DVD Players & Cables

Series Summary

Though many people don't understand exactly how all of their electronics equipment works, from conductors to scanning to circuits, they don't have any difficulty noticing when one of their components isn't working. Whether its a skipping CD or DVD or a blurry camera lens that disrupts their photography or videography, even the amateur gadget owner requires a certain amount of know-how when it comes to upkeep and cleaning of their devices. While some methods for maintenance are fairly straightforward and intuitive, experts in the field of electronics care and repair can often offer tips and tricks for cleaning cameras, component systems and discs that the average user might not be aware of. Furthermore, some devices such as LCD monitors require certain types of care that owners might not be aware of. To ensure that your electronics last the full amount of their life expectancy and work as well as they can, it's mandatory for owners to take the proper precautions and measures when it comes to cleaning.

In this free video clip series, our expert will demonstrate and explain the best methods to employ when using and maintaining your electronic equipment. Tips for caring for everything from DVD discs, cassette tapes and players, LCD monitors and camera lenses. Mini DV cameras require certain attention, and our expert will explain how to treat glass tube monitors as well. Additionally, tips for fixing scratched DVDs is included, a must-see for anyone that watches DVDs and has children who don't always remember to handle them carefully.

Video Transcript

"Okay, so now I'm going to be talking about the cables and how to plug up a DVD player for your home electronics. So this is just a regular standard DVD player. It is a progressive scan DVD player that you can buy of course at any store, pretty much anywhere, even at discount stores. So, on the back you'll have a bunch of different colors. This does confuse people sometimes, but it's actually very simple. The main cable you'll probably get in your box is this standard AV cable, which are just RCA cables, and it has 1 yellow, 1 red and 1 white cable. The yellow, of course, is for video. The red is for your right audio, and the white is for your left audio. If your TV only has 1 plug in the front, and it's either a white or a black cable, if you go ahead and plug the white one in, this will give you a mono signal and sometimes it'll mix down the stereo mix down to a mono so you can hear it on your TV. So these are very simple. You just plug it in just according to the color coding on the back. You got your yellow for your video, and then you have your red for your right audio and your white for your left audio. So of course the other end will have the same 3 colors and same type of connectors that will be plugged up to your standard definition TV. So these will either be plugged into the front of the TV or the rear of the TV, or if you're using some type of AV receiver, you can go ahead and plug these into there as well. So these will give you the least quality of picture from your DVD player, but it works perfect just to have something that's going to be in some other room if you're not looking for that home theater effect. Another thing you can do is there is an S-video output right here. This S-video output is another special cable. You usually have to buy it on your own, and if your TV will accept it, this will give you superior video quality. Also, we have component. So for you to get true progressive scan DVDs, which of course will be a better picture quality, you're going to go ahead and get yourself a component cable. So these cables are labeled as green, blue and red, and they are usually on the back of your DVD player also. It'll have your green, blue and red. This is RGB of course-red, green and blue. So these, you plug them in the same exact way as the standard RCA cables. Go ahead and plug them in, plug them in, plug them in. Then on the back of your television, some standard definition TVs will have this and most high def TVs will have this also. You go ahead and plug that in, and this will give you your highest quality possible from your standard DVD player and then you will still need to use your red and white for regular stereo sound. This DVD player does have a coax output, which is a totally different cable. This will plug up to your receiver to give you 5.1 Dolby Digital or some type of DTS sound. So these are the basic cables and the basic ways to plug up your DVD player for your home electronics."