cables newb q's

[stryker1080]

I was wondering if someone can tell me soem things:

1. What type of cable is it that has the 3 colors (yellow, white , red) that is on the tv? What is it called, composite?

2. What is the cable called that has the RGB coloor cables?

3. Is there cables (converter) that on one side has a s-video male plug and other side has the three white,yellow,red male plugs? If so how much do they cost?

4. On the ati 7500 AIW , what "in" plugs does ti have? I know it has s-video... Is that all it has?

5. What resolution do most digital cameras Digital8 cameras record at? If i got a AIW ATI 7500 what res does it capture at? Can u set it the res?

6. How much are standard svideo male to male cables? (The cheapest price).

7. I have the option to get a firewire card to capture from my dig8 camera or i can get a capture card ati 7500 to capture using svideo and capture tv. Is there a diff in quality whether using firewire or the ati? Is one faster than the other and uses less resources??

If someone can answer these questions id greatly apppreciate it, because i despserately want a capture card but first i need to know these thigns before i can make a educated decisoin... THANK YOU!!

[BJ_M]

1. What type of cable is it that has the 3 colors (yellow, white , red) that is on the tv? What is it called, composite?

can be either RGB w/ sync on green or Component -- in the context of what you are asking you are refering to Component..

2. What is the cable called that has the RGB coloor cables?

RGB cable

3. Is there cables (converter) that on one side has a s-video male plug and other side has the three white,yellow,red male plugs? If so how much do they cost?

yes and costs anywhere from $100 - $1000+

[crahak]

1. composite. one is composite video, and two for left/right sound.

2. component. (not to be confused with composite... lol)

3. There are converters that will make your s-video into composite, but sound is not carried onto the s-video cable. I think it's rather pointless anyways, since it will degrade picture, and if it has L/R audio hookups, there is usually also a composite video out too.

Just as a side note, they also sell A/V distribution amps, and some half decent ones go for cheap. Mine has one input and four ouputs of each kind (composite, s-video, and audio). That basically takes care of all my needs (along with an s-video switch).

(looks like you just edited your post?)

4. ATI's site probably describes all the in's and out's of their cards in depth... You can do the surfing too... lol

6. depends a LOT on the brand and lenght. You can get some for like 5$... Or one that comes in a nice packaging, made from oxygen free copper, with shielding, uh, good warranty, looks nice, gold plated, and all the other nice things, same lenght for like 50$, and yet, it still looks the same on my 32" GAOO...

As for 5 and 7, I never dealt with Digital8... I'll let someone else handle it

[BJ_M]

oh yea #1 was composite ... i never use and forgot all about .. when i see 3 wire i think component


component and RGB are vastly different things .. both can be on three wires though .. more often you see RGB on 4 or 5 wires though (RGBS and RGBHV)

[crahak]

Well, there are different things, but every single TV I've seen at work/friend's places/stores always had component video. There are also other formats too, but that's the main trend anyways. (Most of the time it's overkill anyhow, and the DAC's SNR is not even good enough to justify using it... anyways) S-video is a big step up from composite, but after that... You really have to spend $ usually to see any real difference.

[Greg12]

Firewire is better because their is no signal degredation nor is their a Analog to digital conversion the signal remains digital.

[crahak]

We're talking analog formats, and you're talking digital. It's a completely different thing. My TV doesn't connect with firewire.... LOL

[stryker1080]

ok one more q. i got this sony dv8 camera and i can use firewire to put the video on my comp, it would be at 720x480. IM thinking of buying the ati aiw 7500 tho, if i use svideo or composite rca video can i also caputre 720x480 with same quality as firewire? or at least similar?

[vhelp]

evening stryker1080,

ok one more q. i got this sony dv8 camera and i can use firewire to put the video on my comp, it would be at 720x480. IM thinking of buying the ati aiw 7500 tho, if i use svideo or composite rca video can i also caputre 720x480 with same quality as firewire? or at least similar?

Yes, and No.

Known issues w/ DV video'ing are:
* dv cam's built-in DV codec quality
.. my Canon ZR-10 (if FW'ed) video has poor quality, but the A/V connect
.. using any of my analog capture cards w/ A/V is excellent (better than DV FW)
* dv cam's features ie, A/V and Firewire or iLink connections
* dv cams' (or any DV device ie, ADVC-100) are Field B (bottom) and
.. all frames are Interlaced (assuming you are talking about home-made
.. videos, weather on miniDV tapes or just using FW directly)
.. note, if recording to miniDV tapes from Satalite, then the Interlace will
.. depend on the source ie, IVTC or Interlaced or Progressive etc.

Known issues w/ analog capturing are:
* frame drops
* audio sync
* analog capture's "video chipset"
* software used for capturing
* GIG limit ?? w98=4g and w2k> =unlimiated

In most cases, analog vs. DV should BOTH look alike or better w/ analog capturing. In my experience, using my ADVC-100, I pretty much can't
tell the difference.
But, to answere your question, it depends on the device (DV CAM or other)
's design feature/quality and it's ability.
The only way to be sure is to do both and see for yourself.
And, don't forget a properly tuned system (for analog capture, that is)

I feel IMO, that an analog capture is the BEST form of quality over DV.
(even though I feel that my ADVC-100 provides very good quality)

-vhelp
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Happy HOLIDAY all.