Component Video

Component video offers a far better quality than S-Video, being the preferred video connection to use between your DVD player or your cable/satellite converter and your TV set or videoprojector, in the case they have this kind of connection and they don't have a better connectivity option, like DVI or HDMI. It uses three cables, which should be connected as follows:

• Green connector: green input or input labeled as Y;
• Blue connector: blue input or input labeled as Pb or Cb or B-Y;
• Red connector: red input or input labeled as Pr or Cr or R-Y.

The Y connector transmits video information (black and white image) while the color information is transmitted on the other connectors.

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Figure 18: Component video connectors on a DVD player.

On the PC, some video cards have this kind of output, which should be used if you want to connect your PC to your TV set but your TV doesn't have a better kind of connection, i.e. VGA, DVI or HDMI.

The problem, however, is that is not so easy to recognize if a video card has or not this kind of output because it shares the same connector used by Separated Video (S-Video). Almost all video cards nowadays have one S-Video connector, but the majority doesn’t have component video output available on this connector.

One way to detect if your S-Video connector has component video output or not is looking at it. If it has only four pins, this means it has only S-Video output and doesn't have component video output. If it has more than four pins, this may mean that it has component video output. Check on Figure 19.

Figure 19: Identifying the S-Video connector used by your video card.

Pay attention that we said "may". This happens because there are some video cards – especially those with video capture (VIVO) function – that have more than four pins on their S-Video connector, but these extra pins are used by another feature, not by component video.

In summary: if the S-Video connector from your video card has four pins, it doesn't have component video output, if it has more than four pins, it may have component video output. To be sure, only reading the board manual and looking on its specs to see if it has this feature.

To use the component video output from your video card, you will need an adaptor. This adaptor usually comes with video cards that have component video output. So, if you video card came with a component video adaptor, this means it has component video output!

The aspect of this adaptor can vary; the two most common models we show on Figures 20 and 21.

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Figure 20: Component video adaptor.

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Figure 21: Another model of component video adaptor.

If your video card does not have component video output you can still convert the VGA or DVI output of your video card into component video using an adaptor. It is worth noticing that this connection is not just an electrical connection; you will need electronic components to make the conversion from the RGB standard to the YPbPr one used by the component video. That is why this adapter cannot be easily made at home. Be careful, because there is a USD 15 cable on the market that claims to convert the VGA output into component video, but this cable doesn't work correctly.
ATI manufactures this adapter for video cards that use this company's chip, which costs USD 30 (this adapter doesn't work in boards with chips from other manufacturers; this happens because boards with ATI chips already have support for the component video as a standard feature). For more information about the ATI adapter, visit http://ati.amd.com/products/hdtvadapter/.

Other manufacturers produce VGA or DVI converters for component video compatible with any video card, but their price is higher (up to USD 150, depending on the manufacturer and the functionalities). Be careful, for the cheapest converters may not generate a component video signal at the best resolution or quality that your TV may support. That's why that you have to check the resolutions and modes your TV supports and the resolutions and modes the adapter is capable of generating before buying it. The two most popular adapters among enthusiastic users are the Digital Key (model KD-VTCA3 - http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Video/kdvtca3.asp) and the Audio Authority (model 9A60 - http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Video/9a60.asp).

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