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DVD Player Rear Panel Connections featuring HDMI output

Types of connections on a DVD player with 720p/1080i upscaling capability

By , About.com Guide

Illustrated are the types of Audio and Video output connections found on DVD players with an HDMI output. Your DVD player connections may vary.
Pioneer DV-490V-S DVD Player - Rear Panel

Pioneer DV-490V-S DVD Player - Rear Panel

Photo (c) 2006 Robert Silva - Licensed to About.com, Inc.
In this example, starting from left to right, is the HDMI connection, which can be found on some Upscaling DVD players. Another type on connection that is subsituted for HDMI is a DVI connection. The HDMI connection has the ability to transfer video in pure digital form to an HDMI equipped HDTV. In addition, the HDMI connection passes both Audio and Video. This means on TV's with HDMI connections, you only need one cable to pass both audio and video to the television.

To the right of the HDMI connection Digtial Coaxial Audio Connection. Many DVD players feature both a Digital Coaxial and Digital Optical audio connection. This DVD player only features one of them. If this is the case, you need to check that digital output connection that is on your DVD player is also available on your AV receiver.

Next, there are three types of video output connections offered: Just below the Digital Coaxial Audio output is the S-Video output. The Component Video outputs are to right of the S-Video output. This output consists of Red, Green, and Blue connectors. These connectors plug into the same type of connectors on a TV, Video Projector, or AV receiver. The yellow connection is the Composite, or standard analog video output.

Finally, on the far right, is the analog stereo audio ouput connections, one for the left channel and one for right channel. This connection is useful for those that do not have a home theater or only have an television with stereo audio inputs.

It must be noted that the one type of connection that a DVD Player does not have is an RF antenna/cable output connection. This means that if you want to use a DVD Player with an older Television that cannot accommodate any of the audio or video connections shown above, you must purchase an additional device, called an RF Modulator, that can convert the Standard Audio and Video output from the DVD player to an RF Signal, that can be passed to the antenna/cable connection on an older television.

Check out my current Top Picks for Standard and Upscaling DVD Players as well as my Top Picks for DVD/SACD/DVD-Audio Universal Players.

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