S-VIDEO or RGB

Hi,

Does anybody know if there is a difference in picture quality between using S-VIDEO and RGB, via a 21 pin SCART cable?

I have the option of using both for DVD play back.

Also, does buying expensive SCART leads make much of a difference over cheap leads. I imagine it would on a mega expensive setup but on an average person's setup I can't see that its worth forking out £30 or so just on a lead???

I have a 28" panasonic widescreen tv.

Thanks for any help.

[pointon]

RGB is the superior format, most (including myself) will argue significantly so, some say not so much. Judge for yourself, but it's best to use a decent cable, and RGB should be your first choice using scart.

If you have component capabilities, use them if possible, they are top of the league:

1) Component
2) RGB
3) S-Vid
4) Composite (hardly worth mentioning, never use).

[sparkybun]

Hi!

I have to agree with Pointon that on the face of it RGB should be superior than S-vid BUT RGB is darker than S-vid i.e S-vid is brighter. This (S-vid) can be an advantage if watching 'Dark' films or some people just like brighter films. Also there have been some threads that other users have stated that certain Televisions (in their opinion!!) look better with S-vid rather than RGB. I think like a lot of things, try it yourself and let us know what you think.

It would be useful to know what other users experiences are.

cheers

Mel

BUT RGB is darker than S-vid

Not always. It depends on the tv.

Also there have been some threads that other users have stated that certain Televisions (in their opinion!!) look better with S-vid rather than RGB

Well, if you think s-vid is brighter than RGB, then your opinion fits your exclamation marks.

The Toshiba 32MW7DB was one television that was better with s-video rather than RGB. This is probably the highest profile television that suffered that.

In my experience RGB has the 'purer' picture, better colour definition etc. Svideo is 95% as good though and in most cases will appear slightly more 'lively', something which I prefer. Really it depepnds on your particular combination of equipment and which you prefer to look at. The whole point is to get the most enjoyment out of your system and sometimes it's easy to get caught up in trying to get the ultimate picture at the expense of other things like convenience.

Personally I use my AV amp to switch Svideo to TV and PJ. This makes it much easier and although RGB from DVD to TV would be slightly better in picture terms, I can barely tell the difference and then only in direct comparisons.

S

[sparkybun]

Hi!

Also bear in mind the problem (albeit slight but again depends on the TV) where RGB shifts the picture off screen to the left! This was actually quite apparent and meant the loss of a fair amount of picture on my LG 28" but is now better on my 32" Panasonic.

cheers

The RGB picture shift is a pain. I used to have it on my old Tosh set, although i corrected it in the service menu.

Luckily, my current set doesn't suffer with it.

[MartinImber]

RGB is better - my TV uses RGB as its main source for both DVD and TV (IDTV RGB internally linked)

[MikeC]

I think you will find it very much depends on your particular hardware.

RGB is theoretically superior, but it very much depends if there are any
additional conversion(s) performed to send it in RGB rather than say S-video.

For my situation, I can see less dot-crawl with S-video than RGB

Mike

[MartinImber]

Sony stuff tends to like RGB

[andypandy]

I actually thought it was the other way round with Sony TV's although the newer ones are better - OR were all those threads about the Sony DVD players and RGB - I forget !!!

If you have a 'larger' TV, or a PJ, the dreaded 'ringing' is virtually non-existent via RGB. Colours, particularly reds & yellows, should be a tad deeper & cleaner. As far as the cost of the cable goes, the rule of thumb is to spend around 10% of the cost of your system on connections/cables. Maplins sell some well made SCARTs fairly cheaply. (Compared to say Ixos, Qed)

[Dr.Rock]

On my Tosh 33", I prefer S-video to RGB. RGB is attrocious on my TV! The picture shifts to one side, and even if I can correct this in the service menu, the colours are still very faded. If I correct the picture-shif or the colours just for RGB, it affects the other TV channels. Does anyone else get this problem with their Tosh TV?

A number of the older tosh televisions were like that. The newer models are not.

The one which most people commented on was the 32MW7DB as suffering with this.

[PhilipL]

Hi

Some early TVs and possibly new ones take the RGB input and convert it internally to S-Video and then feed it through the normal circuitry! If you can adjust the colour then this is happening, as true RGB passed direct to the tube would not allow a colour adjustment, as it drives the tube more or less directly.

If your TV allows you to alter the colour on RGB then you may be better of with S-Video. The DVD player may be better at converting RGB to S-Video than the internals of your TV.

If you can not adjust colour then RGB is being passed directly to the tube, which is the preferred method, and the one where you will see (or should see) the benefits of RGB.

Regards

Philip