Thanks for visiting Cheap Acoustic Guitars. Please remember to bookmark this page Series Cable. If you found what your looking for, then don"t forget to click an appreciation button above for this post.
Series Cable
Digital and Analog Cables, What's the Difference and Why Should I Care?
Many of the best video cables being sold today were designed primarily for the digital world. The question is, are these digital cables really better than analog cables? What is the real difference between analog and digital and why should I care? To answer this we'll be discussing what digital signals are and how they differ from analog signals.
An analog signal is a simple representation of a message that a source is trying to convey to a receiver. If the information is a 500 Hertz sine wave sound, for example, the analog signal is a voltage varying from positive to negative and back again in a wave form, 1000 times per second. If we used that signal to drive a speaker to run in the same 1000hz frequency with the same amplitude, we would hear that sound through the speaker.
A digital signal on the other hand doesn't physically bear any resemblance to the signal its attempting to convey. It is actually made up of a series of "1" and "0" bits, encoded according to the standard for that digital signal, and is delivered as a rapid series of voltage changes. In an ideal world this signal is very sharp and should look like a series of squares. When translated by the receiver this message is decoded to the same signal as what an analog signal would look like.
What does all this mean in the real world?
The important thing to know about digital and analog signals is that they degrade differently. Understanding this can save you some serious money when buying cables. The difference is, analog signals degrade in a continuous and progressive fashion the more electrical disturbance is introduced, the more interference will be present in the output. This means if we run an analog cable for long distance and it doesn't have sufficient EMI (electromagnetic interference) protection, we can get a very distorted, low quality signal.
A digital signal on the other hand degrades quite differently. Interference will cause the perfect boxy signal to become rounded and slightly degraded. However, as long as the receiver of the signal is still able to decode this signal, there is essentially no negative effect to this loss. It's quite accurately an all or nothing transmission, it's either perfect or not at all. The positive aspect of this is that you can be confident that if you're viewing a video through an HDMI or other digital signal cable you can be assured its as the source intended it. This is not the case with analog cables.
So then what's the drawback to digital signaling? Why not use it all the time?
Digital cables do have some inherent design flaws. They are made up of bundles of small gauge wire as opposed to analog cables which are made up of considerably larger gauge wires, and less of them. This design means that digital cables are not as efficient at long distance transmission. HDMI in particular was not specifically designed for long range transmission. There are band aid fixes for this such as using unusually large gauge HDMI cables such as 24 AWG CL3 HDMI cables or HDMI Repeater cables with active repeaters built in. Using high end cables like this can give you the best of both worlds, long distance transmission and essentially perfect signal transmission.
How does this save me money?
If you're just running a short cable from your cable box to your television, don't spend 100's of dollars on an HDMI cable! The truth is an HDMI cable will either work or it won't. If you need to run a long signal and aren't too concerned about perfect signal quality you will save yourself quite a bit by using an analog cable instead of some of the more costly digital cables designed for longer distances.
About Us:
Circuit Assembly is a manufacturer of connectors, cable assemblies, and adapters. Circuit Assembly eStore sells cable assemblies and connectors directly to the consumer at a price they wouldn't be able to find at a retail store or even other ecommerce websites. By purchasing direct from the manufacturer, the customer gets an incredible value, as well as the assurance that our reputation for perfect quality and customer service rests upon every individual product we sell.
About the Author
Andrew Lang is the marketing manager for Circuit Assembly eStore. Andrew works in a variety of areas for Circuit Assembly. This includes the full spectrum of product development and marketing, beginning at product conception, continuing with engineering, and ending with marketing strategies.

If you are looking for a different item here are a list of related products on Cheap Acoustic Guitars, please check out the following:




























































































