It is backward compatible with the CD and CDROM. It did not become a standard.

Super Density Disc (SD) 1990s Toshiba

The Super Density Disc (SD) was adopted as the standard format, with an addition of to two options, proposed by the Philis/Sony team. For more information see the section on the DVD below.

DVD

With the two competing options, one offered by Sony/Philips and the other by Toshiba, we seemed to be on the brink of another format war. It looked like a repeat of the format battle of the 1980s when the Sony Betamax was battling it out with the “Video Home System” VHS standards, at the expense of the consumer. What does the consumer buy? In my opinion the Betamax was a better option, but the consumer market decided, and the victory went to VHS.

But the impeding battle did not take place Through the with mediation of Lou Gerstner, president of IBM a compromise was reached.

The Sony and Philips MMCD format was abandoned and the Toshiba SD format adopted, with these two additions:

the pit geometry which allows push-pull tracking, a proprietary technology of Philips and Sony, and the EFMPlus, created by Kees immink. The EFMPlus encoder is based on a deterministic finite state machine, having four states, which translates 8-bit input words into 16-bit codewords.

This compromise created the DVD format, which became the standard format in December 1995 and will continue as such until the majority of people will no longer be satisfied with “standard video” but demands high density video for all there movies. Than the new Blu-ray format will take over.

DVD format

The DVD uses a red laser to scan the patterns of bumps on a mirrored surface, which are interpreted as bits. These bits can be assembled into bytes jus as on a CD. However the bumps and tracks on a DVD are much smaller and can therefore hold significantly more information, up to 4.7GB.

Professional Disc for Data (PDD)

With the decision made in favor of the Toshiba, Super Density Disc and the abandonment of the Multi Media Compact Disc (MMCD) as the main technology for the DVD, Sony set out to design a disc they called Professional Disc for Data (PDD). The need for a higher capacity disc for the upcoming high density television systems was a certainty.

Sony introduced the PDD in 2003 and it became available in 2004. This new format utilized the 405nm (Nana meter), BLU-violet laser for reading and writing to the disc, allowing for a much higher data storage than the red laser used in the DVD. The capacity of the disc was 23GB compared with 4.5GB for a single layer DVD.

The PDD format was very short lived and was discontinued in 2007. This made way for the next generation of optical media for the Philips/Sony team, the Blu-ray.

Blu-Ray

Blu-ray technology was developed jointly by Sony & Philips, along with an extensive board of directors.

Apple, Inc. Dell HP Hitachi LG Mitsubishi Electric Panasonic Pioneer Philips Samsung Sharp Sony

Sun Microsystems TDK Thomson Twentieth Century Fox

Walt Disney Warner Bros.

Blu-ray uses a 405nm wavelength blue-violet laser and has a tight track pitch of 0.85

The surface layer is 0.1mm-thick, which enables the laser to focus at the 0.85 aperture.

The disc uses a hard polymer coating called Durabis, which was developed by TDK and is supposedly? extremely resilient and fingerprint resistant.

The Java platform, which is used for menus and multimedia, is mandatory. Blu-ray systems must support JVM.

Capacity

Rom Single Layer 25GB

Rom Dual Layer 50GB

RW Single Layer 27GB

RW Dual Layer 54GB

Highest Test 100GB

Theoretical Limit 200GB

HD DVD

Toshiba

Rom Single Layer 15GB

Rom Dual Layer 30GB

Highest Test 45GB

Theoretical Limit 60GB

Abandoned February 19 2008

©Copyright Jacob Romeyn

About the Author

Radio Microwave engineer for 25 years, instructor in radio microwave engineering, computer technology 20 years.
I have been involved in online learning for 20 years and the 2nd user of the Moodle program.

Hdtv Lcd

Does anyone know how to turn the speakers off on a samsung lcd hdtv?

Does anyone know how to turn the speakers off on a samsung lcd hdtv? I have a sony surround system hooked up to it and the only way I can get the full effect out of my system is to turn the speakers off on the tv. Does anyone know how to do this?

Menu
audio settings
the menu is actually set up to ask you if you are going to use surround sound, come to think of it, if you have a HDtv just mute the dang thing and use audio out from your HD receiver or the DVD player when not watching local on air TV , cuz that is only broadcast in stereo.

Hdtv Satellite Receivers Compared

Satellite HDTV (high definition TV) is all the rage these days, and DISH Network and DIRECTV are broadcasting more and more of their programming in high definition. So how do their HDTV receivers compare? Let's take a look ...

What is HDTV?

HDTV is a television broadcast format that uses a digital signal to produce an image that's far more detailed than a regular analog TV signal. In fact, an HDTV image is so lifelike it's like looking at a scene through a window.

In order to get satellite HDTV you need to subscribe to either DISH Network or DIRECTV satellite TV service, and you need the following equipment:

* An HDTV - LCD, plasma, or tube TV.

* An HDTV compatible satellite dish.

* An HDTV satellite receiver.

HDTVs

HDTVs come in a variety of makes and models. You can get an inexpensive tube HDTV for less than $300. LCD and plasma TVs will run you $900 to $30,000. And large-screen projections TVs will set you back $1,000 to $13,000.

Note: For more information on HDTVs click on the links below.

HDTV Satellite Receivers

DISH Network and DIRECTV HDTV receivers feature:

* Digital video with 1080i lines of resolution for the clearest picture available.

* Dolby Digital Surround Sound for three-dimensional audio.

* On-screen programming that allows you to create a list of your favorite channels, and search for programs by name, by actor, or by keyword.

* Outputs that can connect your receiver to your stereo or home theater system for superior sound.

DISH Network will give you a free HDTV receiver when you subscribe to their service, and DIRECTV will give you a free HDTV receiver, after a $99 mail-in rebate, when you sign up with them.

If you want to record your favorite shows in HD format, you can get a combination DVR (digital video recorder) HDTV receiver from DISH Network or DIRECTV that will record up to 200 hours of programming, and store those programs inside your receiver.

For more information on HDTV receivers click on the links below.

HDTV Satellite Dish

DISH Network and DIRECTV will give you a free satellite dish, a free four-TV receiver system, and install your satellite TV system for free when you subscribe to their service. Your installer will even show you how to operate your new system.

HDTV Programming

DISH Network HDTV programming starts at $29.99 a month for 25 HD channels and 75 regular satellite TV channels, and goes up to $79.99 for 25 HD channels and 350 regular channels.

DIRECTV has one HDTV programming package which has seven HD channels for $9.99 a month. In order to get this package you must subscribe to one of their regular programming packages which start at $29.99 for 155 channels.

Bottom Line

When it comes to which HDTV receiver is the best, there's really not much difference between DISH Network and DIRECTV receivers. Both are state-of-the-art and top-of-the-line.

When it comes to HDTV programming, however, DISH Network has the edge over DIRECTV when it comes to number of HDTV channels and price.

Visit http://www.TheSatelliteTVGuide.com/dish-network-hdtv.htm for more DISH Network HDTV receiver information, ordering information, and their latest special offers. Click on the following link for more DIRECTV HDTV information.

The author, Brian Stevens, is the senior editor for TheSatelliteTVGuide.com and has written extensively on DISH Network HDTV receivers.

About the Author

Home Theater

How do I know the quality of a home theater system?

Using specifications such as wattage, etc, how can I tell the quality of a home theater system? I want to find a good set for around $100-$200 but I don't know a lot about sound fidelity. Also, any home theater system suggestions?

A wise man once said-

"Good stuff not cheap, cheap stuff not good..."

That being said, if you do your research and you know what you're looking for, you CAN put together a budget system that sounds decent.

Choosing speakers is a very personal thing; what sounds good to one person may sound horrible to another. The speaker recommendations you will get here will cost you ten times your price range. No one will recommend the "HTiB from Wal~Mart for $49.99 is all the surround sound you will ever need."

If you are serious about home theater, start saving your pennies and start doing some research. By the time you have the money saved that you will need, you will be able to make a confident, informed purchase.

Home Theater Curtains

If you are left with no choice but to build a home theater in a room where there are windows, you need to consider putting curtains over the windows. Home Theater Curtains can really help in preserving the atmosphere in the home theater. Movie theaters are known to be dark rooms where only the light coming from the screen can be seen.

A home theater becomes useless when you are watching a movie with bright light from outside is infiltrating the room.  Having the room dark allows your eyes to see vivid color and every detail on the screen.

What do you need to know when choosing your home theater curtain?

These are commonly referred to as draperies because of their thick material. Yes, a thicker material sets home theater curtains apart from others since it can completely block out the light trying to enter the room. Their main purpose is to keep the room as dark as possible.

The most important factor that you need to consider when making the home theater a dark place is the color. Curtains come in a variety of colors like blue, pink, yellow, camel, black and all the other colors that you may have in a 96-piece Crayola box. The best choice that you can have is to choose dark colors. Lighter colors reflect light which may cause chaos in the color that are projected from the screen, darker colors do not allow light to penetrate into the room unlike when light colors are used.

Choosing whether to go for a plain home theater curtain or a patterned one is a decision that depends on the design of your home theater. You need to consider the overall look of your theater. Your curtains may be a big part of your home theater which may pull the look together. The material to be used can also be chosen depending on your home theater. Curtains are available in velvet and remain a popular choice for most owners. They look sophisticated and add an edge to your room’s design. Cotton is another choice but you may want to consider this cheaper alternative to be effective when used in layers.

Curtains are available in a variety of sizes ranging from 28 – 200 inches. You need to keep in mind that you would want just the right height of the curtain, a few inches from the floor. If it touches the floor, people might get caught in it causing accidents. Besides from the size, materials used can differ from each curtain.

Usually, they are classified based on how they open whether through the center, from either sides or from only one side. You may want your home theater curtain designed according to what you like. There are manufacturer who accept custom made jobs depending on the specifications. No matter how or where you would purchase your curtains, you need to make sure that you are getting your money’s worth.

Just remember to keep in mind the tips on what home Home Theater Curtains will maximize you movie experience.

About the Author

For more great information on Home Theater Curtains
visit our new website www.dreamhomeimprovementguide.com. And for more Great Articles visit our new site today.