Tv-out Questions

[S-r-ex]

But as I can understand, we'll only have composite and s-video? That means I'll have to wad up a bit more for a VGA adapter?

 

[Vorporeal]

You'd need a USB->VGA adapter. There's been much discussion as to whether these will work at any adequate level, and we don't really know if they'll be feasible until we have Pandoras in our hands and actually try it out. USB bandwidth issues restrict the usefulness of a USB->VGA adapter to an extent.

 

[plupp]

There is no official VGA adapter.

There are some products out there that claim to do it.

They cost a few hundred dollars though, about as much as a pandora that is.

I have not managed to find a usb powered s-video to vga adapter that is available for purchase (still at s-video resuolution but on vga cable).

There was a thread about this topic a long time ago but no available for purchase product did surface at that time.

Hopefully the pandora guys i.e. craig ED or the rest will test such products (if/when available) and make an official stamp of approval.

 

[worzyl]

Buying a Scart adapter should give some nice results.

 

[bzar]

Man, people take me so seriously sometimes.

It's the guru status.

Ontopic: The A/V cable sounds very nice. I'll have to reconsider adding it to my order

 

[Qwertyuiop]

There is no official VGA adapter.

There are some products out there that claim to do it.

They cost a few hundred dollars though, about as much as a pandora that is.

I have not managed to find a usb powered s-video to vga adapter that is available for purchase (still at s-video resuolution but on vga cable).

Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but this product converts s-video / composite to vga, and it costs around 60 bucks. It's not usb powered, though.

 

[Pleng]

Buying a Scart adapter should give some nice results.

If your TV has SCART but no S-Video then yes, a S-Video->Scart Adapter could theoretically give a better result than a S-Video->Composite Adapter.

It won't give any better a picture than plugging straight into an S-Video socket though.

 

[worzyl]

Buying a Scart adapter should give some nice results.

If your TV has SCART but no S-Video then yes, a S-Video->Scart Adapter could theoretically give a better result than a S-Video->Composite Adapter.

It won't give any better a picture than plugging straight into an S-Video socket though.

Aaahhh...that's strange? I'm quite sure it does produce a better picture. My Sega Saturn when used with the S-Video is not as sharp as the Scart. (or did I misread your info..?)

 

[Asmo]

Aaahhh...that's strange? I'm quite sure it does produce a better picture. My Sega Saturn when used with the S-Video is not as sharp as the Scart. (or did I misread your info..?)

S-Video over Scart would be no different - it must have been RGB that the Saturn cable provided, which would have looked a lot better! Most consoles of that period had Scart RGB cables.

 

[worzyl]

Aaahhh...that's strange? I'm quite sure it does produce a better picture. My Sega Saturn when used with the S-Video is not as sharp as the Scart. (or did I misread your info..?)

S-Video over Scart would be no different - it must have been RGB that the Saturn cable provided, which would have looked a lot better! Most consoles of that period had Scart RGB cables.

Yes your right! It was a Scart RGB cable

 

[rabidpoobear]

S-Video has the same dot crawl, it is still interlaced and low resolution.

Oh, that's a bit disappointing. I was of the impression that S-Video didn't have dot-crawl as badly as composite does (much as RGB SCART doesn't have it at all)...

No, s-video doesn't have dot crawl. I'm not sure what nubie was talking about. S-video is way better than composite.

 

[Asmo]

No, s-video doesn't have dot crawl. I'm not sure what nubie was talking about. S-video is way better than composite.

Chroma noise? It can be pretty similar, depending on the source, or if you are mistakenly using a composite to S-Video adapter instead of 'proper' S-Video

 

[rabidpoobear]

No, s-video doesn't have dot crawl. I'm not sure what nubie was talking about. S-video is way better than composite.

Chroma noise? It can be pretty similar, depending on the source, or if you are mistakenly using a composite to S-Video adapter instead of 'proper' S-Video

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by chroma noise. Isn't dot crawl just luminance and chrominance interfering with each other since they're combined on the same cable in Composite? so s-video should not have interference of luma in the chroma or the other way around. I know that when I run my DVD player or my Wii to a CRT TV with s-video all the dot crawl goes away.

 

[arrrgh]

If a program on the Pandora switches to 640x480, will it display correctly on a 4:3 TV without letterboxing?

 

[Asmo]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by chroma noise. Isn't dot crawl just luminance and chrominance interfering with each other since they're combined on the same cable in Composite? so s-video should not have interference of luma in the chroma or the other way around. I know that when I run my DVD player or my Wii to a CRT TV with s-video all the dot crawl goes away.

Ah yes, true, though with older sources like VCRs with their analogue elements, particularly in red or blue areas there was often a shimmering speckled pattern if you looked for it. I have a couple of early gen DVD players that still exhibit it over S-Video, maybe corners being cut internally

 

[Prometheus]

No, s-video doesn't have dot crawl. I'm not sure what nubie was talking about. S-video is way better than composite.

I thought as much. Thanks very much for clarifying that.

 

[rabidpoobear]

If a program on the Pandora switches to 640x480, will it display correctly on a 4:3 TV without letterboxing?

Let me just test this on my Pandora and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

 

[SirAileron]

Just to clarify - so the cables have audio in, but no video in (but has a/v out)? That's a curious setup for a cable, I'd think.

 

[WizardStan]

Just to clarify - so the cables have audio in, but no video in (but has a/v out)? That's a curious setup for a cable, I'd think.

That's correct. Adding video in would have required a lot of additional hardware; audio in already exists on the SoC, so it was basically free.
Why do you say it's a curious setup? Seems pretty good to me.

 

[SirAileron]

I wondered because if it could receive audio input, I thought the port would be capable of video-in as well.

... not that I'm complaining. I just wanted a/v out anyway.