Many people purchase new DVD players and Hdtv every year and are starting to find their way into every household.  The purpose of this guide is to help you better understand the differences between the most popular and which one you should get.  Below I will explain the following cables: HDMI, Component, S-Video, Composite, and Coaxial.  The order they are in is video quality from highest to lowest.  Sorry there are no pictures, I tried posting pictures but I couldn't get it to work when I tried to save it.

First off...                          

•  HDMI Cables, or High-Definition Multimedia Interface, are the newest type of cable our right now.  The main difference with this cable is that it is pure digital.  It supports standard, enhanced, or high-definition (HD) video.  With certain DVD players (up-converting) with an HDMI cable, you can up-convert your DVDs to near HD quality.  Which is more than you can do with any other cable.  When looking to buy a HDMI Cable some things you want to look for is a gold-plated connector, and quality material that the cable itself is made out of.  If you have an HDTV, a HDMI Cable is what you want to get the most out of your DVDs, make sure when buying a DVD player it has a HDMI output.  HDMI cables cost between $10 - $300 depending on the length and brand that you purchase.  Click here to search for HDMI Cables on eBay.

• DVI Cables, or Digital Video Interface is right behind HDMI in video quality.  There are a couple different types of DVI cables, but in this guide we will concentrate on just the TV cable.  For a while DVI was the digital transfer method for HDTVs until HDMI came out.  Some DVD players still have DVI outputs, if you have a DVD player with a DVI output but no HDMI output, go ahead and get the DVI, its still pretty good.  Now DVI is used for a lot of graphic cards in computers.  DVI Cables are not as costly as HDMI Cables.  Click Here to search for DVI cables on eBay.

• Component Cables look just like composite cables only they are the red, blue, and green ones.  They are one of the best analog cables out there.  Alot of DVD players have component outputs and a good number of TVs and VCRs do too.  Component cables are much like composite cables only have much better picture and sound quality.  They have technical differences that are much better than coaxial and are very affordable.  Most range under $15 depending on the length of cord you choose.  Click Here to search for Component Cables on eBay.

• S-Video Cables, or Super Video Cables is a technology for transmitting video signals over a cable by dividing the video information into two seperate signals, one for color, and one for brightness.  S-Video produces a higher-quality image than composite video.  When using S-Video cable, you will need audio cables that you can just use from composite cables.  S-Video is starting to lose popularity and is becoming less used with all of the other cables out.  Click Here to search for S-Video Cables on eBay.

• Composite Cables are the most widely used and most popular type of video cable.  The main reason for this is because this is the cable that comes with almost all DVD players, TVs, VCRs, and game systems.  The yellow cable is for video, red and white is for audio.  Composite cables are good for VCRs but if your DVD player or VCR has a better output, you should go with that.  They are the basic cable and provide basic video quality (usually pretty good) at a basic price.  Click Here to search for Composite Cables on eBay.

• Coaxial Cables are mainly used now for TV Cable, VCR, and DVD Recorder connections for TV programming purposes.  Many older VCRs use this as their only video and audio output.  Video quality for coaxial cables is basic right below composite.  Coaxial cable was invented in 1929 and was commercially produced in 1941, so that goes to show you it's age.  There have been some improvements in coaxial cable as now there are some "Digital Coaxial Cables" made for HDTVs.  Click Here to search for Coaxial Cables on eBay.

This is the end of my guide.  Hopefully you have learned some about the different types of video cables and more.