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There are many different types of TVs Monitors Resoultions, cables, formats, ect, used to hook gaming consoles, and other electronic devices up. This article is meant to help you understand them, and find out which is right for you.

Cables and Formats:

Composite:

composite video cable (the yellow one)

composite video as you can see from the picture above, is the yellow cable that you probably use to hook most of your stuff up to your TV, though, its not a very good way to do it at all. Composite video sends the picture though a single RCA cable.
Composite video is usually seen with Left and Right (Red and White) RCA cables along with it.
Composite video isn't quite as good as the other formats because it caries all the information through one cable, you may look at other higher quality cables and say that, well they just use one cable aswell. However, with those cables, there are multiple contacts, and multiple cables within the cables that carry different parts of the video signal. With composite there is still only one cable that carries all the picture information, and so, the picture quality isn't as good as you will get from other formats.

S-Video:

S-Video Cable

There are two kinds of S-Video, 4-Pin, and 7-Pin. Since 7-Pin is very rarely used, we're not going to talk about it here.
S-Video is better than composite, because it carries different parts of the picture on the different pins in it. One of the pins carries the Intensity, and the second carries the colour (the other two are the grounds for the first two).
S-Video is now getting to be a dated format, and while it is still supported by many devices, its not really a cable that will be around for much longer. Since S-Video also only carries the picture, for the audio, you will need to use a different cable. Most likely, you will use Left and Right (The Red and White) RCA cables.

Component:

Component Cabels (Red, Blue, and Green)

Component is most likely the best quality analoge cable you will use to hook something up to your TV. It uses 3 RCA cables for Video, and generally will use two RCA cables for Audio.
There are two types of Component, one sends the the values of the respective colours down each cable, the other sends the luminace down the Green Cable and the colour values down the Blue and Red cables.

VGA:

VGA cable

You might recognise this cable as the cable you use to hook your computer monitor up. And thats pretty mich what its used for.
I'm not going to give you a detailed description of what each pin carries for this one, but just know that its the best Analog cable you will use in North America.
Generally, if your graphics card supports it, its better to use a DVI cable to hook up a monitor.

DVI:

DVI Cable

DVI is the type of cable you probably use to hook up your Monitor if you have a higher end monitor and a video card that supports it. DVI is a digital video format rather than analoge which has multiple advantages.
Since its digital, the devices you're connecting can send more information back and forth which can make them both work better.
Also, since the signal never needs to be downconverted to analog from digital, you don't loose quality. DVI also comes in Mini and Micro forms for laptops.

HDMI:

HDMI Cable

HDMI is basically DVI with the highest quality digital audio tacked onto it, because of this, its great for hooking things up to HDTVs because you only need one cable for both Audio and Video.

Resolution:

You may have heard of things like 1080p, Progressive Scan, 4:3, ect. These are all words that are used to describe resolution, but in different ways.

High deffinition means a resolution higher than 480p There are 3 HD standards, 720p, 1080i and 1080p. The number means the number of verticle pixels and then letter after it indicates if it is Progessive or interlaced, which I will get to latter. 720p is a lower HD resolution and 1080p/i is a higher one. To put it into perspective, A DVD is 720p and Blu-Ray Disk is 1080p. Both ED and SDTVs are 480, but ED is 480p and SD is 480i.

Older TVs use something called interlacing where they Display ever second row of pixels and then the next refresh display the next one. This causes the picture to seem "Unstable" and is hard on the eyes. Newer TVs and monitors will use Progressive Scan, this means every pixel is displayed in ever refresh. HDTVs are able to convert an interlaced signal into a progressive one, this is called, Deinterlacing. Monitors cannot do this and will only display a progressive scan signal.

There are a huge number of different resolutions for Monitors. However they are generally listed as The number of Horizontal Pixels x The Number of Verticle Pixels. For instance, 1440x900 or 1680x1050.

Types of TVs:

There are a few different types of TVs, this section will not go into detail about how they work, but will simply talk about advantages and disadvantages.

CRT: Cathode Ray Tube TVs are the big bulky ones that have today become farily rare. They are generally 480i and the actual size of the TV can only get so big. They are very hard on the eyes and are very bad for burn in.

LCD: Liquid Christal Display is what is used in all new monitors, a great number of TVs and most consumer electronics that have a screen. They also have no burn in. However LCD TVs don't have as good of colours as Plasma TVs and generally have a lower refresh rate.

Plasma: Plasma TVs will look very similar to LCDs to the consumer. They have much better colour and better refresh rates. They do however have burn in, though, less than CRT TVs.

How This Applies To The Wii:

First off, the Wii only outputs in Anolog. So you can't use DVI or HDMI with it. Second, it only outputs in either 480i or 480p. It comes with a composite AV cable right out of the box and Nintendo also makes S-Video and Component cables you can buy. If you'd like to hook your Wii up to a monitor you can also buy a Wii VGA cable from either Vidgit of Mayflash. Be aware that some monitors will ocasionally flash black for a second at what seems like random intervals, though, this really dosen't effect the game and I still recomend doing this if you have a nice monitor. The VGA cables will only support 480p however so you need to use the setup cable that they come with to switch it over before you use it. Also the Wii VGA cabels will not work with the VGA port on your HDTV because most HDTVs will not accept a 480p signal through VGA. Composite and S-Video cables will also only support Interlaced mode. Component Cables will support both Interlaced and Progressive.

If you're connecting your Wii to an old CRT TV, use the composite cables it came with.

Thank you for reading our articles, we hope this helped you better understand Video Displays and how to properly use them with your Wii Console.

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Video Displays:

Cables and Formats:

Resolution:

Types of TVs:

How This Applies To The Wii:




				Video Displays: There are many different types of TVs Monitors Resoultions, cables, formats, ect, used to hook gaming consoles, and other electronic devices up. This article is meant to help you understand them, and find out which is right for you. Cables and Formats: Composite: composite video as you can see from the picture above, is the yellow cable that you probably use to hook most of your stuff up to your TV, though, its not a very good way to do it at all. Composite video sends the picture though a single RCA cable. Composite video is usually seen with Left and Right (Red and White) RCA cables along with it. Composite video isn't quite as good as the other formats because it caries all the information through one cable, you may look at other higher quality cables and say that, well they just use one cable aswell. However, with those cables, there are multiple contacts, and multiple cables within the cables that carry different parts of the video signal. With composite there is still only one cable that carries all the picture information, and so, the picture quality isn't as good as you will get from other formats. S-Video: There are two kinds of S-Video, 4-Pin, and 7-Pin. Since 7-Pin is very rarely used, we're not going to talk about it here. S-Video is better than composite, because it carries different parts of the picture on the different pins in it. One of the pins carries the Intensity, and the second carries the colour (the other two are the grounds for the first two). S-Video is now getting to be a dated format, and while it is still supported by many devices, its not really a cable that will be around for much longer. Since S-Video also only carries the picture, for the audio, you will need to use a different cable. Most likely, you will use Left and Right (The Red and White) RCA cables. Component: Component is most likely the best quality analoge cable you will use to hook something up to your TV. It uses 3 RCA cables for Video, and generally will use two RCA cables for Audio. There are two types of Component, one sends the the values of the respective colours down each cable, the other sends the luminace down the Green Cable and the colour values down the Blue and Red cables. VGA: You might recognise this cable as the cable you use to hook your computer monitor up. And thats pretty mich what its used for. I'm not going to give you a detailed description of what each pin carries for this one, but just know that its the best Analog cable you will use in North America. Generally, if your graphics card supports it, its better to use a DVI cable to hook up a monitor. DVI: DVI is the type of cable you probably use to hook up your Monitor if you have a higher end monitor and a video card that supports it. DVI is a digital video format rather than analoge which has multiple advantages. Since its digital, the devices you're connecting can send more information back and forth which can make them both work better. Also, since the signal never needs to be downconverted to analog from digital, you don't loose quality. DVI also comes in Mini and Micro forms for laptops. HDMI: HDMI is basically DVI with the highest quality digital audio tacked onto it, because of this, its great for hooking things up to HDTVs because you only need one cable for both Audio and Video. Resolution: You may have heard of things like 1080p, Progressive Scan, 4:3, ect. These are all words that are used to describe resolution, but in different ways. HDTV VS EDTV VS SDTV: High deffinition means a resolution higher than 480p There are 3 HD standards, 720p, 1080i and 1080p. The number means the number of verticle pixels and then letter after it indicates if it is Progessive or interlaced, which I will get to latter. 720p is a lower HD resolution and 1080p/i is a higher one. To put it into perspective, A DVD is 720p and Blu-Ray Disk is 1080p. Both ED and SDTVs are 480, but ED is 480p and SD is 480i. Interlaced VS Progressive: Older TVs use something called interlacing where they Display ever second row of pixels and then the next refresh display the next one. This causes the picture to seem "Unstable" and is hard on the eyes. Newer TVs and monitors will use Progressive Scan, this means every pixel is displayed in ever refresh. HDTVs are able to convert an interlaced signal into a progressive one, this is called, Deinterlacing. Monitors cannot do this and will only display a progressive scan signal. Monitor Resoultions: There are a huge number of different resolutions for Monitors. However they are generally listed as The number of Horizontal Pixels x The Number of Verticle Pixels. For instance, 1440x900 or 1680x1050. Types of TVs: There are a few different types of TVs, this section will not go into detail about how they work, but will simply talk about advantages and disadvantages. CRT: Cathode Ray Tube TVs are the big bulky ones that have today become farily rare. They are generally 480i and the actual size of the TV can only get so big. They are very hard on the eyes and are very bad for burn in. LCD: Liquid Christal Display is what is used in all new monitors, a great number of TVs and most consumer electronics that have a screen. They also have no burn in. However LCD TVs don't have as good of colours as Plasma TVs and generally have a lower refresh rate. Plasma: Plasma TVs will look very similar to LCDs to the consumer. They have much better colour and better refresh rates. They do however have burn in, though, less than CRT TVs. How This Applies To The Wii: First off, the Wii only outputs in Anolog. So you can't use DVI or HDMI with it. Second, it only outputs in either 480i or 480p. It comes with a composite AV cable right out of the box and Nintendo also makes S-Video and Component cables you can buy. If you'd like to hook your Wii up to a monitor you can also buy a Wii VGA cable from either Vidgit of Mayflash. Be aware that some monitors will ocasionally flash black for a second at what seems like random intervals, though, this really dosen't effect the game and I still recomend doing this if you have a nice monitor. The VGA cables will only support 480p however so you need to use the setup cable that they come with to switch it over before you use it. Also the Wii VGA cabels will not work with the VGA port on your HDTV because most HDTVs will not accept a 480p signal through VGA. Composite and S-Video cables will also only support Interlaced mode. Component Cables will support both Interlaced and Progressive. So, What Should I Use?: If you're connecting your Wii to an old CRT TV, use the composite cables it came with. If you're connecting your Wii to a new CRT TV, use S-Video. If you're connecting your Wii to an HDTV, use Component Cables. If you're connecting your Wii to a Monitor or a projector, use a VGA cable. Thank you for reading our articles, we hope this helped you better understand Video Displays and how to properly use them with your Wii Console. Back To Wii -> \| Back To Support -> \| Home ->