How to connect your Green Feathers RCA/phono camera to your TVUpdated 9 months ago
If your camera looks like the one pictured below then you have a Green Feathers RCA/phono camera. RCA is the cable connection that sends the video and audio signal to your TV.
Table of contents
- What does it all mean?
- Composite video
- Component video
- How do I connect it to my TV?
- Use the composite input
- Use the component inputs
- Use an RCA to HDMI converter
- Use RCA to SCART converter
- Need more help?
Watch George show you some basic ways to set up a wired RCA camera:
This video will help you identify the different types of connector on your TV:
What does it all mean?
Composite video
This is the oldest format used for transferring video and audio signals. The yellow cable carries a signal known as Composite video which encodes all the video information on a single channel, allowing it to be sent down a single cable.
You will typically see RCA devices use three cables; yellow, red and white. The yellow cable carries the composite video signal, and the red and white cables carry the audio signal.
Because all the video information is on one channel/cable, it is heavily compressed and is lower quality than more modern ways of transferring video information.
Component video
One newer format is called Component video, which carries the video signal on three different cables, allowing it to send higher quality video (up to 1080P). They will still use the same RCA type connector as composite video.
The video cables are usually Green, Blue and Red/Orange. They will also use an extra two RCA cables for the audio signal, which are red and white. Component inputs are most commonly seen on newer TVs.
How do I connect it to my TV?
Use the composite input
If your TV has composite inputs, you can simply connect the camera straight to it! There will be three RCA ports, one yellow, one white and one red. The yellow port will be used for video, and should usually be labelled as such. If you only have one cable for audio then connect it to the white port.
Use the component inputs
If the back of your TV looks like the picture below, with five RCA ports, then it uses component video. If the green port is also yellow, or is labelled 'Video', then you are in luck. This port is designed to receive both composite video signal as well as component video signal,. You can connect the video cable from your camera to the Y/video port, and connect the audio cable/s to the white and red ports. In this case the blue/Pb and red/Pr ports can be ignored.
If the green port doesn't have a yellow circle around it or isn't marked as 'Video', then this probably won't work. The video feed may be transmitted but only in black and white. See below for your options.
Use an RCA to HDMI converter
If your TV has a HDMI input, then you can still use an RCA camera with it. An RCA to HDMI converter will allow the signal to be sent to the TV via a HDMI cable, and some (like ours) will also up-scale the image to increase the resolution and clarity. These converters do need a power supply, but that can usually be provided by connecting the included USB cable to a USB port on your TV or via a wall plug.
Use RCA to SCART converter
The final method involves using an RCA to SCART converter. SCART is less common these days but may be found on older TVs. Simply connect the camera to the converter using the RCA ports, then connect the SCART side into the TV.
Need more help?
If you need help with anything else please check out our other guides or get in contact.