More Digital Connections
One of the most confusing connectors on the market has to be the DVI or “Digital Visual Interface”. It was made to provide high video quality on digital displays like LCD computer displays and digital projectors. It is built to carry uncompressed digital video signal to a display. It is also compatible, although with some limitations, with the HDMI DVI-D and VGA analog mode, also known as DVI-A. DVI carries no audio, but there is a newer connection, ones from computers that are built to also carry audio too. This allows a direct hookup to HDTVs.
One of the problems with the DVI connectors is that they made so many similar in looks but some were analog, some digital, some had both and another incorporated USB in the multi-pin connector. This made it confusing for the electronics market to adopt them and use in electronics. Now we are seeing HDMI on most HDTVs and other electronics. Then came all these adapters to link up with other connections. It is confusing as to what you need to buy and also it is hard to identify these ends without a chart.
FIREWIRE IEEE 1394
Some
of you may be familiar with this interface called Firewire which
comes standard with all Apple computers. There is the
standard 400 and then the newer computers from Apple took it to another
level to 800. It is a high speed connection from personal computers and
digital audio, digital video, automotive and aeronautics use too.
Firewire was chosen as the standard interface for Audio Visual
component communication. It is available in wireless, coaxial, and
fiber optic versions too. It has been available on most digital
camcorders for years. Its still the most used transfer method for high
end professional audio and video equipment.
Optical Cable
There is another Cable that handles digital audio that is available in an optical form and follows the TOSlink standard. Toshiba originally created the standard to connect CD players to receivers. The name came from Toshiba-link. These cables are built using a plactic optical fiber surrounded by a layer of resin. Its thickness of cost effective 1mm plastic carries the digital audio better and with a smaller cable than you would need if you had fiber optic which is made out of glass and requires multi-strands and therefore would have to be a thicker cable. The cables are limited to 5 meters in length and a maximum of ten without a signal booster.
SPDIF Cable
Also
called Digital Audio cables, these SPDIF, which stands for Sony
Phillips Digital Interface, cables provide yet another way to route
multi-channel audio from one component to another with very little
signal loss. The specs for a coax digital audio cable are the same as
the video cable at 75 ohms. These cables have wide bandwidth and keep a
consistent quality signal. They were designed to transmit compressed
digital audio. They were made to connect from the output of a DVD
player to a home theater receiver that supports Dolby Digital or DTS
surround sound.