HDMI or High Definition Multimedia Interface is used for transmitting uncompressed digital data. Also known as an alternative to radio frequency, coaxial cable and VGA, it can carry a bandwidth of 5 Gbps. On the other hand, an RCA cable is a cable with a three colored jack and usually comes in white, yellow and red. White is for audio, red for video and yellow for composite video. An RCA cable can be connected to a variety of audio and video devices.
Can you connect HDMI to an RCA cable? Yes. Since home theatres have been very well-developed, the use of RCA cable has become obsolete, but there are still some people who use RCA cables for their HDMI.
- An HDMI is in digital format. You will need a converter box that can upgrade separate RCA signals into a combined digital signal. You may also downgrade from HDMI to RCA, but this task will be a bit difficult. You have to check with your local hardware or electronics store as to who can supply the needs when downgrading to an RCA.
- Once you have figured out everything and decided whether to upgrade or downgrade your HDMI, it is time for you to connect the cables.
- Plug in the RCA cable (red, white, yellow) into your converter’s box. Be sure that you plug the converter in the wall. Then plug in the HDMI cable to the converter box, particularly in the video input and the other end in the video input of your television.
- Turn on the converter and test the connections you made. Go to the television channel that the converter requires, or press the input function to see if the changes made are working properly.
Tips about getting a good HDMI to RCA cable
It is very easy to connect an HDMI to an RCA cable but you will need the necessary items for it to work properly. It is also possible that your home theatre will downgrade to RCA, check the manual first before doing the connections.
Some HDMI are compatible with an RCA, but some home theater systems cannot be connected to an RCA cable. It is still best that before buying a home theater system, and you plan on using RCA cables in order to be able to use old monitors, you should first ask if the particular home theatre is compatible with an RCA cable.