User Manual

CABLE THEORY

Page 20

products all have a signicant role in Home Cinema ... which is much of the purpose of Home The-

ater. All our many types of cable which carry a picture, are under the CinemaQuest banner. Video is

the core of the CQ line. Some CQ products, such as OptiLink 1, 2 and 4, have important applications

outside video (CD transport or MiniDisc to DAC). All the AQ brand products are also ideal in a Home

Theater. However, the video based world is a little less central to the existence of AQ brand products.

CinemaQuest OptiLink 1 provides signicantly higher performance than

is often thought possible with the Toslink interface system. Even though

OptiLink 1 has a very modest price, that rst step from normal cable into the

CQ OptiLink series, is the biggest step .... the most sonic improvement.

CQ OptiLink cables can make so much difference because, when used in a Home Theater system,

a Toslink cable is carrying ve (5.1 or more) channels of audio information. It is the only single cable

that so globally affects the performance. In a two channel application, a Toslink cable is also carrying

all the audio information. Performance is equally important no matter the number of channels, but the

cable is doing two and half (or more) times the “work” in a Home Theater system.

OptiLink 1 uses a low-loss low-jitter synthetic ber, a precision machined termination (to minimize

dispersion and reections), a brass ferrule plug, correct cladding (the ber’s intimate covering), and

effective mechanical damping (cushioning for the ber). The result is low distortion and better sound

from this reliable cable.

Video Cables

There are four different systems for transferring a video signal. All four systems need low-distortion

high-bandwidth 75 cables. The differences are in how many channels of signal need to be carried,

and the type of plugs on the end.

Composite video requires a single high quality cable to carry the complete video signal. Standard

connectors are either RCA or BNC plugs.

S-Video is a two cable system which carries the two basic parts of a composite signal separately. The

black and white picture signal is known as “Y” and the signal containing all the information for decod-

ing the color information is called “C”. This explains why the proper name for this system is “Y/C”.

When color TV was brought to market, it had to be compatible with existing b&w TV sets. The solution

was to continue to broadcast a b&w “Y” signal, but to supplement it with a second “C” signal at a high-

er frequency. This is why broadcast TV and VHS tape recorders are Y/C media. Since an S-VHS tape

machine has an “S” (Y/C) output, it gives you direct access to the separate Y and C signals, whether

from a tape or from an over-the-air broadcast. “S” outputs on tape machines, cameras, DSS and DVD

machines will provide better performance than a composite output. However, the video signal on a

LaserDisc is composite. The “S” output on an LD player will only outperform the composite output if

the LD player’s lters (which separate composite into Y and C) are better than the lters in the TV set.

Component video is the somewhat confusing name for a three wire system which carries the “Y”,

“I” and “Q” signals. Slightly confusing because the components of a color signal are RGB (see next

paragraph). “Y” is that same b&w signal as in Y/C cable (see previous paragraph). “I” and “Q” are the

components (get it?) of a “C” signal. In order to derive three colors from a b&w signal, there need to