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Get in touch with technology with TechStuff from HowStuffWorks.com.
Chris
Hello everybody. Welcome to Tech Stuff. My name is Chris Paulette and I’m an editor here at HowStuffWorks.com. Sitting across from me, again as usual, is Senior Writer Jonathan Strickland.
Jonathan
Hey there!
Chris
And so today we want to talk about those entanglements behind your television set.
Jonathan
Yes, and this actually comes curtsey of one or our listeners. I’ll go ahead and read the Listener Mail.
Chris
All right.
Jonathan
This mail comes from Brian from Iowa. “What’s up? TechStuff guys, you rule. I have a quick question. Can you do a podcast explaining the differences between all the high-definition hookups for TV? For example, why is it that the video component cord now has three cables – red blue and green – instead of the old yellow one, and move on from there to the HDMI stuff? I know you could do this in email, but I feel that a lot of people are curious on this topic. So if it’s no bother, can it be a podcast? Thanks.” Well Brian, it’s a huge bother, but we’re gonna do it anyway.
Chris
You’re so positive.
Jonathan
Actually, it’s not a bother at all. I’m just giving you the business. So we’re going to talk about the different kind of cables you use to send video feeds and audio feeds as well to and from your television.
Chris
All right then, so where to start?
Jonathan
Let’s start with the old ones.
Chris
Coaxial?
Jonathan
Let’s go with coaxial. So coaxial cable, this is stuff that comes from cable boxes, satellite boxes, that kind of thing. And it carries a signal that has both video and audio in it.
Chris
Yeah, it actually can carry quite a bit of information, which is why it’s used in those connections. Work on your cable modem, and that’s a pretty high speed connection. Alternatives of course would be fiber optic, but that’s not something you would plug into your TV. Actually, coaxial has quite a history. It was invented in 1929, so it’s been around quite awhile.
Jonathan
Right, and it carries a modulated signal. That means that you have to have some sort of tuner in order to tune into the signal that it’s sending. Now that tuner might be a cable box or a satellite box, or it might be a tuner that’s actually in your television set. It all depends on the TV – actually, most new TV’s probably have a basic tuner in there so you can plug the cable directly from the wall into your television if you so wished. Some cable providers do not like that so much, so you pretty much have to get a cable box for that. But that’s your basic video feed and audio feed into a TV set.