1.
Analog television
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Analog television or analogue television is the original television technology that uses analog signals to transmit video and audio. In an analog television broadcast, the brightness, colors and sound are represented by variations of either the amplitude. Analog signals vary over a range of possible values which means that electronic noise. So with analog, a weak signal becomes snowy and subject to interference. In contrast, a moderately weak signal and a very strong digital signal transmit equal picture quality. Analog television may be wireless or can be distributed over a network using cable converters. All broadcast television systems preceding digital transmission of digital television used analog signals, analog television around the world has been in the process of shutting down since the late 2000s. The earliest systems were mechanical systems which used spinning disks with patterns of holes punched into the disc to scan an image. A similar disk reconstructed the image at the receiver, synchronization of the receiver disc rotation was handled through sync pulses broadcast with the image information. However these mechanical systems were slow, the images were dim and flickered severely, camera systems used similar spinning discs and required intensely bright illumination of the subject for the light detector to work. Analog television did not really begin as an industry until the development of the cathode-ray tube, the electron beam could be swept across the screen much faster than any mechanical disc system, allowing for more closely spaced scan lines and much higher image resolution. Also far less maintenance was required of an all-electronic system compared to a spinning disc system, all-electronic systems became popular with households after the Second World War. Broadcasters using analog television systems encode their signal using different systems, the official systems of transmission are named, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, K1, L, M and N. These systems determine the number of lines, channel width, vision bandwidth, vision-sound separation, each frame of a television image is composed of lines drawn on the screen. The lines are of varying brightness, the set of lines is drawn quickly enough that the human eye perceives it as one image. The next sequential frame is displayed, allowing the depiction of motion, the analog television signal contains timing and synchronization information, so that the receiver can reconstruct a two-dimensional moving image from a one-dimensional time-varying signal. The first commercial systems were black-and-white, the beginning of color television was in the 1950s. A practical television system needs to take luminance, chrominance, synchronization, and audio signals, the transmission system must include a means of television channel selection
2.
RGB color model
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The RGB color model is an additive color model in which red, green and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three primary colors, red, green and blue. Before the electronic age, the RGB color model already had a theory behind it. Thus an RGB value does not define the same color across devices without some kind of color management, typical RGB input devices are color TV and video cameras, image scanners, video games, and digital cameras. Typical RGB output devices are TV sets of technologies, computer and mobile phone displays, video projectors, multicolor LED displays. Color printers, on the hand are not RGB devices. This article discusses concepts common to all the different color spaces that use the RGB color model, to form a color with RGB, three light beams must be superimposed. Each of the three beams is called a component of color, and each of them can have an arbitrary intensity, from fully off to fully on. The RGB color model is additive in the sense that the three beams are added together, and their light spectra add, wavelength for wavelength. This is essentially opposite to the color model that applies to paints, inks, dyes. When the intensities for all the components are the same, the result is a shade of gray, darker or lighter depending on the intensity. When the intensities are different, the result is a colorized hue, a secondary color is formed by the sum of two primary colors of equal intensity, cyan is green+blue, magenta is red+blue, and yellow is red+green. The RGB color model itself does not define what is meant by red, green and blue colorimetrically, and so the results of mixing them are not specified as absolute, but relative to the primary colors. When the exact chromaticities of the red, green and blue primaries are defined, the normal three kinds of light-sensitive photoreceptor cells in the human eye respond most to yellow, green, and violet light. As an example, suppose that light in the range of wavelengths enters the eye. Light of these wavelengths would activate both the medium and long wavelength cones of the retina, but not equally—the long-wavelength cells will respond more, the difference in the response can be detected by the brain, and this difference is the basis of our perception of orange. Thus, the appearance of an object results from light from the object entering our eye and stimulating the different cones simultaneously. The first experiments with RGB in early color photography were made in 1861 by Maxwell himself, to reproduce the color photograph, three matching projections over a screen in a dark room were necessary
3.
Component video
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Component video is a video signal that has been split into two or more component channels. In popular use, it refers to a type of component analog video information that is transmitted or stored as three separate signals. Component video can be contrasted with composite video in all the video information is combined into a single line level signal that is used in analog television. Like composite, component-video cables do not carry audio and are paired with audio cables. When used without any qualifications the term component video usually refers to analog YPBPR component video with sync on luma. Reproducing a video signal on a device is a straightforward process complicated by the multitude of signal sources. DVD, VHS, computers and video game consoles all store, process and transmit video signals using different methods, one way of maintaining signal clarity is by separating the components of a video signal so that they do not interfere with each other. A signal separated in this way is called component video, S-Video, RGB and YPBPR signals comprise two or more separate signals, and thus are all component-video signals. In the past, for most consumer-level applications, analog component video was used, however, component video is capable of carrying various signals, such as 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, 2160p and beyond. Many new high definition TVs support the use of component video up to their native resolution, most modern computers offer this signal via a VGA port. Many televisions, especially in Europe, utilize RGB via the SCART connector, all arcade games, other than early vector and black-and-white games, use RGB monitors. In addition to the red, green and blue color signals, sync on luma, where the Y signal from S-Video is used alongside the RGB signal only for the purposes of sync. Composite sync is common in the European SCART connection scheme, RGBS requires four wires – red, green, blue and sync. If separate cables are used, the cable is usually colored yellow or white. Separate sync is most common with VGA, used worldwide for analog computer monitors and this is sometimes known as RGBHV, as the horizontal and vertical synchronization pulses are sent in separate channels. If separate cables are used, the lines are usually yellow and white, yellow and black, or gray. Sync on Green is less common, and while some VGA monitors support it, sony is a big proponent of SoG, and most of their monitors use it. Like devices that use video or S-video, SoG devices require additional circuitry to remove the sync signal from the green line
4.
Nintendo 64
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The Nintendo 64, stylized as the NINTENDO64 and often referred to as the N64, is Nintendos third home video game console for the international market. It was the last major home console to use the cartridge as its primary storage format until Nintendos seventh console, while the Nintendo 64 was succeeded by Nintendos MiniDVD-based GameCube in September 2001, the consoles remained available until the system was retired in late 2003. Codenamed Project Reality, the the N64 design was complete by mid-1995, but its launch was delayed until 1996. It launched with three games, Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64, released worldwide, and Saikyō Habu Shōgi, as part of the fifth generation of gaming, the system competed primarily with the Sony PlayStation and the Sega Saturn. The suggested retail price at its United States launch was US$199.99, the console was released in a range of colors and designs over its lifetime. In 2015, IGN named it the 9th greatest video game console of all time, as of 2016, the system remains a popular retro console in North America. At the beginning of the 1990s, Nintendo led the game industry with its Nintendo Entertainment System. Although the NES follow-up console, the Super NES, was successful, competition from long-time rival Sega, and relative newcomer Sony, emphasized Nintendos need to develop a successor for the SNES, or risk losing market dominance to its competitors. Further complicating matters, Nintendo also faced a backlash from third-party developers unhappy with Nintendos strict licensing policies, the company created a design proposal for a video game system, seeking an already well established partner in that market. James H. Clark, founder of SGI, initially offered the proposal to Tom Kalinske, the historical details of these preliminary negotiations were controversial between the two competing suitors. Tom Kalinske said that he and Joe Miller of Sega of America were quite impressed with SGIs prototype, the engineers from Sega Enterprises claimed that their evaluation of the early prototype had uncovered several unresolved hardware issues and deficiencies. Those were subsequently resolved, but Sega had already decided against SGIs design, Nintendo resisted that summary conclusion, arguing that the reason for SGIs ultimate choice of partner is due to Nintendo having been a more appealing business partner than Sega. While Sega demanded exclusive rights to the chip, Nintendo was willing to license the technology on a non-exclusive basis, michael Slater, publisher of Microprocessor Report said, The mere fact of a business relationship there is significant because of Nintendos phenomenal ability to drive volume. If it works at all, it could bring MIPS to levels of volume never dreamed of, james Clark met with Nintendo CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi in early 1993, thus initiating Project Reality. This announcement coincided with Nintendos August 1993 Shoshinkai trade show, as with most of the computing industry, Nintendo had limited experience with 3D graphics, and worked with several outside companies to develop the technology comprising the console. Some chip technology was provided by NEC, Toshiba, and Sharp, SGI had recently acquired MIPS Computer Systems, and the two worked together toward a low-cost realtime 3D graphics hardware system. SGI and its subsidiary MIPS Technologies were responsible for the R4300i microprocessor and that software-based console prototype platform was later supplanted by a workstation-hosted console simulation board, representing the finalized console hardware. SGIs performance estimates based upon their RealityEngine supercomputing platform were ultimately reported to be accurate to the final consumer console product
5.
Atari 8-bit family
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The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 and manufactured until 1992. All of the machines in the family are similar and differ primarily in packaging. They are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU running at 1.79 MHz, star Raiders is widely considered the platforms killer app. The original Atari 400 and 800 models were released with a series of plug-n-play peripherals that used Ataris SIO serial bus system, to meet stringent FCC requirements, the early machines were completely enclosed in a solid cast aluminum block, which made them physically robust but expensive to produce. Over the following decade, the models were replaced by the XL and XE series which had the same basic logical design. The Atari 8-bit computer line sold two million units during its production run between late 1979 and mid-1985. They were not only sold through dedicated computer retailers, but department stores such as Sears, the primary competition in the worldwide market was, starting in 1982, the Commodore 64. This was the first computer to offer similar performance. Atari also found a market in Eastern Europe and had something of a renaissance in the early 1990s as these countries joined a uniting Europe. On January 1,1992, Atari corp, officially dropped all remaining support of the 8-bit line. Design of the 8-bit series of machines started at Atari as soon as the Atari 2600 games console was released in late 1977. While designing the 2600 in 1976, the team from Atari Grass Valley Research Center felt that the 2600 would have about a three-year lifespan before becoming obsolete. They started blue sky designs for a new console that would be ready to replace it around 1979, what they ended up with was essentially a greatly updated version of the 2600, fixing its more obvious limitations but sharing a similar overall design philosophy. The newer design would be faster than the 2600, have better graphics, work on the chips for the new system continued throughout 1978 and focused on much-improved video hardware known as the Color Television Interface Adaptor, or CTIA. During this gestation the home computer era began in earnest in the form of the TRS-80, Commodore PET, Warner Communications had purchased Atari from Nolan Bushnell for $28 million in 1976 in order to fund the launch of the 2600. Atari had recently sent Ray Kassar to act as the CEO of the company, Kassar felt the chipset should be used in a home computer to challenge Apple. In order to adapt the machine to this role, it would need to support character graphics, include some form of expansion for peripherals, and run the then-universal BASIC programming language. The CTIA, like the 2600s TIA, was designed to produce Player-Missile graphics, instead of expanding the CTIA to handle these tasks, the designers instead introduced an entirely new chip for this purpose, the Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller, or ANTIC
6.
Commodore 64
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The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, C-64, C=64, or occasionally CBM64 or VIC-64 in Sweden, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International. It is listed in the Guinness World Records as the single computer model of all time. Volume production started in early 1982, marketing in August for US$595, preceded by the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore PET, the C64 took its name from its 64 kilobytes of RAM. It had superior sound and graphical specifications compared to earlier systems such as the Apple II and Atari 800, with multi-color sprites. The C64 dominated the low-end computer market for most of the 1980s. Sam Tramiel, a later Atari president and the son of Commodores founder, said in a 1989 interview, When I was at Commodore we were building 400,000 C64s a month for a couple of years. In the UK market, the C64 faced competition from the BBC Micro and the ZX Spectrum, part of the Commodore 64s success was its sale in regular retail stores instead of only electronics and/or computer hobbyist specialty stores. Commodore produced many of its parts in-house to control costs, including custom integrated circuit chips from MOS Technology and it has been compared to the Ford Model T automobile for its role in bringing a new technology to middle-class households via creative and affordable mass-production. Approximately 10,000 commercial software titles have made for the Commodore 64 including development tools, office productivity applications. C64 emulators allow anyone with a computer, or a compatible video game console. The C64 is also credited with popularizing the computer demoscene and is used today by some computer hobbyists. In 2008,17 years after it was taken off the market, in January 1981, MOS Technology, Inc. Commodores integrated circuit design subsidiary, initiated a project to design the graphic, Design work for the chips, named MOS Technology VIC-II and MOS Technology SID, was completed in November 1981. Commodore then began a game console project that would use the new chips—called the Ultimax or the Commodore MAX Machine and this project was eventually cancelled after just a few machines were manufactured for the Japanese market. At the same time, Robert Bob Russell and Robert Bob Yannes were critical of the current product line-up at Commodore, with the support of Al Charpentier and Charles Winterble, they proposed to Commodore CEO Jack Tramiel a true low-cost sequel to the VIC-20. Tramiel dictated that the machine should have 64 KB of random-access memory, although 64-Kbit dynamic random-access memory chips cost over US$100 at the time, he knew that DRAM prices were falling, and would drop to an acceptable level before full production was reached. The product was named the VIC-40 as the successor to the popular VIC-20. The team that constructed it consisted of Yash Terakura, Bob Russell, Bob Yannes, the design, prototypes and some sample software were finished in time for the show, after the team had worked tirelessly over both Thanksgiving and Christmas weekends
7.
BNC connector
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The BNC connector is a miniature quick connect/disconnect radio frequency connector used for coaxial cable. It features two bayonet lugs on the connector, mating is fully achieved with a quarter turn of the coupling nut. BNC connectors are used with coaxial cable in radio, television, and other radio-frequency electronic equipment, test instruments. The BNC was commonly used for computer networks, including ARCnet, the IBM PC Network. BNC connectors are made to match the impedance of cable at either 50 ohms or 75 ohms. They are usually applied for frequencies below 4 GHz and voltages below 500 volts, similar connectors using the bayonet connection principle exist, and a threaded connector is also available. The BNC was originally designed for use and has gained wide acceptance in video. The BNC uses a slotted outer conductor and some plastic dielectric on each gender connector and this dielectric causes increasing losses at higher frequencies. Above 4 GHz, the slots may radiate signals, so the connector is usable, both 50 ohm and 75 ohm versions are available. The BNC connector is used for signal connections such as, analog, the BNC connector is used for composite video on commercial video devices. Consumer electronics devices with RCA connector jacks can be used with BNC-only commercial video equipment by inserting an adapter, BNC connectors were commonly used on 10base2 thin Ethernet network cables and network cards. BNC connections can also be found in recording studios, digital recording equipment uses the connection for synchronization of various components via the transmission of word clock timing signals. Typically the male connector is fitted to a cable, and the female to a panel on equipment, cable connectors are often designed to be fitted by crimping using a special power or manual tool. Wire strippers which strip outer jacket, shield braid, and inner dielectric to the lengths in one operation are used. The connector was named the BNC after its bayonet mount locking mechanism and its inventors, Paul Neill, Neill worked at Bell Labs and also invented the N connector, Concelman worked at Amphenol and also invented the C connector. A backronym has been applied to it, British Naval Connector. Another common incorrectly attributed origin is Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation, the basis for the development of the BNC connector was largely the work of Octavio M. Salati, a graduate of the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1945, while working at Hazeltine Electronics Corporation, he filed a patent for a connector for coaxial cables that would minimize wave reflection/loss, the patent was granted in 1951
8.
Patch panel
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Patch panels are commonly used in computer networking, recording studios, radio and television. Patchbays make it easier to connect different devices in different orders for different projects and this means that devices mounted in racks or keyboard instruments can be connected without having to hunt around behind the rack or instrument with a flashlight for the right jack. Using a patchbay also saves wear and tear on the jacks of studio gear and instruments. Patch panels are being used more prevalently in domestic installations, owing to the popularity of Structured Wiring installs and they are also found in home cinema installations more and more. It is conventional to have the top row of jacks wired at the rear to outputs, patch bays may be half-normal or full-normal, normal indicating that the top and bottom jacks are connected internally. With top half-normal wiring, the same happens but vice versa, if a patch bay is wired to full-normal, then it includes break contacts in both rows of jacks. Dedicated switching equipment can be an alternative to patch bays in some applications, switches can make routing as easy as pushing a button, and can provide other benefits over patch bays, including routing a signal to any number of destinations simultaneously. However, switching equipment that can emulate the capabilities of a patch bay is much more expensive. There are various types of switches for audio and video, from simple selector switches to sophisticated production switchers, however, emulating or exceeding the capabilities of audio and/or video patch bays requires specialized devices like routing switches and crossbar switches. Switching equipment may be electronic, mechanical, or electro-mechanical, some switcher hardware can be controlled via computer and/or other external devices. Some have automated and/or pre-programmed operational capabilities, there are also software switcher applications used to route signals and control data within a pure digital computer environment. Distribution frames are cheaper, but less convenient, cable management Wiring closet This article incorporates public domain material from the General Services Administration document Federal Standard 1037C
9.
Audio and video interfaces and connectors
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Audio connectors and video connectors are electrical connectors - plugs and sockets - for carrying audio signal and video signal. Audio interfaces and video interfaces define physical parameters and interpretation of signals, for digital audio and digital video, this can be thought of as defining the physical layer, data link layer, and most or all of the application layer. For analog audio and analog video these functions are all represented in a single signal specification like NTSC or the direct speaker-driving signal of analog audio. Physical characteristics of the electrical or optical equipment includes the types and numbers of wires required, voltages, frequencies, optical intensity, any data link layer details define how application data is encapsulated. In some cases, the layer is left open, for example. This means that in cases not all components with physically compatible connectors will actually work together. Analog A/V connectors often use shielded cables to inhibit radio frequency interference, for efficiency and simplicity, the same codec or signal convention is used by the storage medium. For example, VHS tapes can store a magnetic representation of an NTSC signal, and the specification for Bluray discs incorporates PCM, MPEG-2, and DTS. Some playback devices can re-encode audio or video so that the used for storage does not have to be the same as the format transmitted over the A/V interface. Some connectors can carry both audio and video simultaneously, HDMI combines DVI-compliant uncompressed video data with compressed or uncompressed audio. Note that there are no differences in the signals transmitted over optical or coaxial S/PDIF connectors—both carry exactly the same information, selection of one over the other rests mainly on the availability of appropriate connectors on the chosen equipment and the preference and convenience of the user. Connections longer than 6 meters or so, or those requiring tight bends, should use coaxial cable, high-Definition Multimedia Interface is a compact audio/video standard for transmitting uncompressed digital data. There are three HDMI connector types, Type A and Type B were defined by the HDMI1.0 specification. Type C was defined by the HDMI1.3 specification, Type A is electrically compatible with single link DVI-D. Type B is electrically compatible with dual link DVI-D but has not yet used in any products. IEEE1394 FireWire is a data transfer protocol commonly used for digital cameras. In the United States, cable TV converter set top boxes by law also have the connection for transferring content directly to a TV or computer for viewing,1394 can also use coaxial cable as a medium for longer runs. Unlike Point-to-Point connections listed above, IEEE1394 is able to host several signals on the wire, with the data delivered
10.
SCART
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SCART is a French-originated standard and associated 21-pin connector for connecting audio-visual equipment. It is also known as Péritel, 21-pin EuroSCART, Euroconector, in America, another name is EIA Multiport. In Europe, SCART used to be the most common method of connecting AV equipment, hDMI-CEC is derived from SCARTs AV. link. However, SCART Connection can also support HD signals like 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, if the SCART connection of a device is designed to support YPbPr connection, the same for multichannel audio, but even this configuration remains rare, as it is not standardized. The official standard for SCART is CENELEC document number EN 50049-1, SCART is sometimes referred to as the IEC 933-1 standard. Note that there is also a Japanese version of the SCART connector and this version of SCART uses similar signals and the same connector, but it has a different pinout. It became compulsory on new TVs sold in France from January 1980, before SCART was introduced, TVs did not offer a standardised way of inputting signals other than RF antenna connectors, and these differed between countries. Assuming other connectors even existed, devices made by various companies could have different, for example, a domestic VCR could output a composite video signal through a German-originated DIN-style connector, an American-originated RCA connector, an SO239 connector or a BNC connector. The SCART system was intended to simplify connecting AV equipment, to achieve this it gathered all of the analogue signal connections into a single cable with a unique connector that made incorrect connections nearly impossible. The signals carried by SCART include both composite and RGB video, stereo audio input/output and digital signalling, the standard was extended at the end of the 1980s to support the new S-Video signals. A TV can be awakened from standby mode, and it can switch to appropriate AV channel. SCART is bi-directional regarding standard composite video and analogue audio, a TV will typically send the antenna audio and video signals to the SCART sockets all the time and watch for returned signals, to display and reproduce them. This allows transparent set-top boxes, without any tuner, which just hook and this feature is used for analogue pay TV like Canal Plus and was used for decoding teletext. A VCR will often have two SCART sockets, to connect it to the TV, and for input from a set-top box or other device. When idle or powered off, VCRs will usually forward the signals from the TV to the set-top decoder and send the processed result back to the TV. When a scrambled show is recorded, the VCR will drive the box from its own tuner. Alternatively, the VCR could use the signals from the TV, the down socket can also be used to connect other devices, such as DVD players or game consoles. As long as all devices have at least one up and down socket, while audio and video signals can travel both up to the TV and down to devices farther away from the TV, this is not true for RGB signals, which can only travel towards the TV
11.
Commodore International
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Commodore International was a North American home computer and electronics manufacturer. Commodore International, along with its subsidiary Commodore Business Machines, participated in the development of the computer industry in the 1970s and 1980s. The company developed and marketed one of the worlds best-selling desktop computers, the company that would become Commodore Business Machines, Inc. was founded in 1954 in Toronto as the Commodore Portable Typewriter Company by Polish immigrant and Auschwitz survivor Jack Tramiel. He moved to Toronto to start production, by the late 1950s a wave of Japanese machines forced most North American typewriter companies to cease business, but Tramiel instead turned to adding machines. In 1955, the company was incorporated as Commodore Business Machines. In 1962, Commodore went public on the New York Stock Exchange, in the late 1960s, history repeated itself when Japanese firms started producing and exporting adding machines. The companys main investor and chairman, Irving Gould, suggested that Tramiel travel to Japan to understand how to compete, instead, he returned with the new idea to produce electronic calculators, which were just coming on the market. Commodore soon had a profitable calculator line and was one of the popular brands in the early 1970s. However, in 1975, Texas Instruments, the supplier of calculator parts, entered the market directly. Commodore obtained an infusion of cash from Gould, which Tramiel used beginning in 1976 to purchase several second-source chip suppliers, including MOS Technology, Inc. in order to assure his supply. He agreed to buy MOS, which was having troubles of its own, through the 1970s, Commodore also produced numerous peripherals and consumer electronic products such as the Chessmate, a chess computer based around a MOS6504 chip, released in 1978. In December 2007 when Tramiel was visiting the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, for the 25th anniversary of the Commodore 64 and he said, I wanted to call my company General, but theres so many Generals in the U. S. Then I went to Admiral, but that was taken, so I wind up in Berlin, Germany, with my wife, and we were in a cab, and the cab made a short stop, and in front of us was an Opel Commodore. Tramiel gave this account in interviews, but Opels Commodore didnt debut until 1967. Once Chuck Peddle had taken over engineering at Commodore, he convinced Jack Tramiel that calculators were already a dead end, from PETs 1977 debut, Commodore would be a computer company. The operational headquarters, where research and development of new products occurred, retained the name Commodore Business Machines, in 1980 Commodore launched production for the European market in Braunschweig. By 1980 Commodore was one of the three largest microcomputer companies, and the largest in the Common Market and this was addressed with the introduction of the VIC-20 in 1981, which was introduced at a cost of US$299 and sold in retail stores. Commodore took out ads featuring William Shatner asking consumers Why buy just a video game
12.
RCA connector
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An RCA connector, sometimes called a phono connector or Cinch connector, is a type of electrical connector commonly used to carry audio and video signals. The connectors are sometimes casually referred to as A/V jacks. The name RCA derives from the Radio Corporation of America, which introduced the design by the early 1940s for internal connection of the pickup to the chassis in home radio-phonograph consoles. It was originally a low-cost, simple design, intended only for mating, refinement came with later designs, although they remained compatible. However, quarter-inch phone connectors are common in professional audio. The connections plug is called an RCA plug or phono plug, the name phono plug is sometimes confused with a phone plug which may refer to a quarter-inch phone plug – Tip/Sleeve or Tip/Ring/Sleeve connector – or to a 4P4C connector used for a telephone. In the most normal use, cables have a plug on each end, consisting of a central male connector. The ring is often segmented for flexibility, devices mount the socket, consisting of a central hole with a ring of metal around it. The ring is smaller in diameter and longer than the ring on the plug. The jack has an area between the outer and inner rings which is filled with an insulator, typically plastic. Its use as a connector for video signals is extremely common. RCA connectors and cable are commonly used to carry S/PDIF-formatted digital audio. Connections are made by pushing the cables plug into the jack on the device. Continuous noise can occur if the plug partially falls out of the jack, breaking ground connection, some variants of the plug, especially cheaper versions, also give very poor grip and contact between the ground sheaths due to their lack of flexibility. They are often color-coded, yellow for composite video, red for the audio channel. This trio of jacks can be found on the back of almost all audio, one or more sets are often found on TV sets to facilitate connection of camcorders, other portable video sources and video game consoles. Varying cable quality means that a cheap line-level audio cable might not successfully transfer component video, cables should meet the S/PDIF specification as defined by the international standard IEC 60958-3 for assured performance. The male plug has a pin which is 3.175 mm in diameter
