My game cabinet at home contains PS2, Dreamcast, Saturn and Genesis/Sega CD/32X consoles. To get them all to the TV and NAD audio amplifier with a minimum of fuss I have everything routed through a Terk MOD41 switch/converter box ( http://www.audiovox.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... &langId=-1 ). Every system patches into the Terk box via stereo AV cables with RCA connectors at the converter box end. Out of the converter I use RCA cables to the audio amplifier and a coaxial cable to the TV. The cable TV signal also routes through the Terk converter. The TV is old and only has a coaxial cable connection for video/audio input.
The Terk converter box has both s-video and stereo AV cable inputs and outputs and as stated above I'm using the stereo AV cable inputs into the converter. My question is, if I use S-video cables from the PS2, Dreamcast and Saturn to the converter/switch box, would I gain anything in video quality? Probably not since the signal from the converter to the TV will still be a coaxial cable....
The hopeful real solution is that my brother may give me his old 27-inch JVC S-video cabable TV. Even though it's not an HDTV nor a widescreen unit, it would still be an upgrade from the very old RCA 19" I'm using now. All my systems other than the Genesis could then be upgraded to S-video with some simple cable swaps. That said, though, would the connection between the converter box and the TV need to be BOTH the stereo AV and the S-video or would I only have to have S-video from the box to the TV and when the Genesis is in use would the converter take its output and convert it to an S-video signal when it goes to the TV? Heck if that's the case, would I really only need an S-video cable between the converter box and the TV to get S-video qualityvideo from the capable consoles to the TV? Is the end result a lowest common denominator situation?
I know the converter box downgrades the signals so the old TV can understand it, but with a newer TV will it also upgrade to S-video regardless of how the signals get to the converter box? Does it have to be S-video in to get S-video out?
Would I gain any video quality by doing this?
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lordofduct
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The difference will be very low... but there will be an increase because the source video is of better quality prior to the conversion.
Before even bothering with getting s-vid cables for all those systems, you should work on getting a newer television. Wal-mart sales TVs 10 times better then what you have for as low as 90 bucks.
Before even bothering with getting s-vid cables for all those systems, you should work on getting a newer television. Wal-mart sales TVs 10 times better then what you have for as low as 90 bucks.
Well, before I spend dime one I'm going to see what my brother has to say. If he lets me have his old 27 inch and it will fit in my cabinet I'm all the way up to S-video for a song with a much larger and higher quality picture as well. He lives by himself and has everything set up in one place and recently upgraded to a flat panel HDTV and the older flat panel picture tube JVC is just wasting space in his living room.
Another bonus would be that the free TV has a remote and my old one does not. That tells you how old my 19 incher really is, when's the last time you saw a TV that didn't use a remote?
Another bonus would be that the free TV has a remote and my old one does not. That tells you how old my 19 incher really is, when's the last time you saw a TV that didn't use a remote?
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lordofduct
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The family TV when I lived at home with my parents years back.Scooter wrote:Well, before I spend dime one I'm going to see what my brother has to say. If he lets me have his old 27 inch and it will fit in my cabinet I'm all the way up to S-video for a song with a much larger and higher quality picture as well. He lives by himself and has everything set up in one place and recently upgraded to a flat panel HDTV and the older flat panel picture tube JVC is just wasting space in his living room.
Another bonus would be that the free TV has a remote and my old one does not. That tells you how old my 19 incher really is, when's the last time you saw a TV that didn't use a remote?
It was one of those big wooden ones that sat on the floor with the big ol' dials on it for UHF/VHF
it was so old it didn't even have coaxial in... it only had the two bit screws for an antenae.
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Ramatut4001
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I remember hooking stuff up with those screws. That sucked.lordofduct wrote:The family TV when I lived at home with my parents years back.Scooter wrote:Well, before I spend dime one I'm going to see what my brother has to say. If he lets me have his old 27 inch and it will fit in my cabinet I'm all the way up to S-video for a song with a much larger and higher quality picture as well. He lives by himself and has everything set up in one place and recently upgraded to a flat panel HDTV and the older flat panel picture tube JVC is just wasting space in his living room.
Another bonus would be that the free TV has a remote and my old one does not. That tells you how old my 19 incher really is, when's the last time you saw a TV that didn't use a remote?
It was one of those big wooden ones that sat on the floor with the big ol' dials on it for UHF/VHF
it was so old it didn't even have coaxial in... it only had the two bit screws for an antenae.
A little follow up, the TV arrived today. I have s-video hooked up for the Dreamcast with a cheap cable and for the PS2 with a high end cable and everything looks great. DVDs look so good on this TV now that that I can't get the wife out of my playroom long enough to play some games! This old JVC makes our not quite so old Mitsubishi TV look bad by comparison. The JVC was built in 1993 and the Mitsu isn't that old but it doesn't have S-video ability. I guess I know where I'll be watching my guy movies!
Ah, no. "Guy movies" are movies with car chases, explosions and stupid humor which I enjoy at times but which my wife does not.Adderall wrote:I'm assuming "guy movies" means loads and loads of scat porn.
I was able to connect the composite and S-video out of my PS2 both into the switch box so I could switch back and forth between the two at an instant. The difference isn't dramatic but it is there. I think most of the improvement is simply going from a 19-inch to a 27-inch and the impressive quality of the JVC's picture as a whole. I'm surprised my Mitsubishi doesn't have S-video capability though.
Another thing about the old RCA TV I was using which I never really noticed until now is that the picture was getting rather dark. I can now see many more things in many "dark" games. I was afraid that the much larger screen would make my older games just look more pixilated but that doesn't seem to be the case.