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General discussion

S-video connection problem

Feb 19, 2005 4:19AM PST

I went and got an S-video cable from Big Lots for $3.99. They look nice, with 24K gold contacts, dual shield (one braided), copper conductor, strain relief of the cable, etc.

I've tested it and compared to composite. I am disappointed. I see no improvement. I used several DVD's. There are two differences between the two setups. One the composite looks brighter a bit. S-video looked a bit darker and it does not seem to be because the colors are more saturated (Colors look like for the composite). No difference in sharpness of the image between the two either.

The other difference: I used wide screen DVD's. For S-video, when the movie switches from a bright scene to something with less light (or vice-versa) the top and bottom black bars change brightness from a dark gray to black. Or if the image changes from dark to something bright with more light then the bars change from black to something a bit lighter (a dark gray). Now this change happens with the composite, too. The problem is that with the S-video is more pronounced, and moreover it takes longer (like .5 seconds). It's like in slow motion. The scene of the movie has already changed its brightness but these bars are still in the process for another .5 second or so. With the composite it happens almost instantaneously. This is very annoying with the S-video.

Any expert can say if the S-video cable is the problem or is my TV/DVD player? I have a 32" RCA TV (late '90s model) and a Cyberhome CH-DVD 500 DVD player. Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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well...
Feb 19, 2005 2:52PM PST

first of all... a cable is simply a piece or pieces of wire that transfer a signal almost at the speed of light. Typical cable problems have to do with noise [rejection] or lack thereof. Be sure you are not looping your power cords in tight circles & then running your signal cables right by them. As far as the weird change such as the slow fading or slow illuminating of certain parts of the picture... I would think that would be either your TV/DVD player & how they process the information on one/both ends. also... if you are concerned about picture quality to the point where you are buying new cables... go ahead & do it right & get equipment that supports component video or even DVI/HDMI. Happy

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S-video Help
Feb 20, 2005 7:16PM PST

Thank you for the reply. The best connection is S-video for my TV. I am not ready for HDTV yet. Until now I used composite only. I understand that there should be a big image improvement when moving up to S-video. I am so puzzled since I see no improvement: image is not sharper or brighter and colors are not more vivid. And that's besides the delay issue. This Svideo cable looks good but the brand is unknown and I was not sure if it's the cable or not.

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ya...
Feb 21, 2005 12:05AM PST

well obviously you should take it back (and if you still have heart... try another one). no reason to stay with something that you are not pleased with.

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BIG improvement?
Feb 21, 2005 6:06AM PST

No you shouldn't have expected that with your tv set because it is still interleave and not progressive but it should be a bit better though. My feeling is you are not going to get too much more. Good luck on your next TV.