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Color code for cables
Hello all
I have been looking to see what the SMPTE standards were for color coding cable of various levels of video. Up to this point, we have been using yellow for composite, black for reference, red, green, and blue for component, and violet for digital. Now, this leaves out some things like HD, unbalanced AES, SDI with embedded audio, etc. We have heard the orange should be used for AES. Still would like to differentiate between HD-SDI and SD-SDI with a specified color.
I scanned the SMPTE site and some of their standards but did not see it right away. Thought someone might have that info off hand. Thanks for a reply!
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5 Replies
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there is no color code. This is all nonsense. RGB is used because it’s similar to the YPbPr pattern, but is Y (luminance) green? It’s a black and white signal. This is all crap, because people order colored cable, run out of one color, and then dont’ want to spend another $350 for another roll of HD-SDI cable in purple, and use the RED cable that is left over. CABLE LABELS and documentation is the only way to go.
Purple is common for SD-SDI (and HD-SDI), Orange for AES/EBU. But there is no SMPTE standard. Just what “most guys use” – and these days, most guys just run black cable.
If you are thinking about colors that correspond to numbers, like in multipair snake cable – that is a different story – there is a IEEE standard, that has been around for years –
0 black
1 brown
2 red
3 orange
4 yellow
5 green
6 blue
7 violet
8 gray
9 whiteBob Zelin
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Hi Bob. I appreciate your response.
I am looking for what other people generally do. As an integrator, OBVIOUSLY we label all cables and document installs, that is a given. We also choose colors of cable for our VIDEO, but not audio. We use black for audio in general unless we use a multi-core cable where we get the color code you mentioned.
I wanted to see if there were any other standards other people were aware of as I have not found any others online. I was hoping there was one as I am having a minor dispute over changing our company’s policies on cable color code, which I don’t want to do. All black is not an option at all.
If there are others out there who do run colored cable, what do you generally use? The colors I mentioned in my original post? Alternatives?
Thanks.
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well, what do you do when you have to run plenum cable – and your only choices are white (and if you are lucky black) ?
Bob Zelin
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I currently have a spool of 1506A in violet.
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well, what the hell do I know !
I hope you have some ADC BNC-6 connectors for the 1506A, because the Kings 2065-2-9 make a really crappy connection on 1506A, even though this is specified by Kings as the correct connector (it’s the right connector for 1505, not 1506, and as you know, there is a diameter difference between the two).
Bob Zelin
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