Video Signal Comparison

froggy04 · Post by **froggy04** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 3:01 pm

Could anyone tell me about the quality difference between these signals and which is best etc.

Composite
Aerial/Co-ax
S-Video

I would also like to know if there is a massive difference between the capture quality taken through an aerial signal or composite signal. My VCR has no AV out, only an aerial and I need to know if a composite signal with give me massively better results. S-Video too.

Thanks for any help.

Mask of Destiny · Post by **Mask of Destiny** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 3:27 pm

Component > S-Video > Composite > RF (coax)

How much better each connection type will give you varies with the quality of the source and cabling. Personally I'd say try to find a VCR with composite out as RF really sucks.

S-Video doesn't get you very far unless you have a S-VHS source. The main difference between S-Video and composite is that S-Video splits the chroma and luminance channels onto two separate wires whereas Composite has them all travelling over the same wire. Regular VHS doesn't store the luminance and chroma information separately so S-Video provides little advantage in that case.

SS5_Majin_Bebi · Post by **SS5_Majin_Bebi** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 7:19 pm

RF is the bane of movies and television!! It mashes the audio and video into one waveform and puts it through a low quality cable where its decoded on your TV. Watch DVD for a while and then tell me that RF looks good.

Component is awesome, S-Video is great and Composite is alright.