Most people depend on a plethora of electronic gadgets for information, communication, entertainment or simply for convenience. With so many devices that are important to modern living – television, radio, computers, mobile phones, digital cameras, media players, and so on – it is essential for us to know what types of cables are used for these things to work properly.

Cables can be generally classified according to their main purpose; either as power cables (supplies power to devices) or as connecting cables (conducts an electric signal). Connecting cables may further be categorized according to the type of signal they carry, either analog or digital; and according to the nature of the signal they conduct – either audio, video or data.

Multi-conductor cables terminated using TRS connectors (phone “jacks”) or RCA connectors are common standards and are almost always packed and shipped along with analog audio-video devices. Other cables used for analog devices include VGA connectors, S-video and component video.

For digital devices, there are several competing standards. S/PDIF is for digital audio and can use optical fiber cables or coaxial digital cables. DVI cables are for digital video only while HDMI is a specification that has both digital video and digital audio components.

For full version of this article, please visit “Cables and Cabling Terminology Simplified”

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