RCA (Composite) Cables

Color: Yellow connector – transfers video
Red connector – transfers right channel audio White connector – transfers left channel audio

The cables are named “RCA” cables because they were introduced by the “Radio Corporation of America” to allow the connection between their phonographs to amplifiers.

These cables are quite common… you usually get these in the box with your component. Each cable represents a different signal… yellow is video, red is right audio and white is left audio.

Although these cable are quite common, there is one distinct disadvantage to using these cables: one cable for each signal. For example, a VCR can have 3 RCA cables going in, and 3 RCA cables coming out. By adding more and more components to your setup using these cables will create a “cable salad”.

Another disadvantage comes with interference… most of these cables do not contain a layer of insulation that would stop outside signals, and are therefore “unshielded”. They can become easily unbalanced due to outside signals creeping in, and audio/video become compromised. For the most part, they work just fine for the simple setup.