[tyoung88]

I just purchased a new Sharp 32" Flat Screen (non-hdtv) TV for my family room. My old TV did not have component inputs but the new one does.


I'm recording basic analog cable (no box, coax straight into the replaytv) and wanted your opinion on whether investing in a nice Component cable and using it to connect the ReplayTV to the TV would result in any better video quality than my current setup of a Monster Video-3 S-Video cable.


Thanks

 

[j.m.]

Quote:

Originally posted by tyoung88 I just purchased a new Sharp 32" Flat Screen (non-hdtv) TV for my family room. My old TV did not have component inputs but the new one does.

There's your answer right there. The ReplayTV's component output ONLY sends a progressive signal. Since your TV is not an HDTV, it is not likely that it supports progressive component input. So, you are most likely limited to S-Video, which is okay since a lot of people find it to be superior to the progressive component output anyway due to the cheap line doubler in the ReplayTV.

 

[lizard_boy]

The output from the Replay is 480p, which your TV doesn't appear to be capable of handling (since it's not HDTV-ready) so stick with s-video. The Replay's progressive output is supposed to be less than impressive anyway.

 

[tyoung88]

This followup question is slightly off topic but...


So since my TV has a component input but does not support HDTV (480) then will I see any difference by using the component input for my PS2, Xbox, or DVD player over using the S-Video that I currently have?


Thanks

 

[lizard_boy]

You'll probably see some improvement. The best way to determine is just to test each of them with S-Video/Component and see if it looks better to you. I would just buy 1 set of component cables at Best Buy so you can test & return if you don't see any improvement.

 

[rkramer]

Quote:

The Replay's progressive output is supposed to be less than impressive anyway.

I have a Toshiba 51h83 (51" HDTV) and did notice a slight improvement with component. definitely not worse, but also not worth nothing the difference between svideo and component...

 

[Jeff D]

Quote:

Originally posted by rkramer I have a Toshiba 51h83 (51" HDTV) and did notice a slight improvement with component. definitely not worse, but also not worth nothing the difference between svideo and component...

Nor the price of the cables!

 

[Jeff D]

Quote:

Originally posted by tyoung88 This followup question is slightly off topic but... So since my TV has a component input but does not support HDTV (480) then will I see any difference by using the component input for my PS2, Xbox, or DVD player over using the S-Video that I currently have? Thanks

This will most likely be better. But... it always depends on the hardware give it a shot and see. The cheap Red-White-Yellow RCA a/v cables would even work as these component cables since 480i isn't out of the bandwidth spec of these cables. (Of course all cables are different and I could be wrong if you got really crappy cables)


The real problem with the replay and component output isn't the component output hardware, but more the processing that goes on in the replay to get the 480p signal.


I think the replay would have been much better if the component output was 480i and not 480p. The source is 480i, remember... only as good as the weakest link in the chain, and the 480i input would be that weak link.


Some f-ing marketing yahoo got his(her) way and got the progressive bullet point on the sell sheet. I sure hope they lost that job years ago!

 

[davester2]

I was pretty surprised at how much worse the progressive component output was than the S-video when going to my Sony XBR.

 

[jayjay139]

i'm using an old showstopper 2000 with a upgraded 120gig hd. I just set up denon 3803 and samsung hln507w. The s-vid out of replay is always 480i? And into my denon or the samsung will be upconverted. The sammy to 720p i think, right? The denon upconverts s-vid to component. Is component standard? What is the denon upconverting it to? 480p, 720p, 1080i?

Thanks, slightly confused

Jack

 

[sfhub]

Quote:

Originally posted by davester2 I was pretty surprised at how much worse the progressive component output was than the S-video when going to my Sony XBR.

My recollection is Sony does a lot of processing on 480i sources which

makes their pictures look good, and until you see the raw input at 480p

(a lot of TVs shut off their image processing for 480p and above) you

never realize how much work Sony was doing to keep you happy.

 

[Jeff D]

Jack your question is confusing... But, yes the replay, just like every other "standard" video source will be 480i. This is standard NTSC. Anytime you use a s-video or composite cable for video you'll be getting 480i (standard video) out the other end. The only cable that can handle the other formats is component video cables.


I have no idea what the receiver is doing, but if a souce is 480i going in and it's 720p or 1080i coming out it's being upconverted. The term upconvert doesn't really apply for a 480i->480p conversion because there is no change in the vertical resolution.

 

[jayjay139]

Thanks...that was what I was looking for. To understand completely, can/does component ever put out 480i? is it always 480p, 720p or 1080i

(or not even 480p)?

 

[j.m.]

Quote:

Originally posted by jayjay139 Thanks...that was what I was looking for. To understand completely, can/does component ever put out 480i? is it always 480p, 720p or 1080i (or not even 480p)?

Yes, component in general is capable of 480i, just not the ReplayTV's component out specifically. Many non-HDTVs have a component input, and those are 480i componment inputs.

 

[Jeff D]

Yeah to add to what j.m. said.... component is just a seperation of the elements of the signal.


FYI:

Composite has Y and C (luma and chroma) information in one signal carried on 1 coax wire.

S-video has Y and C split on two different signals carried via 2 coax wires

component has Y, Cr (Pr) and Cb(Pb) (chroma red and blue split) in three signals carried on three coax cables.


The difference between component video cables and standard video cables is component cables are ususally rated for higher bandwidth. Std def TV, 480i and 480p can be carried with less than 30MHz of bandwidth. HDTV, 720p, 1080i and 1080p needs more than 30MHz of bandwidth.


The cable can handle anything that's at a lower resolution. You could even use component video cables rated at 50MHz for audio cables, if you wanted.