There are many of us out here who only trust cables for connectivity. People can go around with their wireless devices all they like, but we don’t want to have to make sure to charge everything before using it. We just want to start using the device!

Fortunately, cables are not going anywhere. They are mostly required for audio video purposes which is something we need for both entertainment and work.

Primarily, there are two types of these connectors, one type passes a digital signal and the other type passes analog signal. The most popular analog audio connectors are the 2.5mm and 3.5mm connectors.

If we take a trip down memory lane, Sony’s iconic Walkman chose the 3.5mm port back in 1979. This made it famous. And when the technology industry evolved and/or copied the Walkman, everyone put this port on their devices. 20 years after the Walkman, the audio cable and the portable audio industry had become so iconic that Apple used its silhouette for their famous iPod ads.

With this cable, you never have to worry about running out of battery or its large size. All you have to take care of is that they don’t tangle.

The Uses of 2.5mm & 3.5mm Cables for Entertainment:

To carry a stereo signal you need two audio channels. The tip carries the left channel, the ring carries the right channel, and the sleeve is the ground channel. This is specific to the 3.5mm cable. And the 2.5mm cable can be used in phones that need to use headsets, or in smaller phone instruments that were cordless but needed a headset.

The most common use of a 2.5mm connector is for connecting a microphone to devices. When you need to have a separate microphone input and audio output an audio splitter is useful. This splitter is a 2.5mm to 3.5mm cable where the connector is 3.5mm and the other side has two 2.5mm female ports. These can connect a microphone and headphones, or two headphones. This cable comes in handy in case you want an external microphone input on your phone, and/or when you want to use headphones for the audio experience.

While buying audio video cables, you can check for whether it is mono sound or stereo sound, and if it has a microphone built-in. The mono channel connector will only have one ring, a sleeve, and the tip. If you are looking for a stereo sound experience, then the connector should have two rings. The tip carries the left signal, the first ring carries the right stereo channel, the sleeve is ground and the second ring is the microphone. It is in the TRS or TRRS connector format.

The 3.5mm connector can route analog dual channel audio for a device that uses the RCA audio video cable for video input and audio output. While this cable is old, it is most often used in gaming setups, that have a console hooked up to a TV, and more than one controllers attached to the console itself, along with headsets or stereo speakers.

Another use case is when you want to use an aux cable but your car’s music system is older. This requires you to use a 2.5mm to 3.5mm cable to connect your phone or mp3 player to it. An older system will also not have Bluetooth, so this cable is your best option for car entertainment.

That was entertainment; now let’s move on to work requirements.

The Uses of 2.5mm & 3.5mm Cables for Office Work:

If your line of work requires you to be talking on the phone for the better part of your day, you wouldn’t want to be constantly holding a phone. Generally, you are required to use a work phone, which is a corded landline phone. In this case, there are headsets that plug into the 2.5mm female port on the phone itself. You may not have a headset that has a 2.5mm connectors but have the more popular and reliable 3.5mm connector. In this case, you can simply use a male to female 2.5mm to 3.5mm cable. This way you can plug in your existing headset to your landline phone.

Concluding Note:

The audio video cables are in huge demand in the accessory market. There are plenty of accessory makers who make sure to put in ports that they think can provide with faster and smoother experience than Bluetooth or Wireless technologies.

This article is originally posted here; The Reason We Are Still Talking About Audio Video Cables in 2019

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Let us walk through all the uses of this 2.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable:

TV setup:

Gaming setup:

External Microphone

MP3 Player

External speakers:

Basic Idea

Microphone Splitter VS Headphone Splitter

Important Things To Consider Before Buying Audio Splitter For Headphones:

Here Are The Five Types Of Splitters You Should Consider:

Conclusion

Wireless headphones, wireless chargers, wireless speakers and a whole bunch of other wireless things are here to stay now. ‘Cutting the cord’ is the trend.

However, certain products are simply not there yet.

If we talk about televisions, even modern day ones that literally roll out of sight, they have to use cables for power, for additional I/O needs, etc.

The new age televisions that roll out of sight, or stick to walls like posters, still have to have some way of connecting other devices to them. So, we are nowhere near getting rid of cables altogether yet. The cables themselves have evolved over the years. There are of course cables that are simply audio, like the much controversial 3.5 mm headphone cable. Then there are also solutions for managing both the audio and video, together.

So, if we have come this far, why do televisions still have the dated red, yellow and white ports? What is the use of them?

Well, those are RCA ports, to which RCA cables connect for audio and video. The yellow connector at the end of the cable is for composite video, the red one, for the right audio channel, and lastly the white one for the left audio channel of stereo sound.

The main purpose of these audio video cables in terms of a traditional television set is to connect a video input device, making the TV itself the audio output device. So if you were to connect a video game console to a standard TV, the console would be the input for the video, the TV would display it, and the TV speakers would provide the sound.

But this is the most basic setup, and standard RCA audio video cables are not as updated as one may need them to be. They cannot provide the display in extremely high resolution, which we have come to expect nowadays. RCA audio cables are, however, the analog solution you need if your display lacks the fancy multi-channel HDMI port. You will always find RCA ports saving the day.

RCA cables cannot combine multi-channel audio in one cable. Therefore, there is one cable for each channel you may want to add to your set up, including a certain number of subwoofers if that’s your requirement. Anything over four channels and a subwoofer might be too overwhelming for a home setup. However, audio feedback largely depends on the size of the room, the materials it has and how the sound absorption is.

One of the requirements of this is when you have limited HDMI ports on your display. The things that you need to connect to a display have increased over time. You probably have a satellite DTH box, a gaming console, a DVD player, a variety of speakers, and lastly a streaming box or stick. When all put together, it requires a minimum of two HDMI ports, a few audio video ports, of various kinds and perhaps even some spare USB ports for a flash drive or an external hard drive.

Another requirement that you might have is to set up a high-end home theatre in your house. And here’s how you can do it:

• The main element of a home theatre setup isn’t just a large screen. Proper surround sound is an essential part of the whole experience. You can add multiple speakers, via RCA cables, connect an array of subwoofers and enhance the sound.
• Adding speakers to a display also has another advantage. If one speaker were to malfunction, you can simply replace that particular channel without having to replace your whole setup. This increases the longevity of a very expensive home theatre system.

RCA Cables were first seen in the 1940s which were introduced by Radio Corporation of America. They didn’t have the idea that their product would last till date.

They might not be the best but they do the work.

And in case you were wondering how to connect the RCA cables to HDMI or vice versa, then we have covered that in the next section.

HDMI is used for digital signal whereas RCA cables are for analog signaling. To convert the RCA signal to HDMI or vice versa, there needs to be an active signal converter.

How to convert or connect HDMI to RCA?

• You can find HDMI cable with RCA connectors on the other end. These look pretty and seems like a perfect solution for a complicated problem, but these cables don’t work at all.
• There are companies selling HDMI to RCA converters which will do the work you want them to but only if the HDMI signal isn’t encrypted.
• Then you can also go with HDMI to RCA converters which come with built-in decryption. With these, the problem of HDMI signal encryption goes out of the question.

This article is Originally Posted here; Why are RCA Cables Necessary in The Wireless Age?

If you found this article useful, here are some others that may be of interest.

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