A/V cables: 1st party vs 3rd

[FoxNtd]

Not sure if this has been thrown around but a simple question as I'm considering getting a set of new cables with S-Video: since cables are simply wires, is there any perceivable difference between a cheap 3rd party cable versus the official first-party one? Nintendo and Sega S-Video cables are a bit pricey considering that equivalent cables anywhere else are just a few bucks these days at most. I'm still using the default composite connectors for my consoles but would like to try S-Video to see what kind of improvement I can get on my Trinitron CRT. I'll need a new selector box since the TV has only one input for S-Video as opposed to 3 for composite, but if the upgrade is worthwhile, why not go for it.

One cable with the Nintendo connector works with SFC/N64/GC which is great, and if I like the results I'd get one for SS and DC as well. Is there an S-Video cable for Mega Drive too? Out of all consoles I feel like that one is the most in need of a video signal improvement.

[Tanooki]

I can not help you with 1st vs 3rd, but back when I worked at Midway very late N64 and early Gamecube/PS2 stuff some we had it support s-video actively and therefore we had to set a few TVs to the side, trinitrons with the best picture quality on them to see how the visuals in the 3D games and 2D menus on them held up. I can say this much, there's a very sharp difference between RCA and S-Video on those mid/late 90s and 00s systems with it. Colors are more defined and vibrant, and all sorts of RCA ghosting/blur are gone and it's very sharp. It's a good happy middle ground around like what component does for color and clarity since the video signal is split between the wires/pins versus jumbled up and blurred out in composite(rca.)

[lendelin]

In my experience there is no noticeable difference between third-party composite or s-video cables and the 'official' ones. I wouldn't even buy very expensive s-video or component cables nowadays (like from Monstercable) which I did back in the day.

But by all means use s-video connections whenever possible! The SNES, N64 and others look MUCH better with s-video compared to composite. Color saturation, contrast and sharpness are noticeably better, more than ten years ago when I discovered s-video connections I systematically compared it with RF and composite, and it is a big difference.

I use s-video for the SNES, N64, PS 1 (if I don't use the PS2 or PS3 to play PS1-games) and Saturn. Buy a s-video system selector (switch box) and you're fine. Too bad the NES and Genesis are not able (without heavy modding) to output s-Video.

Btw, the SNES, N64 and GameCube use the same s-video cables and they all fit, just buy the ones which are cheapest. So buy GameCube cables for the SNES if they are cheaper, they work just fine. 10 years ago I saw in stores s-video cables for the Gamecube which were much more expensive than for the 'old' N64. They were the same from the same manufacturer.

I played for a long time also the Dreamcast on s-video, but switched to VGA. This is MUCH better. (and esay to do, there are VGA cables and boxes out there for the Dreamcast). Unfortunately, most modern TVs don't have VGA connections anymore so I had to buy a VGA to HDMI converter in order to connect the Dreamcast to the TV.

[eskobar]

Not sure if this has been thrown around but a simple question as I'm considering getting a set of new cables with S-Video: since cables are simply wires, is there any perceivable difference between a cheap 3rd party cable versus the official first-party one? Nintendo and Sega S-Video cables are a bit pricey considering that equivalent cables anywhere else are just a few bucks these days at most. I'm still using the default composite connectors for my consoles but would like to try S-Video to see what kind of improvement I can get on my Trinitron CRT. I'll need a new selector box since the TV has only one input for S-Video as opposed to 3 for composite, but if the upgrade is worthwhile, why not go for it.

One cable with the Nintendo connector works with SFC/N64/GC which is great, and if I like the results I'd get one for SS and DC as well. Is there an S-Video cable for Mega Drive too? Out of all consoles I feel like that one is the most in need of a video signal improvement.

Just be careful with 3rd party cables that pass only composite video over s-video connector. If the cable outputs separate signal over the s-video connector there isn't much difference with 1st party cables.

If you can purchase a PVM, buy scart cables and experience rgb video

[FoxNtd]

The majority of the cheap cables have both s-video and composite video connectors, which means I can't tell if it's a "passthrough" or a proper wiring for the s-video portion. Should I just get one and try it to see if it's done right? There are cables that are exclusively s-video without the video composite connector but it costs like 5 times more.

I saw some comparison screenshots between composite and s-video. That clarity improvement looks very nice. It will help me read better with N64 and GC games that use kanji in a font size that makes them appear a tad blurry which is obnoxious! Haha probably not the most favourite reason to upgrade the video quality right?

[eskobar]

The majority of the cheap cables have both s-video and composite video connectors, which means I can't tell if it's a "passthrough" or a proper wiring for the s-video portion. Should I just get one and try it to see if it's done right? There are cables that are exclusively s-video without the video composite connector but it costs like 5 times more.

I saw some comparison screenshots between composite and s-video. That clarity improvement looks very nice. It will help me read better with N64 and GC games that use kanji in a font size that makes them appear a tad blurry which is obnoxious! Haha probably not the most favourite reason to upgrade the video quality right?

Definitely one of the best reasons to upgrade, IMO.

It's trial and error with cheap cables. In my PVM monitors I try to use the official licensed cables offered by the console manufacturer, monster cable or hori, but I have a small panasonic video monitor with a very cheap cable (Pelican, I think) that outputs true s-video and has a separate composite video cable and the quality is really nice, I think I paid less than 5 usd on ebay a few years ago.

[BlastProcessing402]

Not sure if this has been thrown around but a simple question as I'm considering getting a set of new cables with S-Video: since cables are simply wires, is there any perceivable difference between a cheap 3rd party cable versus the official first-party one? Nintendo and Sega S-Video cables are a bit pricey considering that equivalent cables anywhere else are just a few bucks these days at most. I'm still using the default composite connectors for my consoles but would like to try S-Video to see what kind of improvement I can get on my Trinitron CRT. I'll need a new selector box since the TV has only one input for S-Video as opposed to 3 for composite, but if the upgrade is worthwhile, why not go for it.

One cable with the Nintendo connector works with SFC/N64/GC which is great, and if I like the results I'd get one for SS and DC as well. Is there an S-Video cable for Mega Drive too? Out of all consoles I feel like that one is the most in need of a video signal improvement.

The real thing to be aware of, is if you get a multi system cable (like one with Nintendo, Sony, and Xbox connectors all on the same cable) only ever have it connected to one system at a time, even if the other systems are off, or you will get weird issues like a dimmed screen or missing sound among others. Other than that, I never noticed a bit of difference between my official Super NES s-video cable and any of the cheap multisystem ones.

You mention the DC, I would suggest instead getting a VGA box if at all possible, as games look great in VGA, and the boxes also usually have S-video built in as well.

No, the Genesis/MD never had official S-video. I think there might be a mod for it, but it's not built in.

[FoxNtd]

The s-video cable for Saturn came in today. Extremely disappointed. It looks identical to composite. I can't tell the two apart. I can only assume that to be certain I get the proper video quality connected, I need the version of the cable that does NOT have a composite connector attached to it. It's gonna be like 3 times more expensive than this cheap one but well I guess there's a reason for that.

[Niku-Sama]

Sounds like it's just pumping the same composite signal down each pin of s-video instead of sending a separate luma signal like normal

[FoxNtd]

Got the cables for Nintendo consoles and Dreamcast. Same problem with the Nintendo cable. It's just sending the composite signal through the S-video connector. The Dreamcast cable is broken entirely. No video signal from either connector and the audio connectors cause immediate buzzing, even with the console off. Terrible. Looking for dedicated S-video cables with no composite connector this time around...

[Gameguy]

I avoid 3rd party cables whenever possible, the only exception is if the cables came bundled with something else. Sure some 3rd party ones can be good, but how will you know when they're good ones without buying them and trying them out? It's just not worth the risk to me to bother with them.