NTI's Cable Table is a free technical reference guide
for audio and video computer cables and adapters. See specs and pictures of DVI,
USB, VGA, HDMI, RCA, SATA, Display Port, USB 2.0, USB 3.0 & more.
Compare HDMI vs DVI,
DVI-I vs DVI-D,
DVI Dual Link and DVI Single link.
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| COMPUTER CABLES |
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Standard
Type A-B USB (universal serial bus) cable: Type B end connects into
peripheral (printer, scanner etc). Type A end connects into PC.
Also see:
USB 3.0
vs 2.0 |
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Parallel
Printer Cable: (IEEE-1284) DB25-M/Cen36-M. DB25 end connects to your
PC, Centronics end connects to your printer. |
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Serial Cable (DB25): Used as printer extension cable or for direct cable
connectivity between computers to share data. This is not an IEEE 1284
printer cable which is often required by most new printers. (see above) |
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Video
Cable: The HD15 type is the SVGA used to connect the monitor in all newer
PC's. The other end of this cable is usually built into the monitor. |
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Video Cable: The DB9 type was used in the older VGA PC's. |
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PS/2 Cable (Mini Din6-M): Used to connect keyboard or mouse to PC. The
other end is attached to the keyboard/mouse. |
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Keyboard
Cable: AT type-- Din5-M |
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Serial Cable (DB9): Used to connect older mice. The other end is usually
connected to the mouse. |
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Serial / PS2 Keyboard/Mouse adapter cable: End on left shows older
serial type connection. End on right shows more widely used PS/2. |
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Power
Cord: AC Power Cord |
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Joystick Cable (DB15-M): Used to connect a joystick to your PC. The
other end is attached to the joystick. |
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| AUDIO CABLES |
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High Grade
RCA Cable - Audio or Video |
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Mini4-F
to Mini4-M
S-video cable
(separated-Video) is often called SVHS cable or Y/C cable (Y is the
brightness wire and C is the color wire, and the other two wires are
ground wires). |
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Audio Cable -
1/4-M Mono
NOTE: Stereo connectors have three wires and mono
connectors have two wires. RCA connectors have only two wires and are
therefore mono. However, cables may go from stereo to two mono
connections and produce stereo sound because two mono lines
can produce stereo sound. If you have a mono audio-out jack
on your audio device, there is no way to produce stereo sound. |
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Audio Cable -
1/4-M Stereo (notice the 2 black stripes instead of 1 on the Mono) |
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Audio Cable -
3.5-M Mono |
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Audio Cable -
3.5-M Stereo (notice the 2 black stripes instead of 1 on the Mono) |
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Audio Cable -
2.5-M Mono |
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Audio Cable -
2.5-M Stereo |
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Audio Cable -
(MIDI Cable) Din5-M |
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Audio Cable -
(MIDI Cable) DB15-M to DB15-F |
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VIDEO
CABLES
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Video Cable -
DVI Digital Video Cable (Digital Only)
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DVI-D
DUAL Link Digital Video Cable (Digital
Only)
- Use to connect your flat panel monitor
or other DVI device into a digital connector on your video card.
- Full digital only signal, no analog
(VGA)
- DVI-D male to DVI-D male, dual link.
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Compare dual link to single link
DVI cables
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DVI-D
SINGLE Link Digital Video Cable (Digital
Only)
- Used to connect your flat panel monitor
or other DVI device into a digital connector on your video card.
- DVI-D male to DVI-D male, single link.
- A DVI-D connector can only be
inserted in a DVI-D interface.
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Compare dual link to single link
DVI cables
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DVI-I
DUAL Link Video Cable (Analog or Digital)
- Used to connect your flat panel monitor
or other DVI device into a digital or analog connector on your video card
with an adapter.
- Note the 4 small pins above and below
the flat tab on left
- This cable can be used as either
digital or analog.
- For Analog a DVI to VGA adapter must
be used (not shown)
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Compare dual link to single link
DVI cables
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DVI-A
to VGA Cable (Analog once converted)
- DVI male to VGA male.
- This cable is used to connect a
monitor with a DVI port into a standard vga card (15 pins - 3 rows).
- Remember, the signal you will see will
be analog rather than digital.
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Compare Analog vs Digital Video
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DVI-A
to VGA Cable (Analog once converted)
- If you have a video card with 24-pin
DVI flat panel connector and want to connect it to a standard VGA
monitor this is the adapter you would use.
- DVI-A 24-pin male to VGA 15-pin HD(3
rows of pins) female.
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Analog vs. Digital Details
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DFP Digital Cable
(early digital only connector) |
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Display Port Regular -
DisplayPort is the next generation
digital display interface standard designed to replace DVI, LVDS, and
eventually VGA. DisplayPort delivers higher performance, enables
exciting new monitor designs, improves digital display connectivity, and
provides a roadmap for future display usages.
More on Display Port |
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Mini Display Port - Same as
above but a smaller connection. The newer multiple display video cards
as of 2012 are beginning to shift to this type of connection. Once
monitor vendors catch up and displayport connections are more common on
LCD monitors, this type of connection will supersede even DVI.
More detail on Display Port |
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HDMI stands for High-Definition
Multimedia Interface and it is a digital audio & video standard that
is capable of handling uncompressed digital data. HDMI can transmit both
digital video and Dolby Digital and DTS digital audio in a single cable.
This type of connection is made primarily for televisions not computers
as there is really no advantage regarding video quality.
More details
on HDMI |
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Video
Cable - RG59 TV/VCR Coaxial Cable FType-M/FType-M 1FT
Audio-video cable with
screw-on F-type connectors. Often used to connect TVs and VCRs. Male
to male. Constructed of shielded RG-59 cable
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Video Cable -
RG6 Coaxial Cable |
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Video Cable -
RG59U Coaxial Cable BNC-M
RG59U Coaxial Cable with BNC male connector |
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IEEE-1394
FireWire (iLink) Cable 4Pin-M / 4Pin-M 10FT
FireWire cables provide high-speed data
transmission up to 400Mbps. |
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Video Cable -
75-Ohm RGB Monitor Cable HD15-M (S-VGA output for most newer PC monitor
connections) |
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Video Cable -
Monitor Cable DB9-M (older style PC cable for VGA output) |
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Apple / Macintosh Cables |
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