Component Video

• Component video connects signals between devices with three coaxial cables that are color-coded red, green and blue. But the red and green cables actually carry matrixed electronic "Cr" and "Cb" signals that select red and blue out of the black-and-white composite video "Y" signal that travels on the green cable, which also carries a synchronization signal. In video technology, all colors signals combined at full intensity produce white and all colors turned off produce black. The information remaining on the Y cable after removing red and blue produces green. Users and marketers may also call component video "YCrCb" or "YPrPb."
  
  

VGA

• The video graphics array sends discrete information for each color over coaxial cables inside a 15-wire cable. It also sends separate horizontal and vertical synchronization signals on two others. The separate colors often cause users and marketers to call the format RGB, but a more accurate technical term is "RGBHV," which distinguishes it from other formats that separate the color signals. VGA was originally developed to carry signals to computer monitors, but improvements over the years have increased its quality significantly. HDTVs have VGA input ports, but often with different labels such as "HD 15," "PC Connection" or "PC/RGB."
  
  

Professional RGB

• RGBS also keeps discrete color signals on separate conductors, but it uses a single coaxial cable for each. A fourth coaxial cable carries a signal containing horizontal and vertical synchronization pulses. A format often used for professional workstations, RGsB (also known as "SoG" or "Sync on Green"), also sends discrete information for the colors on three coaxial cables but includes the synchronization signal along with the green, similar to component video. These two formats are rarely found in home entertainment systems.
  
  

High-Definition

• Separating color information into individual signals and wires allows more information to travel on the connection. Resolution tells the amount of information a video signal carries. Standard television has 480i resolution; the "i" means "interlaced scanning," which illuminates odd horizontal lines on a screen in one sweep and even in the next. High-definition has 720p, 1080i or 1080p resolution. Progressive scanning illuminates all lines in a single sweep. Although many users mistakenly think that HD only travels on digital signals, all RGB analog formats are capable of carrying high-definition, and many HDTVs have component and VGA inputs.