Dell AV cables; help!

josh81 · 2nd October 2006, 1:24 PM

I'm buying a Dell laptop today.
I want to take advantage of the apparantly rare and cheap AV cables you can purchase at the time with the laptop, but don't know exactly what they are. It says you can only pick a max of 2 of the cables.
TV-out cable w/ SPDIF [+AUD 6.60]
Composite SPDIF Cable [+AUD 9.90]
A/V Cable Kit [+AUD 15.40]

I saw the TV-out cable at the dell demo store, which i assume is RCA with SPDIF (whatever that is). But they didn't have the others on show.

SSJX · 2nd October 2006, 3:03 PM

ok well i haven't seen the tv-out cable kit before so i take your word that its a RCA connection w/ SPDIF

I have got the AV Cable kit (the $15 one), and I took for photo of it for you (see below; nb. i haven't opened the pack yet). It consists of a S-video cable (grey) which looks like the PS2 connectors for keyboards/mouse; a red/yellow/white cable (can't remember what's it called as I always get s-vid and this mixed up) which basically looks like the typical wires connecting a VCR/DVD player/playstation/xbox to your TV; and a 15cm long audio cable that allows it to be plugged into your laptop and splits into the red & white cables.
Sorry if its a bit confusing, but I hope you can decipher it from the photo.

Edit: sorry for the terrible quality - taken with my moby

josh81 · 2nd October 2006, 3:16 PM

Cool, thanks. The yellow/red/white is RCA cable.

I'll get that, i'm just wondering if i need the Composite w. SPDIF.

By the way, i checked on the net and i think the girl at dell told me wrong, and i'm pretty sure that the TV-out cable is s-video to yellow rca video + s-video + SPDIF. And what she showed me was actually the composite one, which is VGA to RCA + SPDIF.
I'm a bit confused about the composite one, cause if it's coming out of VGA port, then there's no need for audio output cause VGA doesn't output audio, so i thought it must be RGB or componant, but on the website it's called composite. But it had 4 pin inputs on it, which led to a VGA connector.

SSJX · 2nd October 2006, 3:25 PM

....now you kind of got me all confused

anyway, only get SPDIF if you got a digital sound system set up

Additionally, laptop sound cards/chip, aren't that great for digital sound so you might as well just stick with analogue

josh81 · 2nd October 2006, 3:34 PM

I don't care about the SPDIF, it's just that both the TV-out and composite cables come with it.

2nd October 2006, 1:24 PM	#1
josh81 Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Bellbowrie, Brisbane Posts: 2,414	Dell AV cables; help! I'm buying a Dell laptop today. I want to take advantage of the apparantly rare and cheap AV cables you can purchase at the time with the laptop, but don't know exactly what they are. It says you can only pick a max of 2 of the cables. TV-out cable w/ SPDIF [+AUD 6.60] Composite SPDIF Cable [+AUD 9.90] A/V Cable Kit [+AUD 15.40] I saw the TV-out cable at the dell demo store, which i assume is RCA with SPDIF (whatever that is). But they didn't have the others on show.

2nd October 2006, 3:03 PM	#2
SSJX Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Sydney Posts: 2,746	ok well i haven't seen the tv-out cable kit before so i take your word that its a RCA connection w/ SPDIF I have got the AV Cable kit (the $15 one), and I took for photo of it for you (see below; nb. i haven't opened the pack yet). It consists of a S-video cable (grey) which looks like the PS2 connectors for keyboards/mouse; a red/yellow/white cable (can't remember what's it called as I always get s-vid and this mixed up) which basically looks like the typical wires connecting a VCR/DVD player/playstation/xbox to your TV; and a 15cm long audio cable that allows it to be plugged into your laptop and splits into the red & white cables. Sorry if its a bit confusing, but I hope you can decipher it from the photo. Edit: sorry for the terrible quality - taken with my moby

2nd October 2006, 3:16 PM	#3
josh81 Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Bellbowrie, Brisbane Posts: 2,414	Cool, thanks. The yellow/red/white is RCA cable. I'll get that, i'm just wondering if i need the Composite w. SPDIF. By the way, i checked on the net and i think the girl at dell told me wrong, and i'm pretty sure that the TV-out cable is s-video to yellow rca video + s-video + SPDIF. And what she showed me was actually the composite one, which is VGA to RCA + SPDIF. I'm a bit confused about the composite one, cause if it's coming out of VGA port, then there's no need for audio output cause VGA doesn't output audio, so i thought it must be RGB or componant, but on the website it's called composite. But it had 4 pin inputs on it, which led to a VGA connector.

2nd October 2006, 3:25 PM	#4
SSJX Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Sydney Posts: 2,746	....now you kind of got me all confused anyway, only get SPDIF if you got a digital sound system set up Additionally, laptop sound cards/chip, aren't that great for digital sound so you might as well just stick with analogue

2nd October 2006, 3:34 PM	#5
josh81 Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Bellbowrie, Brisbane Posts: 2,414	I don't care about the SPDIF, it's just that both the TV-out and composite cables come with it.