Connecting AV equipment to TV in the US

What's the most common method of connecting AV equipment to the TV (Digital TV, DVD players and last gen consoles) in the US?

In Europe it's SCART sockets.

Is coaxial just another name for RF?

I don't particularly like SCART (referring to your "all-in-one" comment), because although it's good that it can provide composite, S-Video and RGB input (RGB is the closest Europeans will get to component in terms of picture quality), you can't always be 100% sure what video signal you are receiving out of those three. Not all TV manufacturers in the European market state whether any of their SCART sockets provide RGB input, so you have to just guess by looking at the picture on the TV to whether or not it's RGB, S-Video or composite (which is a real pain when you have a last gen console and have bought an RGB SCART cable for it, but you don't know if your TV supports RGB via SCART.

At least with the basic composite (yellow socket), S-Video (4-pin socket) and component socket, you know what you are getting, but with SCART you don't.

I wish component had took off in the UK at least.

Well, I would rather have a signal input notification stated nearby each SCART socket on the TV, or stated in the TV manual as standard in place of auto switching between devices.

Thanks for the input.

Don't all component inputs support 1080p? I was under the impression that the component interface as standard could display 1080p even on a non-native 1080p set, even though it would upscale the image. If the answer is yes, then surely component inputs need not need 1080p labeling?

I don't know much about this HDMI 1.1 1.2 you are talking about, but I know what you mean with the HDCP compliance. One good way of getting official confirmation about that if it's not in the TVs specs or manual is to write to the manufacturer. But often it could take a month or more for a reply (I should know... RGB anyone?). At least that way you have it in writing from them, and if they are wrong you could sue them, I think...

Don't all component inputs support 1080p? I was under the impression that the component interface as standard could display 1080p even on a non-native 1080p set, even though it would upscale the image. If the answer is yes, then surely component inputs need not need 1080p labeling?liquidzero123

I see...

See this is the thing, you learn about the different ways in which you can connect AV equipment together and then it seems pretty simple. You learn that S-Video is better than composite and component is better than S-Video and so on, but then comes stage 2, taking HDMI as an e.g here, where you end up with different versions on HDMI (1.1 and 1.2 like you were saying), which is fine. Then you have component with this whole "ok, I know component is capable of HD and progressive scan", but then you discover that only SOME component inputs are capable of displaying a certain higher resolution in progressive, which is fine.

The same goes for SCART, you learn that it provides multiple video signals including composite and S-Video, which again is fine.

All of this is fine, AS LONG AS THE MANUFACTURERS STATE WHAT THEIR PRODUCTS HAVE, IF THEY HAVE IT!
Even better yet, state what you have and what you don't  have, just to clear up any confusion to whether they have something, but just haven't put it in the spec sheet.

I think you would agree that it would make certain technology buying like TVs much easier for the enthusiast buyers like us who like to know what connections we're getting, what contrast ratio , reponse time, preferably how the response time is measured (if it's an LCD of course), things like that. I think all of these things should be stated as standard in the manual.

That's my whole point really. I as the customer want to know everything relevant what my TV can do. I don't want to have to phone or write to any company about this, it should already be in the manual!

Well, that's the end of my puny rant, I think you get my point :) And thanks again for the info.