All About Cables

Think about your dream home theater system and visions of DVD players and high definition plasma TVs likely dance in your head. However, we rarely think about the cables that make all the flashy technology work in harmony with each other. Cables have many different sizes, shapes, lengths and connection types. First, you need to decide whether you need an analog or digital cable. Then you must decide between the four types of cables on the market -- coaxial, composite, component and S-Video. Chances are, your home theater system needs at least two of those four types of cables. Here is a breakdown of the four:

• Coaxial cables: the most basic and common cables. They are cost-effective and send a signal over a long distance.
• Composite cables: use a single standard RCA-style jack to pass video signals. It is capable of delivering a high-quality picture, but the color and brightness is not as accurate as S-video and component.
• S-video: the "s" stands for separate, which means that color and brightness are processed on separate paths which makes for a sharp picture. S-video provides a sharper picture than composite video.
• Component: works similarly to the S-video, but provides even sharper color. This is the best cable to use.

And, lastly, while buying your cable, keep in mind that you want to "round up." Experts say it's a good rule of thumb to always buy more cable than you need. So, for example, if you've measured and determined you only need 4.5 feet of cable, buy 6 feet.

Cable Management for Home Theater Systems

There are cable management solutions for making your home theater system look as sharp as your new high definition plasma TV. Here are some cable management products for your home theater, courtesy of cableorganizer.com.

• Home theater slide out racks and rotating shelving systems to store your technology in an eye-pleasing and easy-to-access way
• Surge suppressors protect your equipment from power surges
• High performance speaker cables
• Wire strippers to access your wiring
• Crimp and compression tools to connect cabling
• Telescoping poles to aid you in handling wire in hard-to-reach areas along ceilings and inside walls and crawl spaces
• Digital multimeters can measure voltage and currents
• Braided sleeving to organize and protect your wires
• Raceways hold, guide and protect wires and blend into your walls for a clean, finished appearance
• Wire looms hide cables

Forward Thinking for Successful Cable Management

According to techworld.com, a little forward thinking goes a long way when it comes to cable management. For example, if you spend a few extra dollars to buy snagless connectors, when it comes time to pull any wires out of the neat bundle under your desk, you will be able to pull the cable out of the pile without ripping off the little plastic tab that holds it in the port when it's plugged in.

Also, document your system and keep it in an easy to access place. In other words, write down your cable layout, what each color means and how you routed your cables. This way, if you are away from the home or office and a problem arises, it will be much easier to direct someone to fix the problem. It's easier to tell someone to move the green cable from port 24 to port 95 rather than saying "grab one of the black wires on the left sort of near the bottom and put it in that thingy all the way to the right..."

Color Code Your Wires

Which cable is the positive lead? If you are a car enthusiast fixing or experimenting with rewiring your car, you need to take precautions. Make sure and mark the positive cable with a red piece of heat shrink tubing. Heat shrink tubing is also available in yellow and green stripes for ground lines. Moreover, good heat shrink tubing can add protection to your cables against chemicals and extreme temperatures, as well as abrasion.

Better Desk Cable Management in Seven Steps

Good desk cable management means that all of your wires, power adapters, hubs and modems are lifted off the floor and out of harm's way. Here is some advice from cnet.com, a publisher of computer and technology news and information, for having good desk cable management:

1. Label your cables because when it comes time to move your equipment around, you may have trouble reinstalling everything. Will you be able to tell which is an unused network cable and which is a live cable?
2. When you install a new piece of equipment, use a short instead of a long cable. Otherwise, the extra cable will get in your way and make running new wires difficult. Also, extra wiring radiates electrical noise.
3. Rip out old unused cabling instead of thinking you might use it in the future. Chances are you will not use it and it will just crowd your office.
4. Wrap related cables together every few feet, or bundle them. Do this instead of simply plugging them in and dropping the cables behind your desk. Otherwise, you will be cursing yourself when you can't figure out what goes where. There are cable wraps sold for the purpose of bundling cables.
5. Wireless objects will not solve your problems completely. Some wireless mice are heavier than the cordless ones, which is not good for your wrists. Wireless usually costs more, as well.
6. Super short extension cords allow you to plug all of your bulky power adapters into one power strip so that every slot on your power strip is being used.
7. Buy networking and USB cables that have smooth boots over the ends and your cables will be pull-up friendly. This means when you get some new electronics and want to pull up the cables from the old electronics, they will be less likely to snag.

Avoid Duct Tape as Cable Covers

We've all heard that duct tape is the universal solution for many household projects. But experts in the wire management industry warn you to bypass the duct tape when considering how to organize and hide your cables and wires. While duct tape has a wonderful ability to conform, stretch and adhere to many surfaces, it's not ideal for cable organization. And here's why, according to cableorganizer.com:

• It's ugly and inefficient
• It can damage flooring
• It can be dangerous when it comes unstuck

Instead, spend the money to get a proper cable cover, a product intended to protect and organize your cables.