Video Cables & Connections (page 2)

FireWire is the gold standard for low cost, high quality digital desktop video connectivity. Formally (and formerly) known as IEEE 1394, this communications protocol was invented in the mid-1990s by Apple Computer and is marketed by Sony as i.LINK. It's ideal for getting video data from tape to your video-editing computer, and then back again.

• Carries digital information between devices (e.g. two computers or an external hard drive and a computer) that understand the IEEE 1394 communications protocol.
• Provides a fully digital pathway; signal degradation and other problems common to analog connections aren't an issue.
• As accurate as a hard drive transfer.
• For video, FireWire transfers Digital Video (DV) from a Mini DV camcorder, including video, audio and timecode information. It also supports device control of camcorder via software.

• Ports are built in to most digital camcorders and many new computers. Accessory cards are also on the market.
• Connectors come in two forms - four-pin and six-pin. The tiny u-shaped four-pin connectors are typically found on camcorders; the larger rectangular six-pin connectors are often used at the receiving end on computers and internal cards.
• Cables come in three flavors - four-pin to four-pin, four-pin to six-pin, and six-pin to six-pin.

• Connect a camcorder to a computer with a FireWire cable and then power on the camera ("hot-plugging") to activate a bi-directional DV stream.
• Link two digital video devices to make backup clones of important tapes.

• Cables are lightly shielded, so magnetic or radio frequency interference from speakers and televisions can cause signal drops.
• Four-pin connectors are extremely small and fragile, leaving them vulnerable to early failure.

True component video connections separate the video signal into its YUV components and is a very high quality connection often found on modern DVD players and higher-end televisions.

• As with S-video, the Y=luminance. U (Cb) and V (Cr) are color difference signals. The U and the V do not correspond to blue and red.
• By separating the signals, less interference and a clearer picture are possible.

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