So Coaxial & S-Video are phased out on newer TVs?

[CRTGAMER]

I still think S-Video is a garbage quality connector (not the signal it produces). The jack on my big 32" CRT is really loose, if it's not pulled up all you get is a black and white image. It's also really easy to bend the pins inside the connector. Whoever thought the S-Video jack was good enough for consumer consumption, needs a slap upon the face. A solid connector like the Nintendo/Sony's Multi-AV jacks would have been awesome for TV connection. Instead we get crapola like RCA and S-Video jacks... What a waste of metal and plastic...

Agree. The old Commodore 1701 and 1702 monitors had it right. As in the newer component cable connections, this S-Video connection had two RCA jacks of Chroma and Luma signals. A shame the industry went with that small din plug thinking most ignorant consumers couldn't figure out separating the audio and video jacks.

 

Regular DVDs on an HD TV need to be upscaled.

Component 480p works fine on a HD CRT no upscaler needed.

Edited February 4, 2011 by CRTGAMER

[+wood_jl]

Yep. And that does not always translate well, IMHO.

 

That's what I used to think. I bought a semi-used (store return) Blue-ray player - elcheap S360 with no Netfix capability.... But anyway, through and HDMI connection, it upscales DVDs TERRIFICLY!! I mean, I was impressed.

 

Sure, if you get right up and put your nose to the screen, it ain't so great, but from on the sofa, WOW. It was better than I thought. It's not Bluray, but I'm not going to think about replacing my movies now, either.

 

I mean, it was definitely a step up from a std. DVD player through component cables, and I was NOT expecting it to be. I mean I was VERY skeptical.

 

It also has the advantage of "filling the screen" to the best of its ability, ***WITHOUT** screwing up the aspect ration; I hate stretched/squashed pictures. Amazingly, it does it (and get it right - imagine that!) automatically. Who knew? I paid $30 for the in-box Blu-ray player, or I'd never have had one.

Edited February 4, 2011 by wood_jl

[psquare75]

 

 

Regular DVDs on an HD TV need to be upscaled.

Component 480p works fine on a HD CRT no upscaler needed.

 

Component sure.. All I know is, my dvd player with standard A/V jacks (yellow and red) looked flat out disgusting on an HD tv.

[Tr3vor]

I think that N64 on our 1080i Projection screen tv doesn't look half bad...

 

I say LCD tv's look like sh!t. they are pixely and ugly. I like my Sony Trinitron. Thats awesome, but I wish it had 480p like other models.

[potatohead]

Yep. And that does not always translate well, IMHO.

 

That's what I used to think. I bought a semi-used (store return) Blue-ray player - elcheap S360 with no Netfix capability.... But anyway, through and HDMI connection, it upscales DVDs TERRIFICLY!! I mean, I was impressed.

 

Sure, if you get right up and put your nose to the screen, it ain't so great, but from on the sofa, WOW. It was better than I thought. It's not Bluray, but I'm not going to think about replacing my movies now, either.

 

I mean, it was definitely a step up from a std. DVD player through component cables, and I was NOT expecting it to be. I mean I was VERY skeptical.

 

It also has the advantage of "filling the screen" to the best of its ability, ***WITHOUT** screwing up the aspect ration; I hate stretched/squashed pictures. Amazingly, it does it (and get it right - imagine that!) automatically. Who knew? I paid $30 for the in-box Blu-ray player, or I'd never have had one.

 

Well, "perfectly" depends on how the DVD was encoded. If it's produced progressive, then yeah, I agree. Many of my DVDs look great upscaled. There is a strong appeal for that, just as there is seeing them pixel perfect on a component, progressive scan display too.

 

No argument there.

 

For those DVDs that are produced interlaced, like the Babylon 5 ones, it's not the same. Still like it, but I like it best on the SD TV, and I've a nice old one with a huge tube, and it's flat out golden.

 

YMMV

 

And in the context of gaming and stuff, that upscaling and latency on the display isn't so hot either.

Edited February 5, 2011 by potatohead

[S1500]

So a little update.

 

Last night I got the Samsung 46 inch tv, the higher end model for $1K. I wanted the lower-end same-size model for $200 less, but it was out of stock. I was antsy, so I ordered it online & me and my mom picked it up.

 

Also picked up PS3 component cables since it's the same connector for PS2. WOW is this picture beautiful. But all the HD programming looks...videotaped. Maybe I grew used to some graininess & slight imperfections on 720 on a much smaller screen. Xbox 360 hooks up to it just fine. Haven't tried the PS2. With all these inputs & such on the TV, my switchbox is getting less action. Missing one cable, I use the switchbox to go between the TV itself(which can do xbox, etc) & cable TV.

 

It is REALLY nice to be able to watch a torrented top gear episode off of a thumbdrive, which my Xbox didn't like(some MKV file).

 

My entertainment center now has no top due to the size, but I'll learn to live with it. I'll hook up the VCR via coomposite later so I can utilize its two Composite inputs(front n back) & the coaxial input for the 5200.

 

And to think I can hook up a lappie to it & play MAME! Yay!

[potatohead]

Re: "Videotaped"

 

Yeah, the new rule for digital broadcast is to favor choice over quality. They run metrics to see what the lowest tolerable bitrate is, then use that and programming types to offer max choices at any one time.

 

Go and get a Blu-Ray, and seriously enjoy that new display

 

Don't know what your experience will be, but my Panny plasma actually renders composite very, very well. I can use a 80 column display in color (some colors, not all) and it's readable! You lose that pixel perfect "Atari" look, because the TV does some processing, but you gain some resolution on more complex images over composite. I've tested with the Prop, Atari, CoCo 3, and the performance over composite is very good, compared to my old "pixel perfect" SONY WEGA SD CRT benchmark TV.

 

I find I can see motion artifacts on most cable / sat HD programming. Over the air programming can be considerably better, depending on what the local broadcaster has done with their bandwidth allocation. We've got one here that just runs a single HD stream, and it's the bomb! Some others run three or 4, and it's VHS-ish quality. YMMV.

[psquare75]

With my Samsung 42" I turn the sharpness all the way down to zero, and set it to 4:3 display.. you get bars on the side, but the games look 'normal'. Also, you may have the 120hz motion on.. I hate it, I feel like I'm watching a British sitcom, try turning it off, that may be the videotape-ness you're talking about. Enjoy!