These days, HDMI is the most popular option to connect an AV receiver to any TV or projector. Yet, what if you have an old receiver without HDMI inputs but are still willing to connect it with some modern hardware? Luckily, AV receivers have always been very advanced units of their time. For us, this means redundancy that can be used to connect older receivers with modern TVs and other equipment.
Thanks to the abovementioned redundancy in systems, there are four ways to connect a TV to a receiver without HDMI. Luckily all these options are relatively easy to use and not too expensive. Most importantly, the necessary items can be found in any local hardware store. In today’s article, I will cover all of them, sharing the main benefits of every approach.
RCA cables
It is the second most popular option after HDMI for connecting an AV receiver to a TV. A basic RCA audio cable consists of two connectors. Usually, those are colored red and white, but they may also be yellow and white. It can only work well with audio and connects via RCA jacks. So make sure that you match the colors of cables and connectors for the whole setup of work. It is also one of the cheapest ways.
Composite video cables
The same logic from the previous audio RCA cables is applied to their composite RCA counterparts. The only difference is that these cables also work with a video signal. So, composite RCA has three cables. In this case, the most popular colors are red, white, and yellow. Trustworthy manufacturers tend to follow this standard. So there won’t be any problems matching the right cables with the proper inputs.
Component video cables
This type of cable includes several channels to transmit video and audio signals. Every channel requires a dedicated cable. It is the main visual difference from composite video cables. In this case, manufacturers usually use red, blue, and green colors for wires. The cable comes in two options. The first one has 3 connectors and works solely with video. The second type works with 5 RCA connectors and can also transmit audio. In fact, a second 5-connector cable is the only useful option to connect the TV to a receiver.
HDMI converter
Still need more ways how to hook up the receiver to the TV? Then I’ll suggest another option.HDMI converters vary in length and price but offer the same ability—connecting HDMI to HDMI on one end and RCA to RCA on the other one. This converter transforms an analog signal from RCA into a digital one used by HDMI.
Final words
As you can see, even if you own an older receiver, you still have a chance to connect it to modern TV. The main problems lie in the fact that older receivers may not support the modern surround sound decoding formats which adds certain inconveniences during their usage. However, the lack of HDMI inputs is not one of the restricting factors that can render the older AV receiver useless, forcing the one to get a new device. Also, if your receiver does not have a built-in Bluetooth function but you have wireless devices, it will be useful to know how to add Bluetooth to the receiver.
