Plugging In
Until recently, almost all camcorders and digital cameras provided only a basic "A/V output" to connect directly to a TV. Usually, the cam included a cable with a mini connector on one end and a cluster of jacks — stereo audio and composite- and S-video — on the other. The 480-line interlaced video signal this connection delivers is appropriate for standard-def camcorders, which record video at that resolution. But digital cameras capture images at a much higher pixel density, and when they get scaled down for TV viewing, quality is dramatically compromised.
When high-def camcorders finally started to arrive, A/V output jacks also got bumped up to high-def status, with the first few cams from Sony and Canon featuring an analog HD component-video output. Using an included cable, you plugged a multipin connector into the camcorder, while both component-video and stereo-audio connections hooked up to the HDTV's inputs.
But a few recent high-def camcorders (see HDTV-Friendly Camcorders) help streamline the HDTV connection by including HDMI, a digital interface that transmits high-def video and multichannel audio over a single cable.
HDMI jacks are standard-issue on newer HDTVs, and some companies are even putting them on the sets' front or side convenience-input panels. To watch HD home videos, just plug the cam into the TV's HDMI convenience port and hit play. No muss, no fuss — and no stretching around to reach the set's dusty rear-panel inputs.
