You’ve reached this page from the PS4 Buyers Guide.
Admit it, you or someone you know has brought home a console (new or used) at some point only to discover that the right cords required weren’t included in the package. Don’t worry; this kind of thing has happened to the best of us. There’s nothing in the world more infuriating and bittersweet than not being able to correctly feed the right signal into one’s television, yearning to explore worlds hitherto unknown only to be met with an entangling predicament. So, in order to avoid such issues with your impending PS4 purchase, it’s a good idea to actually figure out what cord(s) you need (and /or perhaps don’t need)…
You’re in HD territory now
Yeah, we realize that the “HD revolution” already occurred years ago, but many in the gaming community aren’t exactly apt to follow trends, even when they represent a marked improvement. That’s right, some people still like the texture, quality and convenience that a simple yellow (video), white (left audio channel) and red (right audio channel) connection style brings. Nevertheless, the PlayStation 4 doesn’t support this method, only HDMI and optical. (Note* – the same goes for the green, blue, red + yellow and red –style component cables as well.) In other words, yes, if you want to bask in the PS4’s glory, you’ll need a more modern set, preferably something extremely large, wide and as crisply detailed as possible.
Having said that – if you absolutely want to thwart the HD potential of the system, you can utilize the method found in this video. They’re using an Etekcity® HDMI to AV Composite RCA CVBS Video + Audio Converter (For TV PS3 VHS VCR DVD), which can be found and purchase via Amazon.com HERE.
The actual cords you need (ideally):
What you should pick up is an HDMI to HDMI cable, like any one of the examples featured HERE in this Amazon.com search. Moreover, they’re great for other things as well, including 3D tv’s, DVD players, blu-ray players, other consoles, etc., and it’s always a good idea to have a few spares on hand too, right?
Additionally, if you plan on using the system’s DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) port, you will need an optical cable too (but note that HDMI contains high quality audio already). The following two examples would be ideal for that (the second link containing a HDMI + Optical cord combo deal):
For power
One of the cool things about the PS4 design is that they did away with the big power bricks. Now it just uses an AC Power Adapter Cord, like the one found here.
USB charging cable
You’re not out of the woods yet, it would also be a great idea to pick up a microUSB 2.0 Charge Cable (like the one found here) which will allow you to both charge up your DualShock 4 wireless controllers or any other types of devices which use the same kind of port (a lot of smartphones do, for example).