S-Video to Component (or HDMI) cable

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Dkeeper

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Topic # 94587 14-Dec-2011 12:37

Hi:

Is there a cable for going from S-Video to Component or HDMI which keeps the video signal at a higher quality than a Composite cable. (hope I have that question correct?)

I have an older home theatre system with 2 LD players, 2 DVD players, 1 VHS player and a Pioneer Amp. All these units have Composite and S-Video out, the Amp has both in and out in the same.
My "B" series 32" Samsung LED TV has no S-Video "in" (just Component, Composite and HDMI)
and I do not want to drop the video signal quality back down from S-Video to Composite.
So I was hoping there may be such an item as an S-Video to Component cable or S-Video to HDMI cable which might allow me to view a better picture than my Composite alternative.

Thank you in advance for any help/suggestions made.

DK

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Reply # 557856 14-Dec-2011 13:03

To be honest, they are all SD inputs and most modern TV's don't do a great job of displaying these.

Recommendations are:
Replace your SD sources with HD ones.
Purchase a new receiver that can upscale to HDMI from SD sources.

Dkeeper

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Reply # 557862 14-Dec-2011 13:13

These Lazer Disc Players are no longer sold, so to upgrade them is a no-go.
The units are (in there time) about $6,000 to $8,000 in value and all I am looking to do is use the better s-Video signal output. A cable to maintain even a 25% better signal than Composite would do fine, if it exists..

Regs

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Reply # 557874 14-Dec-2011 13:31

you will need a converter unit, not a cable.

do any of them have RGB scart outputs? you can also get RGB to component converters which give you better signal than s-video

other option is to replace pioneer amp with something that take s-video and hdmi inputs, and outputs t(with scaling) to HDMI. (although not that many current models probably have that combo now as svideo is disappearing)

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Regs

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Reply # 557880 14-Dec-2011 13:35

upscaling converter box at jaycar kinda expensive: http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=AC1627

harvey normans used to sell a unit, i forget name, that did SD to component upscaling and had several inputs. it also wasnt cheap from memory.

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Dkeeper

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Reply # 557887 14-Dec-2011 13:59

Thank you for that info Regs..

The Jaycar unit might be a resonable solution. It does have a lot of lights and features on it which leads to the possibility of maybe a simpler lower cost solution of similar might be out there.

Do you think it might give "as good" or "better than" picture quality to the s-video out on the home theatre amp?
The reason for the amp is that i have no less than 5-6 devices playing through the amp to the "one" TV input. Also by going directly through the amp I have the sound in sync with the picture (i think..)

As for the SCART connection, well the amp does not have one, (nor do most of the devices) so to consolidate the inputs of so many devices, the best video format seemed to be the s-video. I know when I take an old laser disc video with even a number of artifacts in the picture quality, it still looks better playing from the S-Video over the Composite. Even though the improved picture quality may only be a small percentage, it still seems a better choice.

Regs

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Reply # 557892 14-Dec-2011 14:12

this is probably your best solution, if you can still get one (or something like it):

http://www.intl.onkyo.com/products/av_components/av_receivers/tx-sr606/index.html

"the TX-SR606 will upscale to 1080i all analog video signals?from component video, S-Video, and composite video inputs?for output via HDMI?. "

the Onkyo units use the faroujda dcdi upscaling routing which arguably gives you a better SD picture output on an HD screen.

The units that harvey norman used to sell were the farouda dcdi scalers, but their tech is built into a lot of devices these days.

you might be able to pick something up on trademe/ebay for cheap....

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Jaxson

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Reply # 557898 14-Dec-2011 14:29

Dkeeper: These Lazer Disc Players are no longer sold, so to upgrade them is a no-go.

With full respect, the upgrade is called a bluray player.

Dkeeper: The units are (in there time) about $6,000 to $8,000 in value

The good news then is that Bluray players cost significantly less.

As I mentioned before, you may well not notice much of an improvement given on modern TV's there does not appear to be much focus towards making SD inputs look good.

Dkeeper

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Reply # 557905 14-Dec-2011 14:39

The LD disc's (about 2,000 of them) that I am speaking of are not the size of a CD, but that of the size of an old record or LP and hehe, will not fit into a bluray player.

Jaxson

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Reply # 557924 14-Dec-2011 15:03

Thought that might be the case.

Do they offer anything better than S-Video output? Component/the 3 RCA connection?

The upscaling receiver is a good way to go long term and will at least give you 5.1 sound off the DVD's if you're not already getting that.

Dkeeper

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Reply # 557928 14-Dec-2011 15:11

All the units are 5.1 ac3 on sound.
S-Video is the highest standard on the 2x home theatre amps that I have. Would like to keep the amps and not buy more as in most cases thay are working well and have great sound. At the time they were flagship products from Pioneer and though not "true" audiophile, they were very close and did a decent job.

Dkeeper

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Reply # 557939 14-Dec-2011 15:31

Think I found a solution - in USD on special marked down from $207 to $58 and likely another $10/15 USD to ship.
100v-240v AV & S-Video to HDMI Converter... (seems I can't cut and paste the write-up here, even though i can past it to my MS-word and outlook email.. hmm, strange..)

I checked on the Harvey Norman one thx - no longer available from them or the importers - it might have been a Spatz Baracuda. Also did not see any of the Onkyo TX-SR606 recievers on Trademe, though there has been some there in the past six months.

Over all, the above $58-$70 USD solution might do the job for now - and - thank you for all your input!

Dkeeper

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Reply # 557942 14-Dec-2011 15:37

Hmm, on second thought maybe the Jaycar solution of an upscaler might be better as the $58usd unit converts only and does not upscale. Hmm, wonder if the tv will upscale it..

Jaxson

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Reply # 557950 14-Dec-2011 15:49

Dkeeper: Hmm, wonder if the tv will upscale it..

Essentially TV's take every input they receive and modify it to display on the native resolution of the panel (exception being when the source resolution matches panel resolution).

Dkeeper

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Reply # 557955 14-Dec-2011 15:52

Please excuse my inexperience here.. are you saying that the tv will attempt to upscale the incoming signal to the tv's native level. In other words the tv will likely do some level of upscalling?

Dkeeper

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Reply # 557982 14-Dec-2011 17:22

Thanks again Regs and Jaxson.. great website!

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