Which cable for quality picture?? (PC-TV connection)

R

rollingstone06

Guest
Noob here -- just signed up, literally 2 mins. ago, so greetings to all. :)

OK, I did a search, but didn't really get the specific answer I was looking for. I wanna connect my PC to my stereo TV. (Yes, not HDTV or Plasma. :rolleyes: )

My PC-pack came with only a 1.5 m. long S-video 4-pin cable (see pic #1). It's too short, since my TV's 3 metres away.

I've also got a 18 cm. (7") cable, with 7-pin S-video on one end and a yellow-coloured hole on the other end (see pic #2), along with a 1.8 m. cable with single pin on each side (see pic #3). However, if I connect up those two cables from my PC's S-video to my TV's yellow video slot, the connection is also too short.

OK, so I'd like your info/advice, plz, on the following, in terms of what will give me the best picture quality:

1) Should I buy a single 5 m. S-video cable? or;

2) Buy a 1.5 m. cable like that in pic #2, and then connect that to the 1.8 m. cable in pic #3, which will then connect to the yellow video slot of my TV?

Sorry for the noob questions and long post :eek:! Please let me know if there's no difference between those connections, and, if so, why. (Or is a single S-video cable better than other connections, in terms of picture quality?)

Cheers, and thanks in advance folks...
RS :)
 

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JohnWH said:
Does your TV have component, s-video or composite video inputs?

Hey John,

My TV has S-Video and the yellow Video jack.

Cheers,
RS :)
 
JohnWH said:
Ok, you want to use the s-video input then, so option 1.

John.

John,

Thanks alot for the reply! Will option 2 really compromise picture quality in a very noticeable way, IYO, and what's the reason for that?

Also, do you happen to know why my TV, a Thomson brand, was made with a yellow video jack (is that composite, btw??), when there was already the S-Video jack built in? Was it just in case the user didn't have an S-Video connecting cable? Or some other reason?

Cheers,
RS
 
Anyone? Would be educational to know, for sure, about the reason for both the composite Video and S-Video jacks!!

Cheers,
RS
 
Most video kit offers all input types up to a certain standard, it just means they're more likely avoid complaints when someone try's to hook up older kit that doesn't have the higher quality option e.g. there's plenty of VHS videos (if not all) that only have composit video output.

Use of the composite signal will compromise the quality as both colour (chroma) and intesity (luma) parts of the signal are being stuffed down a single wire, to do this the bandwidth of the components has to be limited resulting in loss of sharpness and you will inavariably get some interference between them. S-video splits the chroma and luma parts of the signal down seperate wires removing interference between and allowing the luma part to have greater bandwidth, although the two parts of the chroma signal are sill combined. For best quality you would want to use a component interconnect as luma (Y) and the two chroma components (Pr and Pb) each get there own connection.

Hope that helps.
John.
 
JohnWH said:
Most video kit offers all input types up to a certain standard, it just means they're more likely avoid complaints when someone try's to hook up older kit that doesn't have the higher quality option e.g. there's plenty of VHS videos (if not all) that only have composit video output.

Use of the composite signal will compromise the quality as both colour (chroma) and intesity (luma) parts of the signal are being stuffed down a single wire, to do this the bandwidth of the components has to be limited resulting in loss of sharpness and you will inavariably get some interference between them. S-video splits the chroma and luma parts of the signal down seperate wires removing interference between and allowing the luma part to have greater bandwidth, although the two parts of the chroma signal are sill combined. For best quality you would want to use a component interconnect as luma (Y) and the two chroma components (Pr and Pb) each get there own connection.

Hope that helps.
John.


Hey, thanks again, that really is informative, and helps greatly!! I'll go out on Monday and get a S-Video cable pronto.

OT**-- Here, in Finland, my local store sells this Vivanco 10m. cable for like 20 euros (about 13 quid). Is that price the going rate for such cables? (Or, IYO, is it under - or over -priced?) There's also this 5 m. cable for around 10 quid? Sound normal? Also, about shielding, would I see any degradation of the picture/whatever with 10 m. versus the 5 m. S-Video cable typically sold?

Anyone know?

RS :)
 
For video the main thing you want to make sure of is that the cable has a 75Ohm impedance. Quality of screening and amount of loss are more important over longer runs, but if you're only transmitting SD its surprising what you can get away with.

I normally make up my own video cables but if I'm feeling lazy I normally just go somewhere like http://www.keene.co.uk.

John.
 
JohnWH said:
For video the main thing you want to make sure of is that the cable has a 75Ohm impedance. Quality of screening and amount of loss are more important over longer runs, but if you're only transmitting SD its surprising what you can get away with.

I normally make up my own video cables but if I'm feeling lazy I normally just go somewhere like http://www.keene.co.uk.

John.

Hey John,

1) Pardon my greenishness, but what's SD?

2) About impedence, if it's not printed on the cable's pack, or on the cable itself, then I should steer clear, right?

3) Do you have Biltema stores in the UK? Well, here, I saw a 5 metre S-Vid cable from them for like 4 quid today. The metal connectors were gold-plated, too. So, I'm just wondering, should I buy that cheap cable -- or is that low price indicative of inferior quality? (i.e. is good always pricier, in terms of cables, or have you seen/used lower cost cables and seen comparable quality to higher cost cables?)

I'm just wondering if this brand thing is really marketing, and if I'm being sucked in, gullibly, by the market hype to buy brand names, even when they may have been proven to be of comparable quality to non-brand cheaper cables.

Cheers,
RS ;)
 
rollingstone06 said:
Hey John,

1) Pardon my greenishness, but what's SD?

Thats 'Standard definition' which is 480 or 576 line interlaced video depending on if you PAL or NTSC based.
2) About impedence, if it's not printed on the cable's pack, or on the cable itself, then I should steer clear, right?
Not necessarily, ask is the best option, but be prepared to get a blank expression back.
3) Do you have Biltema stores in the UK? Well, here, I saw a 5 metre S-Vid cable from them for like 4 quid today. The metal connectors were gold-plated, too. So, I'm just wondering, should I buy that cheap cable -- or is that low price indicative of inferior quality? (i.e. is good always pricier, in terms of cables, or have you seen/used lower cost cables and seen comparable quality to higher cost cables?)

I'm just wondering if this brand thing is really marketing, and if I'm being sucked in, gullibly, by the market hype to buy brand names, even when they may have been proven to be of comparable quality to non-brand cheaper cables.

Not that I know of, its cheap so it might not be great, however at that price you could suck it and see. Other's here maybe be able recommend based on direct experience.

John.
 

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