Question about coaxial picture quality

[BoringSupreez]

How come when a game system, VCR, or DVD player outputs the video signal to a TV via coax wire, the picture quality is terrible, but my TV antenna gives an awesome picture through the same type of wire? Why can't the other devices use coax so well?

[Flake]

Well the TV signal is (as of a couple years ago) a digital signal. The VCR would still be sending an analog signal, I think. All broadcast television switched to digital a while back in the US.

Just a guess, though.

[BoringSupreez]

Well the TV signal is (as of a couple years ago) a digital signal. The VCR would still be sending an analog signal, I think. All broadcast television switched to digital a while back in the US.

Just a guess, though.

Oh. Well, in that case, why don't they make media devices that output digital signals via coax, instead of that expensive HDMI stuff? It'd be neat if the Wii U had a coax jack on the back.

[Flake]

Just buy an RF adapter. Truly, though, fidelity through coaxial is about as bad as it gets. AV is better by far.

[Cronozilla]

HDMI cables are $6. Coaxial lines are dead.

The cable can transmit more data per line than say, an RCA cable, but, there's very little separating the signals. So when an analog signal comes in, there's a lot of interference, and the TV shows whatever the first thing it gets is. Digital has a more limited working range, so the receiver (or TV) eliminates the outliers in the signal. As a result digital looks better. (However, if you can't get a good signal, you just won't see anything at all)

Coxial lines are still used for data transmission, for that, they're not bad. But in terms of video bandwidth, they're awful. And HDMI isn't that expensive. Neither is composite or component. Your TV likely has something better than coaxial support.

[Duke.Togo]

Console output via coaxial cable is sent using the classic NTSC RF (Radio Frequency) signal here in the US that was developed to transmit video over long distances. It is a purely analog signal that produces the poorest quality as compared to other connection types that came along later such as composite, S-video, SCART, etc.

Antenna signals now utilize the same type of cable to connect to a receiver, but receive a digital signal via the ATSC standard in the US. To my knowledge no consoles output an ATSC signal, and I wouldn't imagine any ever will with the standardization of HDMI. Also HDMI provides for secure video and audio transmission to prevent copying, so this is not going anywhere.

There is no situation by which I would recommend using it over any available alternative, unless you want that "fuzzy" classic look that RF provides.

[BoringSupreez]

HDMI cables are $6. Coaxial lines are dead.

The cable can transmit more data per line than say, an RCA cable, but, there's very little separating the signals. So when an analog signal comes in, there's a lot of interference, and the TV shows whatever the first thing it gets is. Digital has a more limited working range, so the receiver (or TV) eliminates the outliers in the signal. As a result digital looks better. (However, if you can't get a good signal, you just won't see anything at all)

Coxial lines are still used for data transmission, for that, they're not bad. But in terms of video bandwidth, they're awful. And HDMI isn't that expensive. Neither is composite or component. Your TV likely has something better than coaxial support.

Oh, it does. It has component and HDMI too. I was just wondering why everything couldn't use coax (for simplicity's sake.)

[Cronozilla]

It doesn't get simpler than HDMI.

Version 1.4 supporters above HD resolution, full 7.1 digital audio, as well as networking (all at once). And you plug it into a very unique connector, instead of trying to align the shitty threads and getting stabbed by a coax cable.

The HDMI cable, literally, does everything it has NEVER been simpler. And HDMI's bandwidth is through the roof.

[gtmtnbiker]

It doesn't get simpler than HDMI.

Version 1.4 supporters above HD resolution, full 7.1 digital audio, as well as networking (all at once). And you plug it into a very unique connector, instead of trying to align the shitty threads and getting stabbed by a coax cable.

The HDMI cable, literally, does everything it has NEVER been simpler. And HDMI's bandwidth is through the roof.

Totally agreed. I was wrestling with the coax connector the other day trying to get it onto my Ceton tuner card.

[Cronozilla]

It's such a pain in the ass isn't it?