AV Connections Help Guide

Understanding Connections
Technology in the audio visual market has moved at an amazing pace over the past few years with big
advancements in all areas.
The result of this is that even the most modest home audio visual can have upwards of 10 cables connecting
devices, something that at first glance looks extremely daunting.
However, there is absolutely nothing complicated about setting up an audio visual configuration providing you
think about it logically and follow a few simple rules. The most simple way to think of connections is as a road
map, and that specific roads need to be followed in order to get to a destination.
Most modern pieces of equipment are connected via Scart leads or HDMI leads. These are multi purpose leads
and very simple to connect to sockets on devices. For example, a simple setup may consist of a video and a
television connected by a Scart socket at each end and linked with a Scart lead.
Scart sockets are usually labelled in a logical fashion. For example, a television with 2 Scart sockets on the back
will usually label them AV1 and AV2. This also applies for videos, DVDs, and most other equipment.
Take this simplified diagram as an example:
AV2
TV Video
AV1
AV2
AV1
S
ca
r
t
L
e
a
d
The ‘road map’ analogy works well on the above diagram. We want the signal to go from the video to the TV AV2
Socket so..
The signal needs to travel straight down the AV1 to reach it’s destination
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