S-Video or component cable? (1 Viewer)

[Mike_S]

Just wondering if I can get a little advice. A friend of mine has just purchased a 42" plasma set which is inexpensive by plasma standards. It's really an EDTV rather than a true HDTV set which is made by a company called Prima. Anyway, his DVD player (which he does not plan to replace in the foreseeable future) has 3 types of video out: Composite, S-Video and Component. Now I know composite is to be avoided. That leaves S-Video & component. In your opinion would there be any discernable difference between these two in final picture quality? In either case, is it safe to go with a "middle of the road" cable (price wise) rather than those more expensive Monster (or equivalent) cables? Any advice would be most appreciated. Thanks.

-Mike

 

[Leo Kerr]

If he has a component output and a component input, then by all means, use it!

Now, I'm not going to advocate any particular cable: as long as the cable is not adding any serious artifacts (reflections, noise, et cetera,) then I tend to advocate the 'whatever's lying around' school. Three composite cables that are the same length should be fine - if you've got them. There's nothing magical about component cables; they're just three pieces of same-length 75ohm coax.

At least, that's what they should be.

Leo

 

[Mike_S]

Thanks, Leo. Just to be clear, his DVD player has outputs for BOTH s-video and component. His new TV has inputs for both as well. It sounds from your answer that you feel Component is the better route to take rather than S-Video under these circumstances to get better picture quality. I just want to make sure of this before he purchases the cable. Thanks again.

-Mike

 

[John S]

yes.. Component video is a way step up, and how the video is encoded natively on the DVD itself.

 

[Mike_S]

Thanks, John and Leo. Component video it is!

-Mike

 

[Bob McElfresh]

By all means go component.

An ordinary TV will take a Composite signal and:

- Run it through a comb filter to create SVideo
- Run that through another filter to create Component

By using component cables, you are by-passing 2 filter steps in the television. Less filtering => less artifacts.

 

[Mike_S]

Thanks, Bob. I've got a much better understanding now, why to go the component route. Thanks, everyone for your advice.

-Mike

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Any decent radio shack or AR cable will be fine. If you want the very best, get a canare/belden type professional cable at a place like blue-jeans. You don't need to get anything better than this, and it's not that expensive really if you have a demanding system and need that level of pure performance.