John Sy

I just bought some gold plated Radio Shack cables (just like Patman suggested) and I hooked it up. I don't see a discernible difference between the two hookups. Any comments?

For your information: I'm using a Tara Labs S-Video cable, Radio Shack gold plated component cables. They are going from a Toshiba SD-2108 DVD player to a Sony WEGA 36" Trinitron TV. The TV has been calibrated using AVIA--at least with the S-video cable. Should I do it for the component cables too? Will I see more of a difference if I do this?

Xytraguptorh

quote:<HR>Originally posted by John Sy:
I just bought some gold plated Radio Shack cables (just like Patman suggested) and I hooked it up. I don't see a discernible difference between the two hookups. Any comments?

For your information: I'm using a Tara Labs S-Video cable, Radio Shack gold plated component cables. They are going from a Toshiba SD-2108 DVD player to a Sony WEGA 36" Trinitron TV. The TV has been calibrated using AVIA--at least with the S-video cable. Should I do it for the component cables too? Will I see more of a difference if I do this?<HR>

I have a 50" Hitachi Ultravision RPTV with component inputs and I can see a pretty big difference between component and S-Video. I think that the larger your TV is, the more difference you will be able to tell. The biggest advantage in my opinion, is the increased color detail. The first film I watched through component video was Apocalypse Now and I remember thinking how the soldiers' uniforms had never had such a striking green color before. I have my DVD player hooked up with both S-Video and component, so I often switch back and forth just to make comparisons. Component looks slightly darker, but with more detail at the same time. I notice that S-Video often looks to have some type of "film" on its surface that detracts from the clarity somewhat, if that makes any sense. Most people agree that component video gives a smoother more film-like image than S-Video. I use the Radio Shack gold standard dubbing cables, too. There really is no reason to buy Monster Cables. And yes, you should make some adjustments when viewing through component video as compared to S-Video. On mine, I turned the brightness and contrast just slightly higher and made a tint adjustment, too, using Video Essentials.

BEC

Not really surprising, as I guessed earlier.
The two cases where I've heard this making a non-correctable difference is on larger screen TV's like Xytraguptorh's or on systems where the cables are really long (>10') and prone noise pick-up and/or transmission losses.

After re-calibrating (the changes may even be slight to negligible), if you really want to find a difference, the two video tests to try are the resolution test (lot's of bars) and the Snell-Wilcox(bouncing ball). The SW test shows cross talk and color artifacts.
You should see sharp lines and borders.
If you don't see a difference w/that test, there is no difference.

Even when there is a difference(color smearing, bleeding), it's difficult to really appreciate that by eye. On larger screens this translates into smearing or slight color bleeding, perhaps even a film.

Color saturation should NOT be problem once the contrast/hue levels have been recalibrated, unless the svid cable is particularly long and prone to transmission loss. The resolution test will give an idea of transmission losses and noise pick up.

For your system, it's sounds very likely the difference is hard to notice.




[This message has been edited by BEC (edited April 28, 2000).]

DVD_O_Rama

As with anything, the larger the monitor, the easier it is to see the difference. Many dvds that look fine on a smaller display (like the 36" in question) will reveal more defects when viewed on a larger monitor.
The difference bewteen S-video and Component is very apparent on my 61" Toshiba, with sharper clarity, no smearing or bleeding, and less noise.

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mudkiller

hmm.. i'd have to agree with the others that i can tell the difference between the two and that the component connection looks better.

Lush

After living with component for over a year now, going back to S-video is obvious. Not that S-video is unwatchable (far from it), it just doesn't have the rich colors, or the detail. Composite video is almost unwatchable on a 50", even with DVD.

MadPervert

I have a 36" Toshiba and I could when viewing them back and forth I noticed that the component had better picture quality..

The difference wasn't huge, but I did notice slight bleeding with S-video..