RCA / S-Video / Coaxial - WHICH IS THE BEST?

[Lanham]

Just wondering if anyone knows which cord/plug gives the best quality
picture...

cheers,
Perry.

 

[Russ]

Just wondering if anyone knows which cord/plug gives the best quality
picture...

An S-Video will beat one RCA, but will lose against 3 RCAs. Not sure what
you mean by coaxial, kind of the same thing as RCA.

Russ.

 

[David L. Jones]

Just wondering if anyone knows which cord/plug gives the best quality
picture...

cheers,
Perry.

By Coaxial I assume you mean RGB, one coax for each colour?

Technically:
RGB = best
S-Video = better
RCA = worst

Supposedly there is a "big" difference when you step from RCA to
s-video, and then not as much difference when you go from s-video to
RGB

But I'm blowed if I can notice the difference between RCA and s-video
on my system. Guess I need the $30 gold plated oxygen free copper
s-video lead instead of the $3 lead I got from Jaycar? - yeah right.
Your mileage will vary with the system components you have.

I posted on this some time back.

Regards
Dave

 

[Angelo Sartore]

But I'm blowed if I can notice the difference between RCA and s-video

on my system. Guess I need the $30 gold plated oxygen free copper
s-video lead instead of the $3 lead I got from Jaycar? - yeah right.
Your mileage will vary with the system components you have.

I would like to know if there is any REAL advantange to using the,
so-called, 'oxygen free copper' cable for AV interconnection. I ask this
because a large proportion of us watch DVD & videos & listen to music in a
less than perfect enviroment. There's usually too much ambient light to
watch movies or whatever & urban noises of either subliminal or obvious
levels to cloud the 'perfect' listening experience we are hoping for. If
this is the average scenario for most of us is it worth the money spent on
the cables? Let's face it, some of the prices the stores are asking for
these cables is quite high. I can't help thinking it's all a bit of a con.
If we were to be in a recording studio control room, where the room is
purpose built for the task of recording and listening to sound & music, then
I suppose the quality cabling would be important. Similarly in a video
duplication facility - cables are all important.
Has anyone done comparisons or have an objective view as to the advantages
of the so- called 'oxygen free copper' cables?
Do the AV professionals use such cables or simply make sure they keep their
cables well maintained?

Angelo Sartore

Melbourne
AUSTRALIA

ADOPT, ADAPT, INVENT, DESTROY !

 

[Phil Allison]

I would like to know if there is any REAL advantange to using the,
so-called, 'oxygen free copper' cable for AV interconnection.

** No.


............. Phil

 

[Russ]

Has anyone done comparisons or have an objective view as to the advantages
of the so- called 'oxygen free copper' cables?
Do the AV professionals use such cables or simply make sure they keep their
cables well maintained?

All the pro installations I've seen and done use standard audio and video
cable from Canare, Belden or Klotz. No-one wonders or cares whether they are
OFC or not (I'm pretty sure the standard cables are not OFC). A lot of the
key interconnections these days are digital over copper or optical, but
there is still plenty of analogue cabling - the most common audio cable used
in studios is thin, grey "install" cable, and bog standard RG59 for video.

The difference is that the connections tend to be a lot more robust (read:
heatshrink and cable ties), and for video at least, one does tech checks for
attenuation, response and reflections (due to impedance mismatches).
Furthermore, any video cabling issues are usually quite visible to trained
eyes, and are a lot less subjective than audio.

Russ.

 

[David L. Jones]

You can see the difference if you look carefully, mainly in the saturation
or purity of colours, however the difference is no where near as marked
compared to composite, where you get artefacting in the form of dot-crawl on
high-frequency edges.

As I detailed in a previous post some time ago, I saw no real
difference between s-video and RCA using a fairly new and expensive LG
TV and LG DVD player.
I tried really hard to notice differences in both still shots and
moving video in a range of lighting conditions. I think that perhaps I
perceived a minor difference (no better, no worse, just "slightly
different"), but I don't know if that was just wishful thinking. There
was certainly no "wow, look at that" difference, or anything remotely
like it.

I suspect that the quality of RCA and s-video circuits vary widely
between different brand and models of TV's and DVD players. I can
imagine cases where a combination of high quality composite RCA
circuits would give a better quality signal than s-video, and
vice-versa.

Regards
Dave

 

[Russ]

As I detailed in a previous post some time ago, I saw no real
difference between s-video and RCA using a fairly new and expensive LG
TV and LG DVD player.
I tried really hard to notice differences in both still shots and
moving video in a range of lighting conditions. I think that perhaps I
perceived a minor difference (no better, no worse, just "slightly
different"), but I don't know if that was just wishful thinking. There
was certainly no "wow, look at that" difference, or anything remotely
like it.

I suspect that the quality of RCA and s-video circuits vary widely
between different brand and models of TV's and DVD players. I can
imagine cases where a combination of high quality composite RCA
circuits would give a better quality signal than s-video, and
vice-versa.

Hang on, when you say "RCA" do you mean the single-RCA composite output, or
the 3-RCA component output? RCA is just the name of the connector, it
doesn't define the video format, so it's unclear what you are comparing.

Between composite (single socket) and S-Video you should see a big
difference. If you're not I'd suggest there is something wrong somewhere in
the signal chain.

Russ.

 

[David L. Jones]

Hang on, when you say "RCA" do you mean the single-RCA composite output, or
the 3-RCA component output? RCA is just the name of the connector, it
doesn't define the video format, so it's unclear what you are comparing.

I mean composite.
Was trying to keep it simple as that is what the orginal poster called
it.

Between composite (single socket) and S-Video you should see a big
difference. If you're not I'd suggest there is something wrong somewhere in
the signal chain.

As stated, I did not see any difference between s-video and composite
on my system.
Guess I must either have good composite circuitry, crap s-video
circuitry, or I need my eyes checked. I tried really hard to see the
difference and I could not find any. You get that.
Looks like not everyone can expect the dramatic improvement which
seems to be the general consensus.

Dave

 

[Phil Allison]

As stated, I did not see any difference between s-video and composite
on my system.

** That is weird - what DVD discs were you using ??

S- video has a major improvement in colour resolution over
composite.



............ Phil

 

[Joel de Guzman]

As stated, I did not see any difference between s-video
and composite
on my system.
Guess I must either have good composite circuitry, crap
s-video
circuitry, or I need my eyes checked. I tried really hard
to see the
difference and I could not find any. You get that.
Looks like not everyone can expect the dramatic
improvement which
seems to be the general consensus.

Same here. I don't notice any improvement at all. I use
gold-plated s-vid and RCA, I connect it to Video1 and
Video2 of my TV. I switch back and forth and notice no
difference.

Perhaps my eyes should be checked as well. Sigh!

 

[Russ]

Same here. I don't notice any improvement at all. I use
gold-plated s-vid and RCA, I connect it to Video1 and
Video2 of my TV. I switch back and forth and notice no
difference.

Perhaps my eyes should be checked as well. Sigh!

OK, I'm probably a bit more sensitive to the differences as I've worked as a
broadcast designer and video tech, so I know what to look for. Firstly, you
will never see any difference on analogue broadcast television as it is
inherently composite. You will only see a difference if your source is DVD
and possibly a Digital TV set top box, although that's not guaranteed.
Secondly, you will see the most obvious differences at high-frequency edges,
such as the edge of text. Composite has a lot more colour smearing between
edges, and often has problems with broad areas of colour.

This page has an example:
http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Articles/VideoArtefacts/VideoArtefactsDotCrawl.
html

This one has more words and another example:
http://atarilabs.com/meat/2000/1201_videoprimer.shtml

But I admit, the majority of technical issues I see in a picture tend to be
more or less irrelevant to the average viewer. But there is a definite
difference, S-Video giving you a sharper, cleaner and more colourful picture
from your DVDs.

Russ.

 

[David L. Jones]

** That is weird - what DVD discs were you using ??

S- video has a major improvement in colour resolution over
composite.

One of the DVD's was part of the Back to the Future trilogy, a highly
regarded DVD in terms on video quality I am led to believe.
Don't remeber what the other dics were, but they were new release
rentals.

Dave

 

[David L. Jones]

OK, I'm probably a bit more sensitive to the differences as I've worked as a
broadcast designer and video tech, so I know what to look for. Firstly, you
will never see any difference on analogue broadcast television as it is
inherently composite. You will only see a difference if your source is DVD
and possibly a Digital TV set top box, although that's not guaranteed.
Secondly, you will see the most obvious differences at high-frequency edges,
such as the edge of text. Composite has a lot more colour smearing between
edges, and often has problems with broad areas of colour.

This page has an example:
http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Articles/VideoArtefacts/VideoArtefactsDotCrawl.
html

Yep, I read that exact page before I tried my test. Still couldn't see
that problem, or a difference.

But I admit, the majority of technical issues I see in a picture tend to be
more or less irrelevant to the average viewer. But there is a definite
difference, S-Video giving you a sharper, cleaner and more colourful picture
from your DVDs.

I use my s-video lead anyway, and am happy with the warm fuzzy feeling
knowing that it should be much better. Gotta get my 3 bucks worth
anyway :->

Dave

 

[conbo]

I would like to know if there is any REAL advantange to using the,
so-called, 'oxygen free copper' cable for AV interconnection.

Use oxygen-free copper to prevent corrosion and maximize conductivity.
taken from the Monster cable web site.

 

[Phil Allison]

Use oxygen-free copper to prevent corrosion

** Tin plating does that best.



and maximize conductivity.

taken from the Monster cable web site.

** Not even an issue.



............. Phil