1) Composite Video (Single Yellow cable for Video, White/Red for Audio) is the worse quality. This is because all the colour signals are passed through only one single cable (Yellow).

2) Component Video cables uses three different cables for each colour signals so it is much better Video quality than Composite. Normally the three separate cables are coloured Red, Blue and Green. There must be a component output from your DVD player and a Component Input on your LCD TV in order to use the Component Cable. You must also match the colours from Input to Output in order to get the correct video. (Btw you can also use three different normal Composite cables to function as Component Cables, but make sure they are of good quality).

3) HDMI video is the best quality. It is a single cable used for both digital video signal and sound. (Take note that the signal is Digital as opposed to Composite and Component which are Analog. Digital signal, as long as the cable is decent enough to carry the signal (even a cheap one will do) will output the same quality as a very expensive one. That's the beauty of Digital.

Normally HDMI can not ony be found on Blu-ray players but also DVD players which can upscale normal DVDs to 720P,1080i, 1080P . These upscale DVD players are of course more expensive than the standard DVD players without upscale function.

This post has been edited by Ngto: Oct 29 2008, 01:37 AM

Composite use one single RCA cable for video.

Component uses three different RCA for Video.

Upscale DVD players with HDMI are quite cheap now. The HDMI cables are also quite cheap. No point buying a very expensive cable because the video quality will be exactly the same since it's digital signal.

This post has been edited by Ngto: Oct 29 2008, 01:57 AM

Component uses three different RCA for Video. You can even use your normal composite cable (Yellow/Red/White) to function as Component cable. Instead of plugging the Red/White cable to the audio, plug them to the Component Video instead. Get another set of cables for your audio if you need it.

Example :- Plug the Yellow cable to the Component Green Input/Output. Plug the Red cable to the Component Red Input/Output. Plug the White cable to the Component Blue Input/Output.

Note, Since it's anolog signal, the better quality cable will give a clearer Video Quality.

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Added on October 29, 2008, 2:17 amI have already said Composite and Component uses Analog signals.

HDMI uses digital signals. All upscale DVD players has HDMI output to carry the upscaled Digital Signal.

This post has been edited by Ngto: Oct 29 2008, 02:18 AM

Please also take note that your LCD TV also has a built-in upscale function. If you do not have an upscale DVD player, the video will only be passed to the TV at 480P resolution through Component Cable and the TV itself will updcale to your TV resolution.

But normally the TV upscale quality is not as good at that from the Upscale DVD player which uses a better chip (depending on which Brand) to upscale to 720P/1080P before passing to the TV.

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Added on October 29, 2008, 2:35 amThe component cables they sell are also the same Composite type cables. They only colour it differently so you don't plug wrongly that's all.

Even the LCD shops sometimes use Composite cables to fuction as Component cables.

This post has been edited by Ngto: Oct 29 2008, 02:35 AM

Either your DVD player is set to PAL mode or it is set to Auto but your DVD disc itself is PAL movie.

Set your DVD player video mode to Auto and try another DVD movie which is in NTSC format.

Like I said before an upscale DVD player will output 720P/1080i (and/or 1080P, depending on player) via HDMI. Standard DVD can only output at 480P via component.

Anyway although your display shows 480P , it just means the input signal from the DVD player is 480P. But like I have also mentioned before, your LCD TV will in fact upscale it to it's own resolution which is 720P. It doesn't show this information though only that the input from your DVD player is 480P.

This post has been edited by Ngto: Nov 2 2008, 07:38 PM

The purpose of an upscale DVD player is to upconvert ALL types of DVDs from the standard 480P to 720P/1080i and upwards using HDMI. This is for those who have not yet upgrade to Blu-ray but want something in-between for the time being. HDMI is not exclusive to just Blu-ray. It's just a digital component standard for transmission of HD quality signals.

The quality of the upconverted picture depends on the Brand of the player and the quality of the processing Chip used in the player. Of course the quality won't be as good as the real thing from a Blu-ray player.

Sometimes a really bad upscale player can be worse that the upscale done by your TV using a standard DVD player through Component. But this rare.

(Note:- FYI, Upscale players used to be able to upconvert to 720P/1080i through Component video also in the early days, but they are not allowed to do that anymore nowadays because of some regulations/protection and other issues. So the current upscale players only upconvert using HDMI now)

This post has been edited by Ngto: Nov 2 2008, 10:44 PM

If your TV is only 720P/1080i and not not full HD (1080P), your TV wont be able to accept the 1080P signal from your upscale DVD player. You will probably get a blank screen. You will have to make do with a 720P/1080i signal which is sufficient for upconverting normal DVDs. You can choose the upconvert resolution from the Upscale player options.

Take note, 1080i is not full HD, only 1080P is full HD. 1080i is more like 720P in terms of quality.

To take full advantage of 1080P you need a Full HD LCD TV and a Blu-ray player playing a Blu-ray movie.

This post has been edited by Ngto: Nov 2 2008, 11:31 PM

1080p is a progressive signal. 1080i is an only interlaced signal.

Technically speaking 1080i is worse in quality than 720P. But some people find it looks slightly better than 720P. It depends on the combination of your LCD TV and upscale DVD player. Sometimes it's also in your mind.

Fyi 1080i mode can be displayed and is a common feature on 720P LCD TVs because it is not full HD.

Of course both 720P and 1080i will be nothing close to 1080P.

We were talking in terms of upscaled 1080i input to a 720P TV.

When a 1080i interlaced signal is fed to a 720P LCD TV (which is progressive in nature) the signal is de-interlaced and scaled back to 720P (or rather 768 progressive lines to be exact) by the TV itself. Don't think that you really get 1080 lines of interlaced video.

You can only input 1080i to a 720P LCD but ultimately they will be displayed in 720P. (The info shown on the LCD menu might indicate the signal as 1080i, but that's only the input signal).

Because the original DVD 480P (true information) is upscaled to 1080i (true + upscaled info) and then re-scaled back to 720P by the TV , you have a double scaling, which can potentially lead to a worse picture than just upscaling to 720P and passing it to the LCD without much further re-scaling by the TV.

But for most people 720P and 1080i looks almost the same because ultimately they are both displayed in 720P by the LCD.

This post has been edited by Ngto: Nov 4 2008, 03:20 AM

I said for most people it looks almost the same .

Technically although it might be worse, the difference is not too noticeable because whether it's 720P or 1080i , the final output on the TV will still be in 768P (doesn't apply to full HD TV of course). At a distance the difference might not be obvious.

Anyway other factors also come into play, which can affect the quality, like the combination of the upscale DVD player and the LCD TV itself. Different pairing and enhancement features can even cause a double scaled 1080i picture to look even better than a single scaled 720P picture at times from a distance. It's a matter of chance and also the eye of the beholder

That's why sometimes some people find that 1080i looks better than 720P and vise versa. But for most people who are not too critical , they won't notice the difference.

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Added on November 5, 2008, 9:59 amI think I should stop posting anymore of this boring upscale stuff because I just realised this topic was originally about component cables.

My apologies

This post has been edited by Ngto: Nov 5 2008, 09:59 AM

Update to Blu-ray soon