Topic: S-Video vs. RCA??

[kennyb27]

Ok, what is the difference technically between the standard RCA jacks (we're obviously focusing on the video in this discussion) and the newer S-video cables?  I asked my stepbrother and all he could come up with is "It has to do with the signal." Well, needless to say, that didn't help too much.  So any help from anyone would be appreciated.

[MikeHrusecky]

"S-Video is one of the high quality methods of transmitting a television signal
from a device such as a Camcorder, VCR, or a game machine (PSX/Saturn/SNES
etc).  It separates the color information (Chrominance) from the brightness
(Luminance), which prevents nasty things like color bleeding and dot crawl,
and helps increase clarity and sharpness.  You can greatly improve the image
quality of the PSX by simply converting to S-Video."

http://www.vidgames.com/ps/hints/svideo.html

The systems are dated, but you get the idea.

[manunited4eva22]

In terms of looks S-Video looks more like a older mouse port (PS/2) than the standard RCA jacks.

[kennyb27]

Thanks, Mike!  Greatly appreciated, now I get to go show up my stepbrother . Just kidding of course, but thanks all the same.

[MrShag]

I just got myself the Gamelink 300 GC S-Video AV Cable from Monster Game and it totaly rocks!

Image have never been clearer and it's SO much better than RCA.

[ThePerm]

im wondering...there is no sound transmitted by s-video is there? We were lookign for an adapter that would convert rca cable to s-video for a very long time..then i thought abotu how you would nromally hook up a standard sterio and realised that it was just video and not audio...you plug in video to video and audio is completely sepearate...are my assumptions correct?

[TheYoungerPlumber]

First of all, why would you want to convert RCA to S-Video, ThePerm?  Converting from a lower quality connection to a higher-quality connection will NOT make the picture any better.  In fact, it will add more noise to the signal if anything.  That being said, S-Video pertains to the video alone and replaces the yellow composite video cable.  The white and red RCA audio cables are still needed and will be on any S-video GameCube cable.  Most televisions with S-video have an S-video and composite connection assigned to the same input and therefore share the same Left and Right audio ports.

[ThePerm]

my freind has a capture card and it only excepts s-video...you dont get your cable signal from s-video(we would have to use our rf modultor to convert coaxial to rca) and our camera's only have rca. This has nothing to do with gamecube really...although we could hook it up to the computer and tape stuff. Really we just want to tape home videos and add stuff to them. Like i motion a kamehameha and then i import it into flash after capturing it and then it would look all cool.

[SubKamran]

If your TV supports S-Video, GET IT! My DVD player uses it, and it KICKS ASS. It's SO DAMN SHARP!

In fact, I'll probably buy a S-Video.com S-Video switch...so I can use the DVD and Gamecube without plugging/uplugging wires.

[PardonTheWait]

Is RGB scart just a PAL thing? RGB scart seperates the signal into (who'd have thought) red, green, and blue, and it's just lovely. You only ever seem to hear PAL users talk about it though. Component is much less common here though.

[kennyb27]

RGB is the component hook-up.  It is not PAL-exclusive.

[AngusPodgorny]

RGB Scart is, indeed, a PAL thing.  It's common in Europe but unheard of in the US, at any rate.  

Component video is not RGB.  It's misleading, because they color code the connectors in red, blue, and green, but it's not an RGB signal.  Scart also uses a very different physical connector from Component video.

-Angus

Edited for clarity.