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.