Talk:S-Video

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[edit] Questions

My DVD player and home theatre receiver are S-Video capable but my TV is not. I have seen adapter cables that convert S-Video to RCA. Is there any point using one of these? Will the quality be any better?

No, your TV need S-Video connector to get luminance/chrominance channels advantage. These adaptors only converts the signal to composite again. No better quality in this process and depends of the adapter the quality is poor.

When I connect my laptop to my tv with an S-video to scart cable I only get black and white picture. What can I do about this?

I suppose is bios regional/system limitations. You can update this with a firmware.


I doubt it has anything to do with bios settings. S-video is not supported in the original SCART standard, although the functionality can be found on certain devices as an add-on to the standard. Therefore your SCART device may not support the S-Video connection, so you only see a monochromatic image (the Luminance part of the S-Video signal) but no color ( the Chrominance part). It's simply not physically wired in the SCART connector of the device, or the device (display) has no Y/C internal connection - only composite - or standard - video.


YES it can be done. This is how:

Y-ground------------------+
                          +---------- RCA/composite ground
C-ground------------------+

Y-------------------------+
                          +--------- RCA/composite video
C------------||-----------+
           470pF

Short the + together. not seen properly on page. Enjoy! -Abhi

(Hope you don't mind me fixing it. - mako 03:24, 23 January 2006 (UTC))

Hmm. So where are the sync signals then, and what are the Y/C source impedances? If two 75-ohm outputs are driving the 75-ohm composite input, then this kludge removes whatever is below 3-MHz in the chrominance signal. Are there sync signals in both Y and C? If there is no sync in the chrominance signal to filter out, why introduce a phase shift into the luminance signal simply to decouple the S-video outputs? I learned a lot about S-video mechanicals, but can someone elaborate on the electricals?--66.30.207.68 00:45, 11 September 2007 (UTC)jasper
Y and C are in sync from the source, so only one of them needs the signal, and that would be the Y, you can probably see the spike of the sync signal if you hook it up to an oscilloscope. Filtering out frequencies below 3Mhz from C (as illustrated in the Overview section's bandwidth usage diagram fig (b)) eliminates unnecessary/transient signals that cause artifacts like dot crawl. Sorry I can't be of more help with the rest of your questions. 206.192.98.168 (talk) 16:08, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism

I'd say we request a lock. Please don't violate the 3 revert rule!

Page protection isn't necessary as I've temporarily blocked the user committing the vandalism. The three-revert rule doesn't apply to simple vandalism. --David Iberri | Talk 23:47, Dec 30, 2004 (UTC)

I made a bet with my friend - in S-video the S stands for Super video, or Serial video??

I've never heard it called serial video, though the term super video is pretty common. However, both are incorrect, I believe. Some googling reveals that the S stands for separated [1] [2] [3] [4]. You might have better luck asking the folks at the reference desk. --David Iberri | Talk 00:27, Feb 4, 2005 (UTC)

S-Video certainly does stand for "separated video". Y/C is not a "serial" or packet transmission protocol. The erroneous term "super video" came from S-Video's early association with "Super VHS" (S-VHS), though S-Video and S-VHS really have nothing to do with each other. --Mark Rizo 07:08, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Y/C ?

Question?

Does anybody know what Y/C stands for in terms of SVHS? I was asked the question in an interview for a job at a Film and Video Archive today. I thought it was a trick question. Any ideas?

Y/C stands for Luminance and Chrominance. S-VHS is super VHS, a higher resolution compared to standard VHS. A S-VHS device will have an S-Video connector (separated video) where the normally composite (combined) video signal is split into its luminance and chrominance portions - hence the Y/C terminology. Luminance is the monochrome parts of the video signal, and chrominance is the color parts. Separating them reduces crosstalk, especially in the chrominance. For example if you see a "rainbow" in a striped pattern on-screen in composite video signal - switching to s-video should significantly reduce this effect.

[edit] S Video output from laptop to Coaxial port TV input

Can it be possible to have an S Video output from the laptop and send the signal to Coaxial Cable input port of a TV. Can it help solve the proble of B&W signals being recieved on TV from the laptop in case of normal S Video connection that is done?

Saad

Quick answer = No!

Explantion = Co-ax is composite (or combined) video whereas S-Video is separated video (loosely referred to as component video by some - though not true component video like RGB connections). S-Video is a 4-wire connection with Luminance and Chrominance on 2 separate wires. Composite (standard coax) is single conductor carrying both luminance and chrominance.

But you can mix the svideo signals with a small capacitor to get a composite output http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/svideo2cvideo.html

If you mean coax as in cable tv coax, you'd need a modulator. If you see a b&w picture with normal S-Video, either the cable's broken or your laptop settings are incorrect. - mako 03:24, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Delete image (now in Commons)

I copied the image: SVideoConnector.jpg to Commons to use it in other languages, so the one hosted in this Wikipedia can be deleted, I suppose. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Clemente (talk • contribs) Revision as of 22:09, 21 October 2005

Procedure for deleting is to place Template:Redundant image on wikiP image file. Then will get deleted in due course. I fixed up the licensing as was {PD}, which is NOT GOOD enough by itself. // FrankB 22:02, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is s-video hot swapable?

I am looking to buy a DVD player (Philips DVP642), and while I don't have component on my TV I do have an S-video in. I've been playing things via my video card which has an S-video output as well. Will playing a DVD be as simple as swapping the cable from the computer to the DVD player? Can I hot swap it, or will that be a problem?

Thanks, JoeSmack [[User talk:JoeSmack|(talk)]] 19:45, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

Yes, video is inherently hot-swappable. It's just a signal. - mako 03:24, 23 January 2006 (UTC)
Be careful with that advice. The fact that the cable carries just a signal does not necessarily make it hot swappable. In the case of S-Video, the operating voltages are low enough that it is hot swapable. However, there are many examples of signal carrying connectors that are not hot swapable. The parallel printer interface is certianly not. RS-232 is alleged to be, but practice dictates otherwise. The serial bus interface on the Commodore 64 range of computers was guaranteed to be damaged if you even though about hot swaping it (well almost!). I B Wright 17:36, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Questions

1) Can you provide an pinout of the s-video cable pins? Every article on cable standards should be required to have a pinout. 2) Who developed the s-video standard? Thanks. 3. Is there any audio going through a S-Video connection? Or is it only video. Thanks

[edit] Can you connect the Laptop to the TV using the S-Video

I have a s-video cable a TV s-video compatible and a laptop which has a S-Video port. I tried connecting the laptop to the TV using the svideo cable, but it doesnt seem to work! Am I missing out on something?

Depending on your video card drivers, you may need to enable TV-out. On some laptops there is an fn-key to toggle it. In general, you should be able to find it in your computer's display settings. If you are unable to find it, look at your video card's manual. --24.44.57.83 17:35, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] RCA to S-Video

Does anyone know how to convert the standard RCA audio and video into an s-video connection that would go into a computer video card or digital video recorder (for instance)? rollerdad

Which standard? Y/C? CVBS? RGB? RGBS? RBGHV? YCbCr? Or something more exotic? :-) Note that S-Video does not carry audio, so the audio adaptor will be usually be seperate (although the C64 had a DIN connector which carried CVBS, S-Video (Y/C) and audio simultaneously).
There are also multiple connectro standards for S-Video, although the mini DIN (Hosiden) connector is most popular nowadays. S-Video via two RCA connectors was popular (sort of) in the late 70s. --Klaws 13:13, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
Erm, I forgot to ask about the audio standard. Analog audio typically uses one RCA plug per channel, while the different digital audio standards allow for mutiple audio channels per RCA plug. I also have some devices here which use analog frequency multiplexed audio to transport 100+ channels of audio over a single RCA connector. --Klaws 13:50, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] S-Video widescreen laptop output

I want to play 4:3 video off a widescreen laptop through the S-Video output. What will the output dimension of the video be?

[edit] S-VIDEO is there any version like PAL NTSC or SECAM?

I would like to know if any standards are there for S-VIDEO specific to PAL, NTSC or SECAM? Can I connect S-video output of any DVD player into TVs with S-Video input of TVs that support any of the standards (NTSC, PAL or SECAM)

Looking for an answer

Sridhar S

In general, it is not possible to connect devices with different color standards via a S-Video cable (and have it working). For example, an NTSC video player will not produce a usable picture on a PAL TV. However, there are a few models of both players and TVs which can perform color standard converion on the fly. --Klaws 13:13, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hosiden AV connector MERGEINTO S-Video proposal

Nomination w/o comment by —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Joeyhagedorn (talk • contribs) Revision as of 07:46, 10 May 2006 .

Oppose — an A/V connector type used in a video transmission protocol, even the one that birthed it, is mixing apples with oranges. While S-video is the normal use of the Hosiden connector, I have also seen it used in other four pin low power applications (e.g. An optomitrists lamp for examining the retina, X-ray security equipment in airports) simply because it is small, compact, and easily obtainable in a variety of PCB edge mounted configurations. FrankB 21:44, 22 May 2006 (UTC)


Perhaps this S-Video article is not the correct article to merge the Hosiden connector with, but I feel there is some confusion among what should belong in each of the DIN_Connector, S-Video, and Hosiden articles. It appears that the content of the Hosiden article speaks specifically about the connector's application to the S-Video protocol, (except for the links section), while it should contain information about the physical connector and it's possible application. I have personally seen this connector type on many devices for a variety of applications, including the Apple_Desktop_Bus, power, and A/V applications--and feel there should be a clear explanation of this, connector vs. protocols commonly carried on the connector. Would it be reasonable to merge the Hosiden article in to the mini-DIN section of the DIN_Connector article? Or should the content of that section be moved to the Hosiden article? It is not clear to me what is the proper name for the connector, personally I have found mini-DIN to be the "correct" and popular name for the connector, though this could be specific to my geographic location in the United States—. Joeyhagedorn (talk) May 29, 2006, 21:23 (UTC)

  • Okay -- see your point; assuming you can find a DIN standard, and cite that and apply it to the Hosiden article, it would be fine to move into the DIN article. But! Then you create a case for a disambigulation about the Hosiden use. The connector was initially introduced and used for s-video on the old laser disk and early cam-corders and intermediate high definition televisions in the USA market at least; I believe the PAL video standard in Europe is closer to THAT IHDTV resolution aimed at here in the US in the later 80's, but don't know that for sure. I've been away from that area of tech for a while, and would have to research to be sure, but the IHDTV's, iirc, were about 150% denser, or about 330-380 scanlines is IHDTV, which is nothing compared to today's plasma screen tech, etcetera. The US standard is archaic because of the need to maintain backwards compatibility to the original 1920's broadcast standard.
OTHO, I'm not really happy with this statement from the Hosiden article: It may also be referred to as a mini DIN. It's either a DIN, covered by one of the DIN standards, or it isn't. My objections to the merge were twofold: (1) The Japanese certainly used the connector first (2) is that I see no problem with short articles, especially on something specific. I'm very unmergest, in the belief the more keywords we have, and more articles we have with content, the better in this day and age of pre-parsed, keyword driven search engines like google. Note the engine may also find the sought for keyword in the article, not just the title as in a redirect; so I merge less than many.
In the end, the folks updating and interested in these articles need to do the research and pull together the right thing to do. I just sort of happened by, and now that I've relooked at the Hoisden article, I have to admit it's pretty sparce. Perhaps the thing would be to add more 'meat' there as to other uses you've seen for the connector. I can tell you after thirty years in electronics, a connector that meets space and power requirements and is widely used will tend to become even wider used (e.g. RCA jack), solely on the basis, that it's mass produced and cheaper, therefore specified even more... A positive feedback effect of sorts, within limits because of economics fact. Listing all such protocol's used for such is a daunting task, you'd have to start with the DC task I cited (Optician's headlamp), and are bound to miss proprietary uses. I'd stick to a handful of widely produced, and focus on the versatility, vice the specifics. Best regards, FrankB 00:37, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Support — As it stands, with the exception of the 1st sentence, Hosiden talks only about the connector's application in S-Video. And so, content-wise, these two articles are duplicates.

[edit] compromise proposed

That said, the physical Hosiden connectors are equivalent to mini-DIN connectors and "Hosiden" is the name of a Japanese manufacturer.

So my take is that the Hosiden article is completely wrong. Instead the content of the Hosiden article (as it is now) should be merged with S-Video (though aside from the graphic I don't see any new information), a Hosiden Connector article should be created and redirected to mini-DIN and Hosiden should be either deleted, or changed to an stub on the company.

How's that for a solution? Mobius 02:18, 31 May 2006 (UTC)


  • I think this proposed solution makes more sense than a merge. The first step is creating a good mini-DIN article (I think we should examine the DIN standards on the connector-- I've yet to find them). Is it agreed that it will be best to remove the Merge template and instead rectify the matter in a way similar to what Mobius suggested above? -- Joeyhagedorn (talk) 07:08, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
I can endorse that plan. T'would be a good idea to tie both DIN articles with a cross-reference or three on IEEE standards that overlap these connectors here in the USA and maybe drop a note on the Japan Projects page that you're doing this, so their information can be cross correlated as well. Educational all around, and could turn out to be a decently useful reference to someone doing a design in a hurry— or someone like myself that tinkers and wants to modify something.
I left a coresponding note on that Talk:Hosiden. One caveat... someone needs to check the naming conventions on things like Mini-DIN connector, Hosiden connector. I've a feeling the guidelines suggested name may well be Hosiden (connector) like 1632 (novel) or Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (fictional character) and many other such examples. Best of luck! // FrankB 21:24, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 7-pin S-video

Can we have some description about the 7-pin s-Video?

As shown on http://www.technick.net/public/code/cp_dpage.php?aiocp_dp=pinconhav_s_video_7pin, these non-standard connectors appear on some PC graphics cards. I don't have solid confirmation on if you can use a 4-pin S-Video connector on it, but something like this can potentically cause confustion for those who are unaware of the differences. --Sigma 7 04:06, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Max/Recommended Length?

What about the max/recommended length of cable to carry a S-video ? Jeff schiller 00:00, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

http://www.google.com/search?q=s+video+max+length —Preceding unsigned comment added by 155.138.3.21 (talk) 20:22, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_maximum_length_for_S_Video_cable_and_how_do_you_increase_the_range

There are a lot of issues that can develop when running long lengths of cable. A safe length for S-Video is 150ft. This length is subject to signal strength from the source unit and being run in an area that is relatively free from interference.

If you need to increase this length, you can use a device called an S-Video Balun. The S-Video Balun is a stand alone device that transforms a single S-Video channel to and from CAT-5 twisted pair cabling. CAT-5 cable is much cheaper than S-Video and can be run up to a maximum of 500 ft. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.139.109.100 (talk) 12:58, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Question?

There have been questions about labtops but I have a S-Video output on my PC and an input on my TV so I tried connecting them but it doesn't work. What do I need to do to make it work?

Never mind about that. I got it to work but it's not in color. What should I do to fix it?

RTFM. This is an article discussion board not a help desk. 81.157.216.80 17:23, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Connector picture?

What happened to the picture of the connector? It seems to have been removed. -82.182.50.47 20:19, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Who made s-video and when did it become a standard?

Who made s-video and when did it become a standard? 24.111.216.12 04:24, 3 March 2007 (UTC) 10:21 pm 3-2-07.

S-video has always existed. S-video signals must exist before the signals are combined to transmit composite video. So the answer must be whowever developed the original NTSC colour system. 81.157.216.80 17:23, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] S-Video is not a connector

The second paragraph in the introduction starts: "S-Video is only one of several types of Y/C video connectors, but it is, by far, the most common." This implies that S-Video is a connector, which is false. S-Video is a video format. The most common type of connector that is being referred to is a 4-pin mini-DIN connector. I will change the text to reflect this. Snottywong 12:56, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

I beg to differ: S-Video is only one type of connector for Y/C signal transmission, though it is certainly the most popular. It would be more appropriate if the article was titled "Y/C" or "component Y/C". I have used Y/C for nearly 20 years, and I assure you there is no electrical signal difference between Y/C via S-Video and Y/C via dual BNC, dual RCA, 7-pin "dub", or any other Y/C variant. S-Video is just one type of connector for Y/C signals, just as composite video signals are transmitted via different connectors, e.g. BNC, RCA, 1/4 inch patch cables, etc. --Mark Rizo 06:55, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

The mini 4 pin connector is almost universally refered to as a 'S-Video' connector, regardless of any technical irregularity in the nomenclature. You are strictly correct that it is not the only way of connecting a S-Video signal, but there you go. 81.157.216.80 17:23, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] midi-DIN 9??

I just came across an ati Radeon 9200 graphics adapter that has a miniDIN 9 s-video connector. Can someone add info on that to this article? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.16.77.9 (talk) 07:09, 7 May 2007 (UTC).

Are you sure there are 9 pins? I have a Radeon 9200 video card and mine only has 7 pins. 7 pin connectors are discussed in the article. 81.157.216.80 17:23, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
I have a Radeon 9200 and a GeForce 6800 and an ATI TV Wonder Pro, all of which have a miniDIN 9 female port (only the cables for the 6800 actually have a male 9-pin connector, the rest use a 7 pin which is compatible with the female miniDIN 9) 206.192.98.168 (talk) 16:14, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] S-video no picture

I connected my home theater to my TV using s-video connector. Now my satellite decoder is connected to my Home theater with regular composite cables. I've not tried watching a dvd but I want to know why I can only get satellite audio and no video. I had to connect a video out from Home theatre to TV to get a picture.

Saris limited 09:47, 10 July 2007 (UTC) Sari

This is not a support board, it's for discussing the article --I hate to register 12:12, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] S-Video resolution

The article says "carries high-bandwidth 480i or 576i resolution video, i.e. standard definition video" but the S-Video signal only contains 120 lines (as it said in the article "For NTSC S-video's color resolution is typically 120 lines"). What's right? Can it be explained more clearly? --I hate to register 12:12, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

I'm working on this one. I think the contributor is actually trying to make two points but has confused the two. I aim to reword it. 81.157.216.80 17:23, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
You're mixing dimensions. 486i is the up-and-down resolution (there are 486 visible scanlines). The 120 number is the left-right resolution (how many chroma pixels can fit inside an imaginary square, counting left to right). The reason they are called lines instead of pixels is because the eyechart that is used for testing is a series of black lines on a white background. - Theaveng 20:50, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Technical error re Luminance Bandwidth

In the Overview section it says "In composite video, the luminance signal is low-pass filtered to prevent crosstalk between high-frequency luminance information and the color subcarrier" which I believe is factually wrong. In all three broadcast systems (NTSC, PAL, SECAM) the color (burst) signal is multiplexed in time with the luminance signal so that there is no reason the luminance signal cannot use the full bandwidth of the channel. (VCR recording is a totally different issue.) GS3 08:35, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Actually it is filtered. The colour burst may well occupy a non visible part of the video timing, but the chrominance information for the colour of the actual picture is time coincident with the luminance information and thus within the visible picture (otherwise there would be no colour!). The filtering is not perfect and the roll off does encroach into the chrominance space, so pronounced high frequency patterns (such as patterns on a presenter's suit) still produce a visible colour fringing effect, however it is not as serious as it would be if the filtering wasn't present. 81.157.216.80 17:23, 19 October 2007 (UTC)