Can 3 composite cables (Red and White) be used in place of component cables (Red, Blue and Green)?

Question

This might be a stupid question. Both have very simular cable thickness and plugs. Are they "built" differently?

Answer 1

They are not fundamentally different, but the component cables may have a little less capacitance than the audio cables which could tend to make the picture not quite as sharp.

If the cable run is short (3-4 ft), then no harm in trying it.  If it is not as sharp as you would like, spring for a high quality component set - larger cable thickness is better.

Answer 2

The RCA cables (Red, white and yellow) are used for audio and video. The RGB (Red, Green and Blue) cables are used for high definition content and only offers video. So yes to answer to your  question, yes they are built differently.

Answer 3

Yes - the CAN be built differently.

Video cables (The yellow one) must be made with "75 ohm" coax.

Audio cables (the red & white) can be made with 50, 75, 110 and 300 ohm coax.

You cannot tell by looking at them if the red/white are 75 ohms.

Sometimes cable makers use 75 ohm coax for video/left/right cable sets. Radio Shack used to do this, but they changed things a few years ago.  If you cut the ends off - the coax for the L/R plugs is physically different.

Also - "Component" cables - can simply be made for standard def frequencies. If you are hooking up HD, make sure the coax is "HD Rated" or has a bandwidth in the 90 Mhz range or higher.

BlueJeans sells component cable sets made with "Belden" coax and Canare plugs. These are normally sold to the broadcast industry.   Really, really good cables for about $60.

Answer 4

Obviously, it's not the color coding at the ends of these cables which makes a difference.  All the "free" cables included with most DVD players or HD boxes are in there because they cost pennies to manufacture.  Those cheap cables are identacle to each other except for the fact that one has "red, white and yellow" on the ends while other had been given "red, blue and green".

Now if you're going to spend a little more, may I suggest using "RG6" cable "capped" with RCA ends for ALL your interconnects.  Click this link to see what I mean: http://www.avtruths.com/budgetcables.htm...

Once you've created your own cables (which more than rival the "Monster" brand) you can make them any color you like and they will perform beautifully.  The point is that you want as much copper as possible (solid-conductor, not the braided strands) running between your Home Theater equipment, inside HEAVILY-SHIELDED cables.  The "RG6", with 0% signal-loss up to 100FT and an 18-gage, copper center conductor, will do just that.

I would go as far to recommend this type of "modified coax cable" for all of your audio/video connections.  Call them "composite" or "component" or even a "sub-woofer cable".  The RG6 cable design will provide amazing signal transfer for your analog connections and you can even use it for your "digital coax" if you like.  The "color" of the cable is really up to you.