S-Video or component?

[BobK]

When 'capturing' (recording actually) from a DV/Tivo recorder to a standalone DVD recorder, will S-Video give better quality than component?

[louthewiz]

Component video is supposed to be superior to s-video,but if the recorder has a TBC then you should be ok.

[jimmalenko]

Component video is supposed to be superior to s-video,but if the recorder has a TBC then you should be ok.

EDIT: I was thinking of composite

Some info here:
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/5/7547.html

[thecoalman]

EDIT: my mistake ... I think ...

I was thinking of composite

Glad you did it because I almost did.

[BobK]

No TBC in the recorder. I've been using S-Video but have the option of using component (can't use composite), so guess I'll start using it.

[edDV]

Component is better than S-Video which is better than composite.

That said, what recording device do you have with component inputs? Very rare indeed unless at the broadcast equipment level.

[BobK]

My mistake- I've been mixing 'component' and 'composite'. I've done that before- I know which is which but I keep mentally switching them. Guess I'll stick with the S-video which is better than composite since I actually don't have component inputs.

But thanks for the input- I still hadn't been sure if S-video would still give a better picture than composite when the signal output came from a digital recorder.

[edDV]

The better the source, the more important you use S-Video. S-Video keeps the luma and chroma separate so they don't crosstalk.

[lordsmurf]

It depends on the source.
Neither is "better". I really get sick of hearing that.
Try both, see which looks better.

In this case, either is probably fine.
I'd do s-video myself.

[edDV]

OK then,
The the wider the luminance bandwidth the source has, the more important you use S-Video. S-Video keeps the luma and chroma separate so they don't crosstalk.

Composite connections mix the luma and chroma in the same frequency space (centered 3.58MHz NTSC, 4.43MHz PAL). In this shared frequency space luma can be decoded as color (e.g. stripe shirt color ringing) or chroma mistaken for luma (e. g. dot crawl on edges).

[SatStorm]

S-Video looks better composite IMO.
It doesn't look good DURING the capture, but the final result look better on TV.
So, to test it, just grabb the same segment twice: one with composite one with S-Video. Encode it, and burn it on a DVD / CVD. Find a good TV to judge the difference, 'cause mainstream TVs won't show easy the difference (maybe you gonna see some luma distortion).
Remember to use good cables for your tests and no longer than 1.5m

[lordsmurf]

The reason behind my statement is sometimes splitting the y/c can destabilize the signal. I've seen it many times. Luminance goes all wonky on you.

[ima2hd]

Why would you want to use composite if you have s-video?? If you find a capture card with component in let me know!

[gshelley61]

Why would you want to use composite if you have s-video??

Laserdisc, for example, is a native analog composite video source... the luma and chroma are not separate in the signal that is stored on the disc. The s-video output from laserdisc players is created with a comb filter (that splits the luma and chroma). The quality of the s-video output from any laserdisc player depends completely on how good this Y/C filter is. The comb filters in 10 year old laserdisc players are no match for the sophisticated digital 3-line motion adaptive Y/C filters we have today. The older filters caused Y/C separation artifacts like color smear and dot crawl. So, here is a case where it can easily be better to use the composite output signal and let the capturing device do the Y/C splitting instead... depending on how good the comb filter is in the capture card, DVD recorder, etc..

This also applies to broadcast and cable signals... they are composite, too. The composite output from your cable box looks better than the s-video in many cases due to poor Y/C splitting by the cable box's comb filter.

[edDV]

True, laserdisc is one of the exceptions.
Another may be the analog channels on older cable boxes where the Y/C separator may be inferior to the one on the capture device.

Home video has very few direct composite sources. VHS, S-VHS, 8mm, Hi8, consumer capture cards and DV all separate Y and C for recording.

[gshelley61]

VHS, S-VHS, 8mm, Hi8, consumer capture cards and DV all separate Y and C for recording.

Another good reason to have a S-VHS VCR for VHS playback, and a Hi8 (or Digital8) unit for 8mm playback. That allows you to take advantage of the separate Y and C signals that are native to VHS and 8mm videotape by using the s-video outputs on those machines. Standard VHS and 8mm machines combine the Y and C to suppply the composite video output they have.

[edDV]

For home recorded VHS, the luminamce is filtered out so low (below 3MHz) that crosstalk with the 3.58 NTSC color subcarrier (and sidebands) is minimal. In that case there will be little real difference between S-Video vs composite.

The jury is still out on commercially recorded VHS which may have a higher luminance cutoff.

SVHS and Hi8 record luminance out to more than 4 MHz so they will benefit greatly from Y/C separation throughout the recording process and out to the A/D of the capture device.

[lordsmurf]

Oh, I don't know about all that ....

I've seen several time where merely using s-video on a VHS tape has improved it's visual quality (chroma, luma). Not often, but it happens. Never thought too hard about it, but that must mean something..

[ima2hd]

Regarless if you have a good tbc or not the s-video is going to be better. There are dumb questions asked this one was one of them. I got suckered in on the component header!