Component Video question

[PNotar]

Hello!

Can anyone explain in not-too-techie terms the difference between the red, blue, and green jacks / signals of componenet video?

I recently picked up the Accurian HTS 6000 from Radio Shack, and everythng was coming up very green. While troubleshooting the problem (which I think is more about the TV's original settings than anything else), I swapped cables and it seemed like only one of them (green) was doing any work.

Thanks!
P.

 

[Jim5506]

The red, green and blue jacks are sending out the signal level for the three primary colors that TV's use to compose a color picture.

They must be plugged into the same plugs on the back of your HDTV in order for the TV to recombine them into a properly colored picture.

If you inadvertently swap two colors, you get a purple, or green picture.

The green signal also contains the sync signal that allows your TV to know where each frame and each line starts and ends.

What type and brand of TV are you driving with your receiver?

 

[Ilya]

PNotar, the connectors might be colored Red/Green/Blue, but the signal sent over component connection is more tricky than that. One of the contacts, usually marked Y carries a combination of all colors - essentially a black-and-white video signal (luminance), while the other two, which are marked B-Y and R-Y (or Pb and Pr, or Cb and Cr) carry some specially colored mixtures. Your TV set then extracts the primary color components (RGB) by combining or subtracting these three component signals.

So, what do you need to do to fix your problem?

First of all, make sure that the correct components are connected. The color of the cable doesn't really matter, but it is important that, say Y output goes to Y input, etc.

Second, some DVD players (and HD receivers) may have different output settings for component outputs. If that's the case, you may want to experiment with different video output settings in the menu.

Good luck!

 

[PNotar]

Thanks for the tips. Turns out I had to change the TV's settings from RGB to YPrPb. Somehow I expected it to sense what I was using for input. Oh well, it's all working now.

Thanks again!