I came across some old equipment while cleaning and found a Red, Yellow, and White AV cable. It has a female AV jack at the back of each of the three male cables, and I'm not sure what it's used for. I thought you couldn't have two AV inputs or outputs from a single AV cable, but I might be mistaken. Could anyone help identify this cable or explain its purpose? I can't attach pictures, but the description should help!
3 Answers
From what I've seen, these cables are called piggyback RCA connectors. They can function as either a joiner or a splitter. While you might run into issues if you connect too many outputs, they can work if you're careful. For example, if you had a VCR and a gaming console, using them would be fine as long as only one device is powered on at a time.
Ah, I get it now! That sounds like it'd work for my old setup.
If you want a visual reference, you can check out the pictures of the cables shared in the replies. They're pretty similar to what you're describing.
These are standard RCA cables! They're typically color-coded for Left, Right, and Composite Video. The strange design with embedded jacks likely allows you to send outputs to another device. It's generally not a good idea to mix outputs, but you can split them. So, this might connect to a signal source and let you plug in multiple devices without needing to switch cables.
Makes sense! I remember having something like this for connecting multiple devices, just not sure why they made it with jacks like that.
Yeah, I think these are pretty useful if you use them wisely!
Just remember to keep it simple to avoid any signal clash!