DIY S-Video Cable (1 Viewer)

[Kendal Kirk]

I need about a 25 ft run of S-Video cable. I am not real hot on using a 2 12ft with a connector. Rat Shack has 30 ft spools of S-cable and gold connectors that I can build for $30. Has anyone used this cable or built a custom S-Video cable?

 

[Grant B]

they can be a real pain to build;these guys sell them up to 75ft
http://www.hometech.com/video/svideo.html
------------------
"My, my, so many guns much anthrax-esque white powder around town these days, and so few brains." Humphrey Bogart

 

[Selden Ball]

You might consider getting s-video-to-bnc adaptors and using high quality RG-6 cables. I've always been dubious about long runs of the usual skinny s-video cables (although 25ft isn't all that long).
------------------
Selden

 

[joe goswami]

Remember the 5-Pin Din connectors that were so popular on European audio equipment years ago. Remember soldering up adapters to fit our North American RCA connectors. Remember how much of a bitch that was? I wouldn't even try making my own S-Video.
Take Care

 

[Peter Jessee]

Give Markertek a call. They supply cables and equipment to TV stations, video production studios, etc. They have S-video cables in stock up to 100', or will custom make one for you. They use the best components (Beldon and Canare wire, Nuetrick connectors) and charge reasonable prices.
Check out http://www.markertek.com/ for more details.
Peter

 

[DaViD Boulet]

If price *and* quality are your goal,

do what Selden suggests.

Get a "break out" adaptor...which will have an S-connector on one end and split the signal into two wires that each connect to an RG-6 cable (standard 75 ohm cable). Run this pair of (affordabel) RG-6 as many feet as you need. At the other end, use the same break-out cable to combine the 2 runs of RG-6 back into a single S-Video connection for your gear.

MIT makes an ($90) pair of break-outs. I think Monstor has one much cheaper that should be just as good.

By turning your standard S cable into two separate (luminance and chrominance) runs of RG-6, you can literally run the cable for miles with very little loss of image quality.

ask around at avs forum (avscience.com) as well.

-dave

 

[Charles Wan]

See the following for a DIY recipe:
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/cab...ges/29093.html
P.S. www.audioasylum.com is a really good site
for DIYs as well as general audio stuff.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Charles,

couldn't access the recipie from that link...just two posts talking about it. When I copied the html link that promised to reveal the instructions...I got this yahoo "access denied" thing. Any suggestions?

-dave

 

[Charles Wan]

The web page address is out of date.
The file has been moved around.
However, that site is a yahoo discussion group.
Anybody can join that group, but you have
to register yourself. Go to groups.yahoo.com for
registration information.
The name of the group is sonyhs10.
Once you have joined that group,
try the following:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sonyhs...eo%20Cable.htm

 

[Kendal Kirk]

I built these over the weekend. I have not used them yet but will tonight. I will give you an update on them tomorrow.

 

[Kendal Kirk]

Well, I tested them last night with a new projector and I can say that I am surprised at the quality this $30 cable project provided. I A/B them against my Monster Ultimate Videophile Silver Video™ S-Video ($200 cable) and I could not tell any difference.

I was a bit concerned about the shielding on the Radio Shack cable. There was absolutely no 'noise' present! I will ultimately shorten my cable run to 20 feet when install the projector in its ultimate home.

All in all, if you can do some 'micro' souldering, this is a great way to run a non-standard length of S-video cable.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Ugh...I'm *still* having trouble getting those instructions...I signed up for the yahoo group and everything...but I get denied access :frowning:
Kendal, would you mind posting the instructions here or emailing them to me? I'd really love to make these myself...especially after reading your review!

 

[Kendal Kirk]

David:

I was referring to the Radio Shack cables that I started the thread asking about. I didn't introduce the yahoo information so I can't comment.

The Radio Shack cable construction is self explanitory, it is on the back of the connector box. I do believe that thay have the orientation of the wires inverted on the packaging (shield post actually is the signal post). I am going to test that this evening.

 

[Grant B]

The RS connectors are the best (i.e. easiest) to soldier up.

I bought some others which might be higher quality but are impossible

 

[Ray Cendroski]

I tried making my own, and it was a waste of time and money. You can shop around and get some pretty well made cables at a reasonable price. I was trying to make some short cables (say 1 foot) to go between vcr's and a receiver. They have never worked well.
I see in the new MCM Electronics catalog that they have some nice s-video wall plates that let you convert to two rca, or f type connectors, or just plain screw terminals.
See following link and click on part number to see picture:
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/Search...chform.jhtm l
Ray

 

[Shoichi]

I have 3 45' runs of RG6 going to my projector room that are terminated with RCA connectors at each end. I want to use two of them for S-video. This weekend I'm going to try my hand at making a DIY S-Video to RCA breakout cable.

I have an extra 3' monster S-video cable that I'm going to cut in half. After separating the inner cables, I'm going to solder each pair to gold-plated RCA connectors (female). (using the pinout specs from the Yahoo group above)

I plan on working on it this weekend - seems easy enough, or am I missing something?

 

[Shoichi]

Well I found the time to make the S-video breakouts yesterday and they work great - the picture is much better than it was with my old s-video cable. Here's what I did:

I cut an S-video cable in half, stripped a few inches of the cover off and peeled back the shielding and foil. Inside were two coax cables. I stripped an inch or two off each one and soldered the outside wires to the outside of the RCA plug and soldered the inside to the inside of the RCA plug. End result is a cable with Svideo on one end and 2 RCA's on the other. It was a lot cheaper and quicker than buying S-video breakouts online. Didn't have to mess with soldering inside the S-video connector either.

 

[Jeff D]

For those of you that cut s-video cables, what cables do you cut, they have to be good cables, no?

I'm heading out to ratshack to see if I can find (damn they may have just closed) the svideo cable. I've seen the connectors before, but never the cable. Anyone have a part #?

 

[Ted Kim]

For DIY, I would recommend the Belden 7700 as S-video cable -- which should be much better than the radioshack stuff. Belden is available from anixter.com
Connectors could be from partsexpress.com
or ones from a-z.
http://www.a2zcables.com/a2zcables.f.../catalogs/1235
I myself have the cable but still need to order the connectors. I have a ton of projects on the agenda and haven't had time to do them all.

 

[Jeff D]

The 7700 doesn't seem like a good fit with the connectors, unless it's wrapped in a outter jacket at in 5,7 or 8mm.