My dad claims up and down that if you hook regular composite (Red, yellow and white) to component inputs and outputs (just use yellow and white on the blue and green) that you get the same picture (then of course use extra set of composite for audio).

I don't believe him... will someone post proof this is not true?! lol

This depends on the quality of the composite cables you are using. Because component is an analog signal, the clarity of the signal relies greatly on the cable construction (2-wire/shielded/etc) and cable quality. If your looking for cheap component cable head over to www.monoprice.com

he's right, it will work. quality is in question as malovich points out but they are the same cable.

I know it will work, I was questioning the quality...but why in the heck are component more expensive then? Oh and especially at places like Walmart and Bestbuy... they mark their cables up HIGH... ridiculously high.

They mark them high because they can brainwash people into spending the $$$ on them, same as parallel printer cables and the newer USB printer cables.

My dad claims up and down that if you hook regular composite (Red, yellow and white) to component inputs and outputs (just use yellow and white on the blue and green) that you get the same picture (then of course use extra set of composite for audio).

I don't believe him... will someone post proof this is not true?! lol

I've used regular audio/composite cables instead of "real" component cables and it pretty much works fine. There may be some issues if the cables are really crappy.

Why do they cost more? Who knows? Why do they charge more for "digital" coax cables, when cable quality is probably less important for SPDIF than analog audio?

this is why monoprice is our friend

down with overpriced cables!

You should know by now that us Dad's are always right!
;-)

Here's another tip... any decent quality RCA cable also works fine in place of a "real" sub-woofer cable. Or a "real" digital audio coax cable.

A couple years ago I was in one the local Rat Shacks and they had some orange 75 ohm digital audio cables at a real cheap closeout price so I picked up three 6 ft. ones. When I checked out I mentioned to the kid that I was going to use them for component video he insisted that they wont work because component required specific red green and blue cables. I had a hard time keeping a straight face bought them anyway took em home and have been using them ever since. They made great component cables.

Mike

It's just shielded coax cable right? Only real difference is the colors painted on the ends :)

Well, some cheap composite cable sets (red/white yellow) do have much thicker jackets for the composite cable. I assume this is due to more sheilding, which might make a difference if you have interference. That being said, I have used a set like that before for some time with DVD and noticed no difference in picture quality when I finally went out and bought "real" component cables from Monoprice.

In most situations with most cables, it probably makes no differnce at all as long as you remember which color goes to what. ;)