So you want to buy a brand new HDTV, A/V Receiver, Blu Ray player and some of you have an old VCR that you want to incorporate into your home theater experience. There is something that you probably didn't even think about, much less budget for, and that's how you are going to tie it all together. This is the job of the cable. There are many kinds of cables out there all with different uses. Today's column will discuss the various kinds of AV cables on the market and what they are used for.

Before we get started, we want to talk a bit about cost...

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I can tell that Rodolfo and Joseph had nothing to do with the writing of this article. :D

As a professional "cable guy" who does a lot of entertainment hookups for people, my concern is the appalling rip-off prices charged by retailers for cables. It almost seems that they sell TVs at cost and make all their profit on the sale of cables and other after-market goodies like wall-mount brackets.

One time I did not have an HDMI cable in my truck. Rather than wait for me drive a few blocks and get one from stock, my customer jumped into his car and headed for the nearest big box retailer. He came back with a $65 cable. And I've heard worse -- sometimes $95. I get them wholesale at around $15 and sell them for $25.

Ditto for the other cables mentioned in the article.

Customers would be well advised to read the fine print on the box of their new electronic goodie and make sure the necessary cables are there before heading to the checkout counter. If they aren't, try to bargain with the store. Other thoughts: check out Internet stores and even eBay.

And don't even TALK to me about the stupid, over-priced gold-plated cables and splitters. I am a graduate EE and am not easily fooled. I only use first-class commercial passives and cables with good specs, none of which have gold plating. The marked-up gold-plated devices would have you believe that they have found a way to improve over Ohm's law.

My understanding for the rationale for gold plated connectors is resistance to corrosion. That is, initially all connectors will indeed perform the same. I think that most of us have experienced the need to rotate in place older RCA phono plugs in order to "clean up" the connection, i.e, eliminate a corrosive connection. I have never had to do that with the gold plated connectors. Is there any validity to my experience over the years with these connectors?

You are correct but...

For the gold to be of any value requires a minimum of 2 micro-inches of plating otherwise just the rubbing that occurs with 2-3 insertions and removal of a connector can remove the gold at the physical contact points taking you to the base material. It is highly questionable if our consumer products follow that rule and trying to get that kind of information out of manufacturers of equipment or cables is mostly impossible and even then difficult to verify. One thing you can count on, those cables or connectors that have enough gold are not going to be inexpensive.

Just as concerning is the long term degradation that comes from dis-similar metals such as putting a gold connector on nickel.

There are some very pricey connectors that follow the rules but this is an issue for performance enthusiasts, videophiles and audiophiles, having little to do with this newbie column and their concerns.

Some in depth info for those who want to go further.

Waveform 12 Analog Video, part 1
http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5671