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Topic:
define composite, s-video-and component
This thread has 42 replies. Displaying posts 1 through 15.
Post 1 made on Saturday January 6, 2001 at 00:36
mason hatcher
Historic Forum Post
Another dumb question, but when I read these I want to be sure what is what.

I know s-video because it has a special connector.

Is Composite the RF, or coaxial cable such as RG59, RG6, etc?

Is Component the 3 different plugs of RCA type, all 3 necessary for a picture?

What do you call the single video connector that uses a RCA type connector?

Thanks again!!

OP | Post 2 made on Saturday January 6, 2001 at 00:54
Bryan Acevedo
Historic Forum Post
Composite is the RCA plug (usually a yellow color).

S-Video - "the funny connector" - It splits out the video signal differently - I used to know how - but can't remember now.

Component - 3 different RCA cables - splits the video out one step further than S-Video - and yes - you need all 3 for it to work correctly.

The difference between the S-Video and component video I believe is this:
S-Video splits out the color information seperately, where component also splits out the luminance and chromonance (sp?). It is supposed to have better color, etc. I think I read somewhere that it is like taking a black and white photo, and the color information for that photo seperately, and rebuilding the picture.

I personally always use S-Video (video switching convenience) as I really don't find the difference enough to worry about.

Bryan
OP | Post 3 made on Saturday January 6, 2001 at 01:13
mason hatcher
Historic Forum Post
Bryan,

Thanks for the quick reply! So the RF they just call RF?

Again, thanks.

Oh, and will standard RCA cables while using a digital input provide an acceptable picture, or, as in digital sound, should special Coaxial RCA type connectors be used?

OP | Post 4 made on Wednesday January 17, 2001 at 19:22
IRONMAN
Historic Forum Post
With a high quality source, such as DSS or DVD, you will definitely notice a difference with S-Video. Mason is correct, S-Video splits the video signal into a black and white component (luminance) and a color signal (chrominance). This prevents something called "dot crawl". If you do a direct A to B comparison, there is a noticable difference.
Component video splits the signal into three color components, similiar to (but not the same standard as) what you see with computer monitors. Component is considered to be the best.
The digital input on your receiver is for sound only, and you need a special coax digital cable for that. It is about half the price of a optical digital (toslink) cable.
OP | Post 5 made on Wednesday January 17, 2001 at 20:39
mason hatcher
Historic Forum Post
Ironman,

Thanks for the response....I understand about the digital input on the receiver.

What I meant to ask was, The Componant video in uses an RCA type of connector, right? Does this require a higher end more exotic cable for the best picture.

Again, thanks
OP | Post 6 made on Thursday January 18, 2001 at 08:37
pandy
Historic Forum Post
Use RG59 for the video and digital audio. There is no such thing as 'digital coax'.

S-video = Y/C = Luma/Chroma
Component = Y/R-Y/B-Y = Luma/colour difference red/colour difference blue
OP | Post 7 made on Saturday January 20, 2001 at 15:34
mason hatcher
Historic Forum Post
RG59? I thought that was "cable tv" type coax.

OP | Post 8 made on Wednesday January 24, 2001 at 06:46
robb
Historic Forum Post
RG means radio grade, meaning the cable has a wide frequency response. If CATV cable can handle 900 MHz, it can surely handle video with a bandwidth of 4.2MHz.
OP | Post 9 made on Thursday January 25, 2001 at 01:32
mason hatcher
Historic Forum Post
Now I am really confused...I should use RG59 to connect my video output devices, (dish receiver, DVD, etc.) component outputs to my component video inputs of my TV???????

From where do I get the connectors? Or have I really missed something here????????????

OP | Post 10 made on Thursday January 25, 2001 at 11:34
Scott L.
Historic Forum Post
Hi Mason,

Here it is in English (literally and hopefully figuratively) without the technical jargon.

There are four basic ways to deliver video in your home theater, and in order of quality they are:

- Coax cable with F connectors (video and audio)
- Composite video
- S-video
- Component video

Each requires it's own cable/connector combination.

- Coax cable with F connectors (video and audio):

RG59 is a type of coax cable with no connectors on the end. This is the cable that brings your cable signal and/or satelite signal into your house. F connectors are crimped on to coax in this usage. F connectors are those that screw on to the terminal on the back of a TV, cable box, satelite receiver or VCR. The signal traveling over this usage of the coax is called RF, and it contains both video and audio. It is through this technology that most of the viewing public gets its TV: The coax cable comes out of the wall, screws into the back of the VCR; another coax cable then leaves the VCR and screws into the back of the TV. Simple, but not the highest quality.

- Composite Video:

A composite video cable is a special cable you buy with RCA connectors on each end to route video-only from one device to another. These cables are often color-coded as gold. They look like audio cables, but have better shielding. You buy this cable with connectors already attached.

- S-Video:

S-video offers better picture quality than composite because it uses the "funny" connector on a shielded cable to separate the different parts of the video signal. You buy this cable with connectors already attached.

- Component Video:

Component Video is an even higher quality signal, and separates the signal into three parts. A component cable is actually three cables, each of which has RCA connectors on the end. You buy a set of component cables with RCA connectors already attached. You could simulate a component connection by using three composite cables, but don't. Component cables are of significantly better quality than composite cables and should be used instead of composite, even though composite cables will physically fit.

Composite, S-video and Component cables do NOT use coax cable; they use varying grades of video cable, which is a different animal. Do not use coax with RCA connectors as a video cable; buy the appropriate cable as described above.

If you take a length of RG59 coax cable and add RCA connectors to the end, you now have a digital audio cable. This is used for digital audio ONLY from your DVD to your receiver.

I realize that this explanation will not be technical enough for some, but hopefully it is a good place to start.

Regards,

Scott
OP | Post 11 made on Thursday January 25, 2001 at 12:29
Scott L.
Historic Forum Post
Hi Mason,

Part II: How To Hook This Mess Up.

Use coax cable as little as possible, just enough to get a signal to your components. All other video connections should use the best available video connection. For example, here's a simplified version of what my setup looks like. I use my preamp as a switcher/selector for both video and audio.

I have the AT&T Digital Cable service, but this will be similar for satelite. The coax comes out of the wall, is split, and goes to the digiital cable box and to the VCR, using the requisite F connectors.

An s-video cable (and R/L audio cables) runs from the cable box to the preamp.

An s-video cable (and R/L audio cables) runs from the vcr to the preamp.

An s-video cable (and R/L audio cables) runs from the DVD to the preamp.

An s-video cable runs from the preamp to the TV video input number one.

With everything using the same type of video connection, things are simple, and the preamp can easily input/output and switch signals.

To take advantage of the component output from the DVD, you would run component video cables (and audit cables) from the DVD to the receiver/preamp. You would also then need component cables running from the receiver to the TV. You may run into issues when switching between different sources using different types of video inputs, but this is receiver/preamp independent. This topic has been covered many times before on RemoteCentral, so I won't do it again here.

Other folks instead run the component cables directly from the DVD to the component-in on the TV. (The DVD audio cables still go to the receiver.) This will in theory give you better video signal quality due to having less connections (by not going to the receiver first), but the difference is usually negligible.

If you do this, you now have a switching issue: Your VCR and cable box are fed through the receiver to the TV on video one, and your DVD goes straight to the TV on video two. You'll need to switch the receiver to the DVD input to get the sound through your speakers, and switch the TV input to video two to get the video from the DVD. It's little nuances like this that keep people coming back to RemoteCentral looking for the "perfect" universal remote control.

Cheers,

Scott

OP | Post 12 made on Thursday January 25, 2001 at 13:45
robb
Historic Forum Post
"Composite, S-video and Component cables do NOT use coax cable; they use varying grades of video cable, which is a different animal"

Sorry, there is some misinformation here, all video signals use coax cable. Svideo cable is just 2 mini coax cables in a common jacket.
Video cable is coax, just like RG59, RG6, RG11, belden 8281 etc...
The only analog video that doesn't use coax is balanced video, it uses Twinax.
OP | Post 13 made on Thursday January 25, 2001 at 13:52
Quasimodo
Historic Forum Post
Geez, don't use RG59. It has only a partial shield and picks up all kinds of crap in the air. Use RG6 (fully shielded) or RG6Q (double shielded) for any HT application.
OP | Post 14 made on Thursday January 25, 2001 at 13:56
robb
Historic Forum Post
...the point is, use COAX for video signals...
OP | Post 15 made on Thursday January 25, 2001 at 15:14
Scott L.
Historic Forum Post
Quasimodo,

Yup, I got it backwards: RG6 is the good stuff, RG59 is economy grade.

Robb,

My reference to coax vs other video cables was meant for simplicity, which is what, imho, I thought was needed to help answer the question. In my experience most people use the term "coax" in the home theater world in reference to RG6 or RG59, not in reference to video interconnect cables, even though they are all technically a version of a coaxial cable.

Scott
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