Home Theater Systems Quickly Connect to Computers
Today's home theater systems are not the stand-alone units they once were. Home computers connect to the home theater entertainment system to provide surround sound game playing experience, feed audio and video signals and other purposes.
With this high level of interconnectivity between the state of the art home theater system and computer system, you must have the right cable in order to successfully connect components and peripherals together, allowing the signal to travel from source to destination. With the many configurations and connector types available, you may think a large quantity of cables is required. However, this is not the case. You can purchase a top notch cable which has multiple connection adapters that allows the ends of a single cable to do more than one job.
Most home computers have either universal serial bus (USB) or FireWire connections, or both types, for connecting various peripheral devices. In order to purchase the correct multiple-use cabling, you must know whether your computer uses USB or FireWire. You'll also need to know what type of connection the particular peripheral requires because, for example, some video cameras must be connected through the USB while others require FireWire. The documentation with your component or peripheral will explain what type of connection is required for that device.
Your computer, if it is a recent model, has one, two, or more USB connections. You may have also have added a USB hub to provide more USB plug-in capability. You probably already know that devices connecting to that USB cable may require different types of connector plugs on the other end of the cable. There are five types of connector plugs commonly used for device connection. The USB A male connector is often used for laptops and other computer hardware; the USB B male connector plug frequently fits into a printer, scanner, CD drive or player, or DVD drive, player or recorder. USB A female connector plugs can be used to connect two USB cables together to reach the required length. Mini USB A and B male plugs often fit into cell phones, digital cameras and PDA devices.
FireWire connector plugs commonly connect all of the devices used by USB, but are also frequently used in the connection of high definition television receivers and monitors, DVD recorders, digital video cameras and external hard drives. Six pin and four pin connector plugs are the configurations seen in both standard and mini sizes.
The great thing about quick connection cables is that one cable can undergo configuration changes by plugging in the adapter required for the device you are currently using by simply changing the adapter plug on the end of the cable.
Let's say you want to download a video sequence from your digital video camera and then record it on your DVD player/recorder. If the end connectors are not the same size, in the past, you had to fumble behind your computer to connect the cable for the digital video camera, plug is in, download the data, fumble behind the computer to disconnect that cable and connect the one for the DVD player/recorder, plug in your DVD equipment and record. If that DVD equipment is the same component used by your home theater system, this process probably involved disconnecting and removing cables in order to relocate the DVD device so that it was near your computer. With this easy quick connection cabling solution, you would, instead, simple place the correct connector plug on the end of the cable you already have coming from your computer, download the video, use another connector plug to allow you to quickly and easily plug two cables together, plug into your DVD recorder where it is always located, and record your DVD.
This home theater to personal or laptop computer connection solution saves a great deal in time and aggravation. Instead of fumbling with cable changes to get the correct cable and equipment configuration for the task, you'll be ready much sooner to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your efforts. Quick connection cable systems for home theater systems and personal computer systems are inexpensive and solve so many problems you will almost certainly encounter.