Audio Video Cables: The Stay At Home Edition
About a decade and a half ago, I was in the market for a computer. This was a time when I didn’t really understand computer specifications, but a number of people I talked to and the internet told me it should have S Video cable output, so I went for it.
In reality, I never used it. Then again, that is not the port’s fault. Merely my lack of ever wanting to or needing to stream video out of my computer. The S video cable is also used for security cameras, something that I didn’t know back then.
Audio video cables come in a number of different types, for a variety of purposes:
Each of them has its unique characteristics that determine the speed with which they transfer data, whether the audio is balanced or unbalanced, what equipment they can connect to directly, etc.
Another gadget that I bought once was a pair of headphones. With it, they gave me a 3.5mm plug, in case I ever wanted to convert the 2.5mm connector to a 3.5mm one. That one did come into use, I daresay. 2017 became the year that the 3.5mm jack began its slow, painful death. The convenience of plugging in a pair of headphones, into ANY device and getting personal audio is unparalleled by the bluetooth headphones. They are also convenient, but the 3.5mm audio jack doesn’t ask you to charge them, work with all devices, don’t cost a fortune compared to their value, and you probably have a few lying around.
XLR to RCA cable has a more special, more niche requirement. While XLR is mainly used for professional equipment and RCA for home entertainment, XLR is used for microphones, so both of them come together in the XLR to RCA cable for a karaoke machine.
So how would you use these cables right now, as our lives have moved inside our houses for the most part?
Let’s go through a typical weekend usage of audio video cables:
- Since you are home, you are less likely to need to monitor your house via security cameras. But if you have offices that you are not going to anymore, you should definitely keep a check on those, with a decent security camera, motion sensors, etc. The S video cable can help you out there, as well as a number of security equipment that can directly feed the video to your phone.
- The need for entertainment on a tv screen has never been higher. There is no more going out and every time we are not working, sleeping or reading, we want to consume content on the tv. So you can connect an HDMI cable to your computer and tv and stream content from it, or plug in a casting device to do the same thing wirelessly. However, this might get old. So one weekend, you can set up a karaoke machine, complete with microphone and amplifiers, with a bunch of cables like the previously mentioned XLR to RCA. Start a video call with your friends and family and have a good old karaoke night!
- A quiet Saturday afternoon with the headphones plugged in your laptop and a good movie is like nothing else. Of course, you can use the TV but you might have other people using it. If your city allows you to go on runs, you can also go for a quick jog around the neighborhood with a good workout playlist. Of course, this can come in handy even with home workouts.
Apart from a fun weekend, if you are looking to learn something new while being home, like audio video editing, you can make use of all these cables. Best to use cables instead of going with a wireless version for this because sometimes the signal can lag and thus give an unintended result.
If you are looking for cables for any of these purposes, SF Cables stocks them all. We can even consult you about which one works best with the equipment you currently have.
Along with cables, we also have bluetooth speakers, HDMI cords, adapters for audio video equipment like DVI to HDMI, VGA to HDMI, etc., in case you have older gadgets that you want to work with.