S-Video Cables

[Darth Sensei]

I bought a low cost 32" TV over the Christmas holiday. It's not HDTV, flat screen or anything, but has a decent picture.

Anyway, after doing some reading, I'm going to invest in some S-video cables for PS2, XBOX, and GC. S-Video is the best input the TV offers. I also bought the Pelican System Selector Pro.

However, the prices vary widely between makes. I can get some no-name cables locally for as low as $10 per set while the Monster cables run from $30-$50 each depending on console.

So, here's my question. Should I drop the coin on the best cables for every system? Are the cheap cables good enough or would something in between be best?

Any idea where to get the best price on this stuff?

TIA,

D

[bensenvill]

personally, on a 32" TV (in my personal opinion), I think you'll be hard pressed to tell any difference in quality in picture.

And no offense, but I think you answered your own question. my personal thought are that if you payed top dollar for your TV, you may benifit from some top dollar cables. If you payed mid-range... I think you see what I'm getting at. For isntance, my parents bought a large High def set and he comes home with a $120 monster component cable for the DVD player. And I couldnt get him to understand it was a waste of money because the DVD player I bought them 2 years ago didnt even cost that much.

just my 2 cents
~Tj

[Gunstarhero]

Ok, I've actually done this test so I'll give my opinion. If you have just a regular ole TV set, no matter what cables you get you might not even notice a difference between composite and S-Video. I think cables are a little overrated, you don't need a $40 set of monster cables unless you have something in your home that is dishing out some massive interference, like a cell phone tower or something.

I was never able to notice the difference between Composite, S-Video, and Component until I got my HDTV. But, you may get some improvement with S-Video if you've got a system that is outputting its video signal a bit wavy. I wouldn't waste money on a very expensive S-Video cable, you may be disappointed, but you may be satisfied I don't know, but know this, the leap in picture quality on your plain tv may only be worth it if the cable is $10 compared to $40. The picture only gets so good on a regular tv set.

[bensenvill]

I dissagree wabout the difference between composite and svid, I think its a huge difference.

~Tj

[Oobgarm]

If you're hunting for Monster Cables, I believe Gamestop, as evil as they are, is probably the cheapest of the bunch.

I use them with my System Selector Pro and it works just as good as a direct connection to the TV.

[tholly]

I agree with one of the above posts. If you got a low cost tv then just get the cheap cables, or none at all, unless you really want them.

[Half Japanese]

I concur with Oobgarm. I work at Circuit City, and even with my discount (usually cost + some shipping charge) it worked out better to buy the cables at Gamestop (who had them for $40 - component). If you don't think S-video makes a difference, I challenge you to try it with Ikaruga. I did a little comparison using Ikaruga for a few friends of mine where I switched back and forth between the two cables to show them the difference. Both of them bought S-video cables that same week. Cue, you did a good thing getting the Pelican system selector, I have one and on my non-hdtv that's what got me by.

Now that I have component inputs on my HDTV, S-video is my bare minimum (if the system supports it). I'd recommend dropping the $30 or whatever on a pair of Monsters at Gamestop, I've been gipped before by a pair of cheapass Interact cables. There's a little plastic pin at the bottom of the s-vid input and it broke off of the interact cables, thus making it display black & white unless you wiggled it around some, and even when wiggled, it still went back to black and white after a few seconds. Whatever you get though, as long as they're halfway decent I'm sure you'll notice a difference.

[Gamereviewgod]

S-video is awesome for standard TV's. If you don't see a difference your not looking hard enough. Only 4 of my consoles don't have it, the other 15 either have it or component. The picture is so "crisp" with s-video with no bleeding or color issues. As far as spending $50 on one....no. I don't think I paid more than $8 for any of mine.

[wberdan]

if you care about video quality at all, then s-video almost always brings an improvement. it doesnt always bring an improvement because of the way the signal paths are structured inside the television and the dvd/satellite receivers/etc.
So dont think that automatically because its s-video it is always better.

anyway, that said... s-video most always delivers a better picture, and i find it most noticable on black and white movies. It generally introduces less distortion into the signal, and makes smaller details easier to see.

monster cable is generally overpriced, if you can use aftermarket cables with a system and you want to try something good then give the entry level Audioquest cables a go. They are my personal favorites for audio signals, and they outperform monsters at the same price.
no cable makes the picture better... the better cables simply do less damage to the video signal.

willie

[YoshiM]

I have to chime in as well. If your TV has the capability for S-Video then I suggest you use it. I've got a 27" Apex TV and the difference, at least to MY eyes, is night and day with my Xbox (along with my DVD player and DSS). Your color, especially your blacks are going to be more "true" than with standard A/V cables. For images will be sharper as it goes beyond the standard TV resolution (what that, like 240x200 or is it 320x200..something like that).

I use a cheap Pelican or a Mad Catz multi-system Svideo cable that ran about $10 at Wal-Mart. It's about 6 feet long and the quality is excellent. As others have said if you have a lot of "noise" from other devices then get a more shielded cable. As for Monster Cable I've used the stuff when I worked at Sears and didn't notice a quality difference over "mid range" cables.

[sisko]

Monster themselves sets the price on their products. In fact, retailers are banned from being able to change them. If it happens and they get caught, Monster can pull all their product from that company. That being said, you'd be hard pressed to find price differences on the same cable (note that lengths may be different).

However, as much hype as Monster has, the difference isn't all its cracked up to be. Don't get me wrong, there IS a difference, but I don't feel it warrants an additional $30+ on a low end TV set.

Definitely stick with S-Video. Your TV has it, and its definitely better, so you might as well use it.

Mad Catz makes decent cables, and right now, EB B&M is doing a buy one get one 1/2 off sale on Mad Catz accessories. (So you could buy 1 PS2, and get 1 XBox 1/2 off). I think that will be your best bet.