A: Many hi-fi and home cinema systems perform adequately with the cables supplied. The amplifier, CD player, DVD player or other source component may have been designed to perform amazingly well, but the cables supplied may not have been - in fact they may be the cheapest type available and are unlikely to have been designed for optimum sound or picture quality and they made be constructed of the cheapest types of materials - barely sufficient for high quality sound or pictures.

The standard cables supplied with the equipment may also be the incorrect length, leading to either the prospect of joining shorter lengths together, or of coiling up the excess in an interference inducing coil.

A: Many cables supplied free are not necessarily 'good quality' cables, simply because the dealer has to buy these cables in and will usually give away whatever cable is available at the cheapest possible price, whilst appearing to be giving good value.

Needless to say, these cheapies may not offer the best sound quality, compared to most "after-market" cables - which have been designed to perform much better (and with less losses) than the "freebies". But ask your dealers advice as to whether these "freebies" are any good or whether you should pay the difference and get something better.

A: Well, a number of reasons:

• Each of the cable conductors is constructed of high quality materials, purpose designed to have as little effect as possible on the audio or video signals passing through them - unlike cheaper conductors which impede the signal flow and consequently reduce your enjoyment, producing a less transparent, less detailed sound or a grainier, less defined picture.

• Each cable is highly shielded from the effects of external sources such as RFI and EMI, thereby allowing the signal to pass unimpeded from one end of the cable to the other. Less interference means your equipment's performance is enhanced.

• Each cable is terminated with 24 carat gold plated connectors, which are proven not to suffer from the time-related oxidation effects common with many other types of metal contacts.

A: Most DVD players have a number of outputs:

• A video output, which may be composite video (usually via a single phono socket) and/or s-video (catered for by either a 21-way euro-scart socket or more commonly a 4 pin mini-Din connector). More recent players now have RGB video out (usually via the scart socket) and some even have component video outputs, usually via 3 phono sockets.
• A digital audio output socket, via a phono socket (known as a co-axial digital output) and/or a TosLink socket (for fibre optic cables).
• Usually a pair of analogue outputs, in order for you to play your CD's via your existing hi-fi system and, if the DVD player has built-in Dolby Digital decoding, 6 surround sound outputs.

Video Outputs
In all cases, Insert Audio have a cable designed specifically for the purpose. For instance, most people will want to appreciate the best visual quality, so will opt to connect the DVD player to a TV directly via the s-video sockets on both. For this purpose, the Dataline 750 cable would be the most obvious choice, as this has been specifically designed to carry s-video signals and is available in lengths up to 16 metres long.

Alternatively, you could use the Dataline 700 , Dataline 500 or Image 5.1 as the cables of choice to carry composite, RGB or component video signals to your TV

Digital Audio Output
For the digital audio side, and especially for use with Dolby Digital (sometimes called "AC3"), there are two choices: either a co-ax digital cable such as Dataline 500 for modestly priced systems, Dataline 700 for excellent results with higher priced systems and Image 5.1 for the best results from top-end equipment.

Alternatively, you could use the Optic 2.1 fibre optic cable, which is especially useful over longer lengths as the fibre optic cable cannot act as an aerial due to its non-metallic construction.

Which cable you choose to use depends on the available sockets on both your DVD player and your Home Cinema amplifier or Surround Sound Processor. Either way, Insert Audio cables will give you the flexibility to place the equipment where YOU want (as many different lengths are available) and you'll get the best possible quality of sound and/or picture.

Surround Sound and Analogue Audio output(s)
Some DVD players (such as those from Denon, Panasonic, Samsung, Thomson and Yamaha) provide built-in Dolby Digital decoding, allowing you to feed the 5.1 sound outputs direct to your surround sound amplifier. In this case, the Image 5.1 is the preferred choice.

And lets not forget the stereo output side, for playing your "old" CD's! High quality audio can be reproduced on your hi-fi system by using one of the Insert Audio analogue cables. Focus 1.2,and IC100 Mk 11 can be used with budget priced equipment, but for the best results, use either Image 5.1 or Status 3.4 silver based cables.

A: The same applies as above!!

A: Set-top boxes may have various input and output sockets. For instance, the Freeview (or ITV Digital /ONDigital) set-top box - the aerial input connector uses a normal co-ax input socket. BUT, it should be noted that fully-screened co-ax connectors, such as the gold-plated CAP09 plugs or CAS09 line sockets, are ideally used, as they minimise the effect of car ignition "noise" on the received signal (in some cases the digital picture can "lock-up").

Similarly, good quality 75 ohm double shielded co-ax cable should be used between aerial and STB - Insert Audio Dataline 500 fits the bill here.

For picture and sound outputs, most STB's use a Scart connector to output pictures to TV's or VCR's. The Scart 1.2 would suffice in this case.

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