[JHBrandt]

Those of you who, like me, have a mix of HD and legacy equipment connected to your TV may be in for a bit of a surprise the next time you upgrade.


A couple of weeks ago my Toshiba 26" LCD went out. I wasn't too upset because I'd bought a service contract for it (normally I don't spring for the service contract, but it had been a floor model so I'd made an exception). So I took it back to the store and they shipped it off for service. After a week or so they called me and said it wasn't worth fixing, so they offered me an exchange for a new model.


I took my paperwork over and started looking at the new TVs. At first I was pleased because prices had come down a bit over the last year and a half (and indeed I did end up upgrading to a 32" LCD). But when I started turning the TVs around to look at the connectors, I was in for a surprise. They all had beaucoup HDMI inputs and a set of component inputs to boot, but most had only one composite video input and no S-video inputs at all.


I did find one TV with a single S-video input which was shared with its composite input (i.e., I could use one or the other, but not both at once), and one with two sets of composite inputs (but no S-video). Neither quite met my needs: I needed at least one S-video and one composite input.


Stuck, I settled for the latter TV, and ran the S-video from my old satellite receiver through my "up-conversion" DVD recorder. This solved the problem for me - the DVD recorder digitizes the S-video input and outputs it via HDMI. But it's not a particularly elegant solution.


Don't get me wrong - I love the convenience of HDMI (although I think whoever thought up HDCP should be waterboarded mercilessly) and use it whenever possible. But manufacturers, news flash: we consumers don't always upgrade our entire video setup all at once! You need to make reasonable allowances for connecting old equipment to your new equipment. I don't think one S-video input and a separate composite video input at the 32" screen level is too much to ask.

 

[P719C1]

I would agree, it's always nice to have them there, at least one of each. You just never know. How much more could it be costing the manufacturers, after all there's already a NTSC tuner there on the TVs (and that's likely not going away anytime soon) so there shouldn't really be any more analog-to-digital circuitry involved.


They're really anxious to phase out analog video altogether it seems. Hopefully we can at least expect some good-quality (well, as good as one can expect) external HDMI upscalers for this purpose.


As for me, I'll keep soldiering on with my CRTs.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JHBrandt /forum/post/20788476


(although I think whoever thought up HDCP should be waterboarded mercilessly)

 

[Rammitinski]



Quote:
Originally Posted by P719C1 /forum/post/20788631


How much more could it be costing the manufacturers....(?)

Personally, I think it's more about keeping people's "free" recording quality down to the lowest-level inputs.

 

[domino92024]



Quote:
Originally Posted by JHBrandt /forum/post/20788476


Stuck, I settled for the latter TV, and ran the S-video from my old satellite receiver through my "up-conversion" DVD recorder. This solved the problem for me - the DVD recorder digitizes the S-video input and outputs it via HDMI. But it's not a particularly elegant solution.

An analog A/V switcher with composite and S-video inputs/output would have also solved your problem. My current Sony Bravia 26" set in my den has two analog A/V inputs. Last I checked, most of that line still does.

 

[P719C1]



Quote:
Originally Posted by domino92024 /forum/post/20788867


An analog A/V switcher with composite and S-video inputs/output would have also solved your problem. My current Sony Bravia 26" set in my den has two analog A/V inputs. Last I checked, most of that line still does.

So few TVs, especially plasmas it seems, have ANY S-video inputs anymore. Sure, you can use a switcher (such as those that can combine S-video to composite video sent to the TV, or separate composite video to S-video sent to the TV), but if you have sources with S-video output, you will be losing picture quality if you are forced to connect it to a composite video input.

 

[arxaw]



Quote:
Originally Posted by JHBrandt /forum/post/20788476


...I took my paperwork over and started looking at the new TVs. At first I was pleased because prices had come down a bit over the last year and a half...

Pressure is strong for manufacturers to lower costs to the minimum in order to compete on price, which is how the average person shops. One way of doing that is to remove features (e.g. analog jacks) that aren't as widely used as they once were.

 

[domino92024]



Quote:
Originally Posted by P719C1 /forum/post/20789301


So few TVs, especially plasmas it seems, have ANY S-video inputs anymore. Sure, you can use a switcher (such as those that can combine S-video to composite video sent to the TV, or separate composite video to S-video sent to the TV), but if you have sources with S-video output, you will be losing picture quality if you are forced to connect it to a composite video input.

Many A/V switchers keep the S-video separate from the composite video.

 

[sneals2000]

Same thing is happening in Europe.


It used to be common to have three SCART sockets (which carry composite or S-video or RGB SD video signals) on a decent TV (two on a basic model) as well as ofteng having side/front mounted composite (and S-video shared often) inputs.


These days a single SCART socket is becoming the norm, usually with a single set of side-mounted composite inputs.


AV amps with Composite/S-video upconversion to HDMI are a solution for main room viewing, but for smaller sets in secondary or tertiary locations they aren't really. There are composite to HDMI converters - but they often cost more than the TV...