S-video out vs composite out video card? (1 Viewer)

[Chris PC]

Here is what I am wondering. I am looking at a few very cheap video cards to use for testing right now. My main use will be for DVI testing, however, these cards also come with composite or S-video. If I get a card with composite output, IF I use it, the rca video putput will work with more TV's. If I got the S-video output, it should look better, but if I want to connect to an older TV without S-video, I would need an "adapter".

Do S-video to composite adapters actually work?

 

[Steve Berger]

I have a bunch of the adapters and they work pretty well especially on an older TV that might not be that sharp anyway. Many cards that have S-Video outputs come with their own adapters (some of which just connect pins that have composite video on then and don't actualy convert; those will have S-Video connectors with more than the standard 4 pins)

If you want to have even a slight hope of reading text on screen, you'll need S-Video. You probably won't find text legible on composite regardless of the method of connection.

Are you sure you haven't misread composite for component? Almost anything with S-Video should do composite but component would be a step up from S-Video and not as common.

 

[Chris PC]

Thanx for the info. Yeah, I know it is composite. The card came with an S-video to composite adapter. I wouldn't be surprised if the card actually changes output if you tell it you have S-video or composite connected. Oddly, the card is crashing my PC, so I am not sure what to do. Perhaps I should spring for a newer more up-to-date AGP card! lol