S-video on regular VCR

[vu-dang]

I'm using a Toshiba VCR, D-VR5, to capture video from VHS tapes. Should I use S-video or composite video output? I know that for SVHS decks, it is better to use s-video output. However, D-VR5 is not a Super VHS deck but it has S-video output. I cannot tell if the VCR is reading video signal as composite or S-video first and then convert to the other signal. Is there any way to tell which is the better connection to use? Thanks,

[manono]

Given a choice, almost always choose S-Video. It happens, but it's pretty rare, that you'll get a better picture using composite. When in doubt, test first with both. Me, I always use S-Video whenever I can.

[Christopher2222]

S video for sure! S video is one of the higher quality ways to transmit a signal to a device.

[jagabo]

S-video isn't always better. Some regular VHS decks had s-video connectors but used standard composite hardware at their core. They used a cheap trick to generate the s-video signals. This left the chroma sub-carrier in the luma signal. The result looked OK with low res CRT TVs but with a capture device you get severe dot crawl artifacts. You get something like this (be sure to view the images full size):



instead of this:



Just run a quick test with both and see which looks better. Use a very colorful video segment (cartoon?) as that is where the problem will be worst.

[lordsmurf]

S-video isn't always better. Some regular VHS decks had s-video connectors but used standard composite hardware at their core.

So true.
But I rarely see those, and in fact don't remember seeing any in past 10 years.
Any ideas of models that do this?

[dellsam34]

So true.
But I rarely see those, and in fact don't remember seeing any in past 10 years.
Any ideas of models that do this?

I've come across some S-VHS VCR's that have the dot crawl thru S-Video and not thru composite but only on the menu blue screen, When playing back video or still pictures recorded on tape there is no dot crawl, I guess it has something to do with how the menu and character generator circuit is hooked up to S-Video output. Not sure about the OP VCR.

[pandy]

Separate luminance and chrominance processing (recording and reading) is foundation for VCR technology and as such any VCR should be by definition capable to provide S-Video signal (separate chrominance and luminance).