TV Ports Guide: To Hook Up A TV
You have HDMI ports, connection wires, adapters, and a few other technical names that we wouldn’t want to dive into. We haven’t even come to the worst part yet! Imagine your television is mounted on the wall and you need to find the port to connect your external device. A nightmare, right? We are here to help. This guide will help you to identify the various connections so that you won’t be intimidated the next time!
Where Can I Locate The Ports On My Television?
Most Smart TVs have their ports at the back of the television. You will find all your ports on the right side of the TV to reach the ports easily. Some sets prefer to have all the ports in a single panel like USB, HDMI, audio, video, etc in one place.
While in some TVs you will find separate compartments for each connection. In some of the selected models of Samsung and LG, all the ports are neatly located in a separate box, at the bottom of the television. In case the television is wall mounted it becomes easy to access.
What Are The Different Types Of Ports?
If you have a smart TV you will find the following port types
Video TV Ports Audio TV Ports and Other Ports
Let us take each of the ports one by one and understand its uses in detail.
What Are Video Ports? – Uses And Types
As the same suggests Video Ports are the connections to any external device that will enable video streaming. If you have connected any external device and not plugged in the video port you will face a blank screen with only audio. Here are the different video ports that you will come across:
HDMI
HDMI is a very common term and you might have even used it often while connecting your game console or any other device to your television. HDMI ports are used to connect both audio and video and hence are one of the most useful ports. Using an HDMI port you can connect your gaming consoles, sound systems or media player, computers, or laptops. If you happen to have a streaming device like Firestick or Roku you can connect it through an HDMI port only.
Component
Component cables are the red, blue, and white wires that were earlier used to connect your TV to any device. Before HDMI or USB these were the only options to connect. If you have an old TV that doesn’t support HDMI cables then these component wires come in handy. These can connect DVD players, set-up boxes, and older models of gaming consoles.
Composite
The composite port is the yellow circular port on your television. It is used to connect DVRs and old media players. Composite ports are no longer in use as the picture resolution they provide is extremely low as compared to HDMI cables.
What Are Audio Ports? – Uses And t=Types
Audio ports as simple as they sound help to connect the audio of the external device. There are many types of audio ports that you connect to your TV. Here are the most common ones:
Optical Digital
This port helps to connect the digital audio to your sound system. It only uses a digital format. While using an optical cable you need to keep in mind that the cable doesn’t bend or else it might wear off and break.
Coaxial Digital
These cables are a better option than Optical Cables as they are stronger and more durable. But again, if you compare the sound quality it is advisable to go with HDMI cables.
RCA Stereo
These red and white twin cables are used to transmit analog audio. You can use these cables to connect DVRs, soundbars, media players, and old models of gaming consoles. These cables are either input or output transmitters. If you are not able to identify if they are input or output these wires are often labeled.
Conclusion
Now we have learnt “TV Ports Guide: How To Hook Up A TV?”‘, If you are unfamiliar with the connections all these names might sound alien to you. You don’t need to memorize all the ports but it comes in handy in case you need to repair your TV or connect all the wires again. The best cable that emerges as an all-rounder is the HDMI port. It can be used for both audio and video. Apart from these cables, there are a lot of other ports that are used to wire your TV.
