S-Video Signal Loss Question: Cable or Receiver

[SpaceBooger]

I have an Onkyo ht-r550 receiver and tried to hook it to my tv via s-video and the picture looked worse.
My TV only has 2 S-Video inputs and I have 3 s-video consoles: saturn, snes, and m1 genesis. I currently have the Genesis hooked up with a 3ft monster s-vid cable to the TV's 2nd slot (saturn is in the first one), so I hooked that up to the receiver instead of the genesis and used a cheap 6ft one that came with something (it's thin) to hook the genesis up to the receiver. When hooked up this way the colors were bland and the signal (pixels) were not as crisp.

So my question is: do you guys think a smaller and better cable (like this) would make a difference or is the receiver not handling the signal well?

[Anapan]

It's worth a shot. I've noticed a large range of qualities in S-Video cables, and it didn't have anything to do with the brand or girth of the cable. I ended up trying a whole pile of them I found and threw more than 1/2 of them away because the signal was terrible. My best one doesn't even have any markings, and the pins are silver colored.

[SpaceBooger]

It was the cable. I got the one I linked in the op and it works just fine now.
Now I have a PS3, Wii, oXbox, Saturn, Genesis and SNES hooked up to my HDTV via s-video or better.
The only problem I have now is the SNES av cable/port is finicky and if moved it messes up the picture.

[Ziggy]

So my question is: do you guys think a smaller and better cable (like this) would make a difference or is the receiver not handling the signal well?

I know you already fixed your problem, but just FYI. You probably just needed a better cable, and not a shorter one. 3 feet is ridiculously short. With most things, a longer run means more length for the signal to degrade. A general rule of thumb is to make your cable runs as short as possible (without being ridiculous). But IIRC, S-Video has the ability to have longer runs than most other signals for some reason. For example, the S-Video cable I use for my Genesis and Saturn is a 15' long)I originally got it to run from a computer to a TV and that's why it's that long) and I have no problems with it.

Why a really thin S-Video cable is worse than a really thin [any other kind of cable]. A component video cable has three separate video signals on three separate cables. Each cable is shielded, not only from the outside world but also from each other. S-Video is two separate video signals, but unlike component video, the two signals are contained in just one cable. On a proper cable, both signals should still be shielded from each other, but on a really really thin and cheap feeling cable, how much shielding could there possibly be? Or perhaps, on a really cheap cable, each video signal isn't even shielded from each other, or perhaps not at all. Anyway, this is why you cheap cable messed up your picture.

The only problem I have now is the SNES av cable/port is finicky and if moved it messes up the picture.

First step is to clean the cable plug and AV port just like you would a cart and cart slot. The connectors could be dirty, and that is what's giving you the problem.

The other possibility is that the plug is worn out so it's not gripping the pins tight enough. If that is the case, I'd be willing to bet it's not a first party cable. I'm assuming you're using an S-Video cable because of what you said above. Knowing what I said about S-Video cables, check your SNES cable. If the S-Video breakaway is really thin, and the plug is loose, you might consider throwing that thing in the garbage and getting a better one rather than fixing the plug.