Has anyone tried an RC to S-Video adapter?

[BeltlineYYC]

Pretty much what the topic line asked. I'm looking at hooking a 7800 up to a new-ish TV, and I've read that the easiest way to do so is with an RCA-coax adapter... problem is, I can't seem to find on in any of the local shops. I did, however, find a an RCA to S-Video adapter at Future Shop, and my TV has an open S-Vid input, so I was wondering if anyone here had tried (successfully or not) using one of these with a 7800.

 

For the sake of reference, this guy here is the one I found. It costs a little bit more than the RCA-coax hook up, but I don't mind... I kinda just want to know if it flat out won't work before putting down fifteen bucks.

[Rybags]

First off - are you talking about the RF signal that the 7800 generates by default, or do you have an addon board that ouputs better video?

If you have an addon board, you should be able to drag seperate chroma and luma out of it anyway and use a more direct approach.

 

 

You can get joiners that take an S-Video signal and combine it into composite RCA for about 3-4 bucks.

 

Other way around isn't really a valid way to do things. S-Video has chroma and luma distinctly seperated, and you can't really seperate those signals with a simple passive plugin device.

 

TVs and monitors will actually seperate chroma and luma from a composite input as part of converting it to native RGB to drive the tube/panel.

You might get lucky, some devices are smart enough to recognise that the S-Video input has a combined signal coming in, I think one of my PC capture cards used to do that.

 

But as I said, a passive device won't do any conversion to the "better" standard so it'll be anyone's guess as to whether the monitor will like it.

 

An active converter in theory could produce the two seperate signals for you but what you'll end up with won't be as good as a native S-Video signal.

[+wood_jl]

I think there may be some confusion here. I'm pretty sure the o.p. is talking about a stock RF output.

 

It is unfortunate that it became customary to use RCA plugs for either RF or composite, hence confusion.

 

 

If this is a stock 7800, then this guy needs to get one of these:

 

 

....and go in through the threaded antenna connection (or use the dreaded switchbox). Trouble is, will the TVs in the future even have an analog tuner to catch legacy devices outputting RF on an unused channel? Do they now?

[Mord]

Pretty much what the topic line asked. I'm looking at hooking a 7800 up to a new-ish TV, and I've read that the easiest way to do so is with an RCA-coax adapter... problem is, I can't seem to find on in any of the local shops. I did, however, find a an RCA to S-Video adapter at Future Shop, and my TV has an open S-Vid input, so I was wondering if anyone here had tried (successfully or not) using one of these with a 7800.

 

For the sake of reference, this guy here is the one I found. It costs a little bit more than the RCA-coax hook up, but I don't mind... I kinda just want to know if it flat out won't work before putting down fifteen bucks.

 

Al has some of those types of things available in the Atari Age shop I believe. Cheaper too, if it's the same thing.

[Albert]

I have various cables and connectors available here:

 

http://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_list&c=101

 

..Al

[HammR25]

Pretty much what the topic line asked. I'm looking at hooking a 7800 up to a new-ish TV, and I've read that the easiest way to do so is with an RCA-coax adapter... problem is, I can't seem to find on in any of the local shops. I did, however, find a an RCA to S-Video adapter at Future Shop, and my TV has an open S-Vid input, so I was wondering if anyone here had tried (successfully or not) using one of these with a 7800.

 

For the sake of reference, this guy here is the one I found. It costs a little bit more than the RCA-coax hook up, but I don't mind... I kinda just want to know if it flat out won't work before putting down fifteen bucks.

Even if that connector pulled the video you'd have no sound since S-Video doesn't carry sound.

[Rybags]

If he's using an RF -> SVideo convertor then it should do audio seperately as well.

 

Unless he's already got the convertor, it's a kinda roundabout way to convert an ordinary signal over crap medium to a crap signal over reasonably good medium.

Way better off just doing one of the video mods to the console and get S-Video direct.

[BeltlineYYC]

Hrm... thanks for the replies, guys. For the record, I haven't done any mods to the 7800, so it's just the standard composite RCA signal coming out of the console that I'm trying to feed into the TV. I know I could use the adapter wood_jl posted and go through the TV's cable input - which wouldn't be an issue as I don't have cable on my gaming TV, so I wouldn't need any additional selectors or switches.

 

I didn't realize S-Video didn't support sound, so I guess that's not really an option after all.

 

Anyway, I don't have any plans to mod my 7800... for one thing, I've never soldered anything before in my life. I'd really rather not risk botching the job and ruining the console.

[Rybags]

Standard 7800 output is not Composite video though.

 

It's an RF signal that you have to tune into as Channel 1 (or whatever), just like most older computers.

 

Composite is the "next best" or "second worst" option that you normally call AV these days.

[BeltlineYYC]

Ah, my bad. I guess I need to bone up on my terminology when it comes to these more technical threads... I'm not much of a tech guy, to tell the truth. Apologies for any confusion.

[DracIsBack]

Anyway, I don't have any plans to mod my 7800... for one thing, I've never soldered anything before in my life. I'd really rather not risk botching the job and ruining the console.

 

That's always been my problem as well. For some, it's dead easy, but I've never soldered a single thing in my life easier. If I wreck the console, it's a pain to get a new one.