Advantages of an S-Video connection

I just bought a new TV, and connected the DVD player via an expensive newly purchased S-video cable. Nice picture, but no sound. So, I connected the DVD via the good old scart cable – equally nice picture, and I have sound. The manual says S-video delivers a better picture quality, but I can't see any difference to the scart connection, it's already perfect. Since I don't get sound, I'll just forget about the S-video. I was just wondering why S-video is recommended, i.e. what advantages should it have compared to a scart connection?

Ask someone in marketing *cough*

To get the sound you need Chinch to Chinch connetion from the DVD to the TV...

S vhs is better quality but after 2 or 3 helles, who can tell?!

As for the reasons for having scart and Svhs connections... well, I dunno..

Thanks, but... I already have a cinch/cinch connection from the DVD to the Dolby-Digital receiver. So looks like I can't use the S-video without turning the complete Dolby-Digital system on, i.e. I'll never get the sound coming out of the TV? No ta, I'll stick w/ the scart connection then.

my step-dad's got that problem...it's either sound out of the TV or through the stereo...it's just wrong.

I'd stick with the Scart myself, too...especially if you notice no difference in picture quality

S-Video is only video - it is not sound at all.. it replaces the Yellow cable from normal AV cables. You still need to run separate sound. The advantage is a better picture. Maybe you can't tell the difference, but it is better quality..

A normal SCART connection delivers the composite picture content on a single signal cable. S-VHS (or Y/C) splits the content into the black/white content and the colour content on different signals (cables), so on a better quality TV delivers a better picture as there is no interference between the signal components as can occur with the composite/SCART approach.

Sometimes the difference is only noticeable on better TVs or larger pictures and even then it is only a marginal improvement. S-VHS was developed for video tape recording, where the video signals were actually recorded seperately on tape, so the difference during video-playback was MUCH more obvious (as the recording of composite video content was always somewhat of a compromise).

The 21-pin SCART specification actually specifies a multitude of options for picture transmission - composite, S-VHS and R-G-B (a third form of picture transmission where the red, green and blue content is sent down different cables, and therefore even better than S-VHS) A decent DVD and TV would actually work out which is the best of the three they can mutually support and show it, so it is possible you are actually seeing an S-VHS (or RGB) picture when using SCART in any case.

S-VHS cabling does not include any sound carrier, hence your loss of sound when using S-VHS only, so you need to add additional cables for sound, usually using Cinch (German), Phono (UK) or RCA (US) cables. SCART includes stereo sound, so that's why you can hear something when connected by SCART.

Some (usually cheaper) DVD players cannot multi-task the sound output. If you have selected (in the DVD setup) a digital (co-ax or optical) sound output to (to a HiFi for example) it's possible there will be no analogue sound down the SCART or Cinch, and vice versa

YL6

Thanks. That's some good information there.


So I might actually be seeing an S-video picture even though I've hooked it up with Scart. That's good enough for me. In any case, I'm very happy with the picture the way it is.

It's possible, but difficult to demonstrate (what, if any on-screen message do you see when you turn on or play the DVD, assuming the DVD automatically forces a channel/input change on your TV?)

Turning on the DVD player does indeed cause the TV to automatically switch to the DVD input, and "EXT-2" is briefly displayed on the screen, which is OK since I connected the DVD to the 2nd Scart socket of the TV. I stuck the VCR in EXT-1 and the PS2 into EXT-3. But, when I turn on the VCR or the PS2, it does not automatically switch to that respective input, i.e. it only does that with the DVD.