Out Of The Box

[Pleng]

Well, I can"t vouch for S-Video"s status outside the US. I was speaking strictly about US.

right, I live in UK and I know they sell different models in US. Still, even if a TV has only HDMI and SCART, one may still connect S-Video via simple (and cheap) SCART adapter. Wait, mine also has component (i.e. three jacks) input, I think this will work even better. Will see...


Just to clarify (not necessarily correcting you, but I've seen some confusion in this thread) Component 3 jacks is different to Composite three jacks.

Composite: 3 jacks, generally yellow, red and white.
The yellow carries the video signal, the red and white carry the audio.
This is the one found on most TVs across the budget spectrum.

Component: 3 jacks, generally red, green and blue.
This carries the video signal down three separate leads, one each for the red, green and blue signals. No audio is carried down this connector, so a separate pair of red and white connectors are usually found next to the component input for the audio signal

The Pandora tv-out cable relays an S-Video signal. You can easily convert this to a composite output, but not a component.

 

[Poem58]

That's the funny thing...I knew S-video existed...but dealing with them I never had any use for them...when I would instal a TV if it had one...no one had any devices with S-video..which is why I always assumed it was something that just didn't catch on...I know you guys don't believe me on this..but I'm 36 now..and have NEVER seen anything connected to a TV with S-video...

Although I do not doubt you, I just thought I would share my experiences on this topic as I have found myself frequently advocating S-Video over the last 10 years as I found it to be greatly underutilized and have "rewired" many an entertainment setup to improve quality. I personally have never seen a VCR with S-Video (although I know there were a few towards the end as DVD started coming on). But, I have also never seen a DVD player that did not have S-Video out, nor a Satellite or Digital Cable receiver. Nor have I ever seen a 19" or bigger TV made since the 2000s that did not have an S-Video jack. S-Video provides much better quality than composite with much less "noise" introduced by crosstalk particularly where extreme color/luminance difference exist in high-contrast pictures. This is why S-Video output is much better for computer graphics output than composite. Anywhere where you have high-contrast lines on a screen will be far sharper with S-Video. This is why I have "rewired" many a setup to use S-Video because unfortunately many people just do not know it can be any better than the plain old composite which looks good enough to them. And, this is why I think S-Video out is perfect for the Pandora short of a digital output that would have increased cost and possibly size.


I liked the concept of S-video it is MUCH better from what I have read...just never have seen anyone using it...and you are welcome to come to my house and see for yourself...none of my old broken DVD players nor any of my 4 televisions Most of which (if not all) are less than 10 years old and Not a one, TV, or DVD have an S-video jack I have had about 4 DVD players since the late 90's none of which had one nor anyo f the ones I have picked up (used)....I'm wondering if it's regional, or what exactly the deal is...maybe it is based on whether you are talking higher end electronics vs. the cheap stuffMy last TV I bought from Best Buy 2 years ago..it had component and composite (Component on a 27" SD Tube TV which is weird but those were the only two connectors)....why some people have tons of S-video equipment and others none....maybe it's just us backwoods Ohio folk...we too po to need S-video....lol

Anyway, all we need to know is what that cable is really, then it doesn't really matter anymore cause the solution was given if it's S-video only...I just wanted to know how to make it work....or if it would for me...and that's covered now...which is good....thanks everyone....maybe I'll just hold off and make my own so i can make an Audio in cable as well..lol

 

[MDave]

S-Video looks just as good and sharp as interlaced component on my TV

 

[WizardStan]

The Pandora tv-out cable relays an S-Video signal. You can easily convert this to a composite output, but not a component.

I'm working on changing that. Unfortunately, the conversion from svideo to component isn't passive like it is from svideo to composite, so it needs a power source.

 

[Bronek]

Well, I can"t vouch for S-Video"s status outside the US. I was speaking strictly about US.

right, I live in UK and I know they sell different models in US. Still, even if a TV has only HDMI and SCART, one may still connect S-Video via simple (and cheap) SCART adapter. Wait, mine also has component (i.e. three jacks) input, I think this will work even better. Will see...

Component: 3 jacks, generally red, green and blue.
This carries the video signal down three separate leads, one each for the red, green and blue signals. No audio is carried down this connector, so a separate pair of red and white connectors are usually found next to the component input for the audio signal

yeah, that"s the one I have in mind.

The Pandora tv-out cable relays an S-Video signal. You can easily convert this to a composite output, but not a component.

I have such an adapter, it looks very much like this cable CODE
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320159407930

It does require 7-pin S-Video though, but I think such output is standard for laptops etc. CODE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-Video#7_pin_mini-DIN

Well, if I cannot use it, I will just revert to SCART adapter :rolleyes:

I have also found similar adapter branded by Infocus, but I think it works in the opposite direction (signal conversion from RCA to S-Video) thus is not very useful.

 

[WizardStan]

The laptop adapters are special. It doesn't actually alter anything, but relies on the laptop to use the extra pins to output the extra information already. The "adapter" just takes those extra pins and wires them to the right plugs.

 

[Bronek]

The laptop adapters are special. It doesn't actually alter anything, but relies on the laptop to use the extra pins to output the extra information already. The "adapter" just takes those extra pins and wires them to the right plugs.

yeah, I was wondering whether TV cable for Pandora would provide these extra signals.

 

[Chip]

yeah, I was wondering whether TV cable for Pandora would provide these extra signals.
No. It is a standard S-video signal.

 

[Pleng]

The Pandora tv-out cable relays an S-Video signal. You can easily convert this to a composite output, but not a component.

I'm working on changing that. Unfortunately, the conversion from svideo to component isn't passive like it is from svideo to composite, so it needs a power source.

Interesting. Regardless, you're not going to be able to *increase* the display quality with an S-Video to component adapter. It'll only be useful for connection to devices that have a component input, but not an s-video. Not sure if there are many devices like that.

 

[lulzfish]

If S-video -> composite is easy, then you'd only need S-Video -> component when there's no S-video and no composite.

At least in my experience, most TVs have a composite in these days.

 

[Monk]

Exept that, like S-Video, component should be higher quality than composite.

 

[WizardStan]

Interesting. Regardless, you're not going to be able to *increase* the display quality with an S-Video to component adapter. It'll only be useful for connection to devices that have a component input, but not an s-video. Not sure if there are many devices like that.
Svideo -> composite reduces quality. While Svideo -> component won't increase quality, it at least doesn't lose any.