mourning analog

There is a ton of high definition capable components in the electronic entertainment world now and the people who buy these need to have the best support for them. These consumers sometimes don’t think about the AV cables between these components, but if you don’t use the best connectors it doesn’t matter how high tech your toys are. If you use the same old analog cables to hook them up you’ll not see the quality increase you’re expecting.

The lack of performance of the old style analog cables, like composite and component cables, is because when they transmit the data stream to the TV it’s compressed which creates a lesser sound and picture quality. In contrast the HDMI cables present a digital alternative, they don’t compress the signal at all so there’s fabulous high quality pictures and audio.

Most of the newer electronics like game consoles, i.e. XBOX 360 and Playstation 3, and entertainment pieces like Blu ray players, DVR’s and HD cable boxes have used the HDMI format since it was released to consumers in 2003. The capability of HDMI allows us to see true high def resolutions of 480p, 720p, and the awesome 1080p. As it grows there are now newer releases of this cable which can handle 40p, 1600p and 2160p capable resolutions. Another special feature is the HDMI is backward compatible with standard Digital Video Interface, DVI, which are present on most modern video cameras and computer monitors.

For the audiophile, there is the Toslink cable or Optical cable, which is a high quality digital optical connection for audio devices. Digital Optical inputs can be found on many recent audio devices such as MiniDisc recorders, DAT recorders, and high-end disc players. It is also increasingly being included on newer computers such as Apple’s Unibody Macbook line of laptops.

The way the signal moves through the system, digital signal in an uncompressed state, is similar for the Toslink as the HDMI cables. This results in pure high quality audio output, great for sound editing and playback because there’s a full sound spectrum with no loss due to compression. Both the HDMI and Toslink are the best and should be used if someone wants to see and hear the capability of their components.