What's this weird S-video connector?

[absinthecarolinas]

I was thinking of getting a video card with a TV-out ... and then I realized, I already have one!

I have an MSI GeForce Ti-4200 with what is apparently an S-Video out. I downloaded the manual, and the connection is even referred to as an "S-video out." But the connector is not the same as all other S-video plugs I've seen. It's round, but it has more pin-holes, and obviously any S-video cable I have won't fit it.

I went digging through my huge bag of cables and found a strange adapter that I remember actually came with a video card (but not this particular card). It has an "S-video-like" connector on one end that matches the weird plug in my current video card, and on the other end is a box with a standard S-video plug and 3 RCA plugs (video and stereo audio). The plug matches the connector on my video card, but then plugging a standard S-video cable into the strange box-like adapter and then connecting that cable to a TV did not get me a result (I'm not sure this adapter wasn't made for input > vid card). However, using the line-level (RCA) video plug worked.

Anyway, what the heck is this weird plug that's supposed to be "S-video" but doesn't look like any S-video plug I've seen and is preventing me from using a standard S-video cable to hook my computer to my TV?

-abs

[junkmalle]

It's not an s-video plug it's a proprietary port which might carry s-video signals and other stuff. It's not uncommon for cards to have ports like that with either a short adaptor cable or break out box -- simply because there's usually isn't space for several connectors on the card.

[edDV]

The mating breakout cable usually ships with the card. Check your box.

[vhelp]

@ absinthecarolinas

I have one of these cables. On my cable, it has 7 pins

    _______
  /         \
  |  . . .  |
  | . . . . |
  \_________/

And, on the other end, is an YELLO Composite (RCA) connector.
This is an OUT port. It takes an S-Video and only uses the pins
for Composite OUTPUT..
.
.. But probably can be used as INPUT. Though I haven't tried it to
.. see if it's INPUT too.

My ADVC-100 (on the back of the unit) accepts this plugs. My old
nVidia graphics card also came with this cord also.

.. Sometimes, there are more pins on a given card or I/O port that
.. is not used completely, but there is a "generic" plug that has
.. all the pins (or holes) in place, and still can use this 7 pin
.. setup, hence yours strange plug (and mine)

-vhelp 3005

[absinthecarolinas]

Thanks for replies. The "breakout" box (as I think you're calling it) that I referred to above actually didn't come with my current vid card (which is about 2+ years old, and I don't have the box). I think it actually came with an All-in-Wonder card I bought about 5 years ago. I could be wrong.

Anyway, yes vhelp the connector you describe seems to be what I have.

As I said, I couldn't get the S-video cable (connected to the breakout box) when connected to the TV to produce a picture (even after turning on the second monitor, aka the TV). I was, however, able to get a picture with the RCA cable from the breakout box, so I guess the proprietary "S-video-ish" port on my card is an out.

There's also what the manual refers to as a "DVI" connector. Can I do anything useful with this? :P

I guess I'm trying to figure out if running long cables from the back of my computer to the 27" TV in the room is worth the trouble. The picture didn't exactly look splendid (good, though), and I didn't see any video playback at all (due to overlays, as I understand it ... I'm sure I can get that worked out).

Does the quality of video out vary from card to card, or is it pretty good or pretty bad across the board? Do you think this is worth the trouble? We ended up buying the kids a second Playstation 2 for Christmas instead of the Xbox I wanted to get, so Xbox Media Center is unfortunately out of the question 8)

Thx,

-abs

[junkmalle]

I don't think the MSI GeForce Ti-4200 has any capture hardware so the s-video port is most likely an output only. It might be necessary need to select between composite and s-video in the drivers.

[junkmalle]

The DVI connector is for a flat panel monitor. You could use it if your TV had that kind of input -- doubtful though.

I can't speak for your card in particular but TV out from computers can be about as good as a DVD player through composite or s-video. Of course, that's far less resolution than even the cheapest RGB monitor. I have an old Matrox Millennium in one of my computers and I use its TV out via a 6 foot s-video cable. It's great for watching AVI or MPG files on TV.

I have a card very similar to yours, an Abit Ti-4400, and it has the same connector. The card came with a pigtail adapator but one of my dogs ate it! If you can get the s-video port working it should deliver a better picture than composite.

[absinthecarolinas]

Thanks junkmalle, that's good news. Only trouble is I'm going to have to not only get the S-video working, but I'll need about a 12-foot cable. Guess I'll need audio cables too, but I've got a couple dozen of those lying around.

I might give this another whirl when I've got the time. As it is, I had to disconnect the TV and lug it across the room to try it out.

-abs

[edDV]

See if the card mfgr sells the cable or publishes the pinouts. You could make a cable from Radio Shack parts if you can find the pinout. S-Video is 2 sets of 2 pins for luminance and chrominance. Two of the remaining 3 pins are probably composite NTSC (or PAL) out.

[thecoalman]

There's also what the manual refers to as a "DVI" connector. Can I do anything useful with this? :P

-abs

My brother had one of those on his card, playing videos with it to say the least was less that desirable. You can't use it for regular windows because the text is unreadable unless you switch to 800x600 and use a huge font size. About the only useful thing was being able to play games on the TV which looked pretty good.

[808smokey]

Or just watching TV. I have a Ti4400 and the video out splitter is only used for recording stuff to a VCR or watching TV. I tried it with Half-Life (day of defeat mod) and it was horrible graphics. Not even worth playing. But it was a 27" monitor

[crazythunder]

in your display properties, you would have to switch overlays to "secondary display" or tv, to watch full screen video on your tv with svideo out.