component video

It may sound somewhat surprising, at first glance, that a short piece of cable between your TV and DVD player can make a noticeable difference in the picture quality, but once you compare a cheap cable with a good one, you'll see that there is a difference! My DVD player came with a very cheap-looking cable with three RCA connectors on each side, and I used this cable to hook up the DVD player to the component (RGB) input of my TV before doing anything else. I dismissed this cable immediately as the picture was much noisier than I expected. A $15 S-Video cable performed better. However, I had to adjust the settings in video equalizer of my DVD player to increase color saturation, and also had to decrease sharpness of the picture to make noise unnoticeable. Finally, I bought the Monster cable (don't tell my wife about it!). This cable resulted in a perfectly sharp and clean picture without any adjustments in the CD player. Due to double-shielding of this cable, there was no sign of the noise that I saw with the S-Video cable either.

I do not know if there is a noticeable difference between this cable and a less sophisticated one that may cost half of its price. I guess, everything depends on the kind of TV and DVD player you are using. But I can say for sure that my experience convinced me that there is a tremendous difference between this high-end cable and those from the very low end.

The last thing: I do not think that it makes any sense to use such an expensive cable for a connection other than component video (Y + two color difference channels), also called "color stream" by Toshiba. If you do not have a component video input, use either S-video, or composite video (Video+2 audio connector). In the latter case (or if you need a cable to connect your VCR) a cheaper cable would do. This one is worth the money only if you do not want to settle for anything less than perfect.

I do have to admit that being a smart shopper I was hesitant to shell out so much money for "just a cable". But upon the advise of a coworker who said "now that you have a big screen TV you HAVE TO GET A COMPONENT VIDEO CABLE". And right he was. I definitely notice a difference in picture color (not necessiarly in quality but the colors are cleaner and more true to life) when playing DVD movies. I would definitely advise investing in a good cable!

These and all other brand cables from MC are all overpriced including these. I have a 20" JVC I'Art television and I have my DVD connected through component. I have used Monster Cable component cables and they put out pretty much the exact same picture as my newer PHILIPS brand component cables that I only had to pay about [$$$] or so for. The PHILIPS are also shielded and gold plated and all that good stuff. So buy these MC component cables if you dont care about price, but otherwise buy PHILIPS brand that are way cheaper and put out the same quality picture.