Has any tried connecting a set top box using A/V wires? hows the quality? compare to use component connection?

Question

Has any tried connecting a set top box using A/V wires? hows the quality? compare to use component connection?

Answer 1

it depends what monitor your set top box is hooked to and what the set top box supports. if it outputs HD then use the component cable hook up.

there is a huge gap in video quality between regular A/V cable and component cable.

Answer 2

For standard def - the 3 connections are:

Composite (single yellow RCA cable) - baseline quality

SVideo - 20% better than composite

Component (3 RCA cables) 25% better than composite

So you only get a small difference improvement with component cables over SVideo.

These numbers came from "Home Theater" magazine that used a DVD player as the source and tested all 3 connection types.  Your cable company may compress the video so you see less improvement.  But it's a good way to put numbers on the 3 kinds of standard def connections.