Data Cables

Everyone knows those cables that go from your cable box or game console or computer to your television or peripherals, but what are they and how do they work? Read more to find out.


What are all of those cables in that nest of wires behind your television? Well, lets use the example of a television, a game console, a cable box, and a set of speakers for now to demonstrate this.

The television:
All the cables end up here, and it is pretty unlikely that it has any other wires other than power. So now we have our television with a power cable and a bunch of open connectors.

The game console:
This one probably has three cables, assuming it is fairly new. It has the following wires: an HDMI cable, a digital audio cable, and a power cable. The HDMI and digital audio cables go to the television and the power cable goes to the wall socket.

The cable box (or tv box):
Let's say this one is kind of older, so it has 5 wires coming off it. One of them is the cable wire, which usually goes to your satellite receiver or out into a wall. Then, it has three cables bundled together: a red, white, and yellow cable. These are known as composite cables and send audio and video information to the television. Then it has the power cable, as expected.

The speakers:
This one has two wires. One of which goes to the television and plugs into the headphones jack, and the other one is a power cable. Most also have a third wire that goes to a second speaker or sub-woofer.

That's a lot of wires, right? Rest assured that the purposes of all of these wires and how they work will be explained on Friday's follow up post. Stay tuned for more science and technology news.