Quick Review of Lotharek HQ Video Cable

[+mytek]

I thought I'd post this in it's own topic so that it is easily found with a search.

 

So I bought one of Lotharek's HQ (High Quality) Video Cables a short while back (LINK).

I was really excited, thinking when I first saw this on Lotharek's site: "That looks to be a very nice high quality cable, better than anything I've ever seen produced for the A8". Unfortunately that feeling of goodness quickly faded when I connected it between my 576NUC+ prototype and an S-Video Panasonic LCD monitor. I ended up seeing the worse case of jail bars in my entire Atari history.

 

 

So to rule out the 576NUC+ prototype as the cause, next I went on to test it with a 600XL that had a UAV installed - got the same exact result!

 

Finally I tossed the Lotharek video cable aside and grabbed a DIY one that worked perfectly - jail bars were completely gone.

 

--------

 

Now a few weeks later I decided to investigate and disassembled the DIN plug end of the Lotharek video cable. Here's what I found...

 

 

Notice that there isn't even a single shield in that cable, although there are individual wires coming from the ground side of the various connectors. And even with each of those ground wires connected to the common ground point of the DIN plug, that gives you pretty much zero shielding between each signal as well as the outside world. So this means that the individual video signals will cross-talk, thus injecting chroma into the luma and rendering the jail bars that were seen.

 

 

A proper video cable should have individually shielded (coax) cables for each video (Luma, Chroma, CVBS) and audio signal, as seen below.

 

Schematic: Proper Video Cable with S-Video, Composite, and Audio Connections

 

 

 

Although I had high hopes, and I really loved how the cable looked from the outside, sorry to say I really can't recommend purchase of the HQ Video Cable from Lotharek.

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by mytek
Corrected pin numbers on DIN-5 plug

[tmp]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32811124648.html

 

i got one last year since i saw it on his site too claiming it's fully shielded, it went to trash after i cut the wii connector and found no shielding

[jamm]

That's too bad. I got one of these, too, and they do look very well made on the outside.

Anyone have a source for properly-shielded cables?

Edited August 21, 2020 by jamm

[Fierodoug5]

I just got the 8bitclassics s-video cable, hooked up to a 800xl and a Dell fp2001 monitor. Have the worst jailbars I have ever seen, bout the same as myteks picture above. Would love to get a quality shielded cable, but no one seems to make one?

[Fierodoug5]

Oddly, I have the same 8bitclassics cable on my 800 and a Dell fp2001 monitor and the picture is perfect, no jailbars at all.

[invisible kid]

I saw these listed in another thread as being shielded properly:

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M0FXP64/?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

Sorry couldn't find the thread or give proper credit. Also cannot personally confirm them.

Edited August 21, 2020 by invisible kid

[Fierodoug5]

No s-video on that cable though

[+bob1200xl]

Michael is a video guru.

 

That said, if the cable does not act to limit the bandwidth of Luma, then you may see signals riding on your LUMA that should not be there. So, a 'bad' cable may look better than a 'good' cable - maybe.

 

If you disconnect CHROMA at both ends, do the jailbars still show? Or, turn COLOR off - still jailbars?

 

Bob

[jamm]

1 hour ago, Fierodoug5 said:

Oddly, I have the same 8bitclassics cable on my 800 and a Dell fp2001 monitor and the picture is perfect, no jailbars at all.

I have the 8bitcalssics cable, too. I'm seeing jailbars using either that or the Lotharek cable, so I assume my issue has to do with my UAV upgrade not having gone quite perfectly on my Incognito 800.

 

[+mytek]

3 hours ago, jamm said:

That's too bad. I got one of these, too, and they do look very well made on the outside.

Anyone have a source for properly-shielded cables?

I found this on a search and it looks like a good possibility although no composite - S-Video and audio only.

Hercules Workshop - 25' Atari Video Monitor TV Cable (S-Video + Audio) - 800/65XE/130XE

$30 (shown as 2 in stock)

They also list a 6 foot version for $18, but that's shown out of stock

 

Looks like they are using a thick S-Video cable which suggests individual shielding inside (might want to verify before ordering).

 

2 hours ago, Fierodoug5 said:

I just got the 8bitclassics s-video cable, hooked up to a 800xl and a Dell fp2001 monitor. Have the worst jailbars I have ever seen, bout the same as myteks picture above. Would love to get a quality shielded cable, but no one seems to make one?

Unfortunately that cable is also no good because it uses a common shield around luma and chroma, instead of individual coax for each.

 

1 hour ago, jamm said:

I have the 8bitcalssics cable, too. I'm seeing jailbars using either that or the Lotharek cable, so I assume my issue has to do with my UAV upgrade not having gone quite perfectly on my Incognito 800.

Probably the cable is at fault (see note above).

 

 

Hi Bob

 

[tsom]

2 hours ago, Fierodoug5 said:

I just got the 8bitclassics s-video cable, hooked up to a 800xl and a Dell fp2001 monitor. Have the worst jailbars I have ever seen, bout the same as myteks picture above. Would love to get a quality shielded cable, but no one seems to make one?

Saw in the thread about the 130xe's video about 8bitclassic's cable and thought I'd give it a try too. I have an s-video cable that I can't recall where I got it (I think off someone on e-bay - it has a box where the cable splits into s-video and the composite plugs). That one was ok on the 130xe. The 8bitclassic's one was MUCH worse. The first cable, on my 800xl and 800's give an almost pristine picture on some random old LCD TV that I've been using (only thing that has an s-video jack!) I was very disappointed in the 8bitclassic's one. I also took apart the 5 pin connector and see the same thing - bare wires with no shielding. I haven't tried the 8bitclassic's cable on the 800xl or 800 yet.

[jamm]

Well, it's starting to look easier to just build our own...

[tsom]

12 minutes ago, jamm said:

Well, it's starting to look easier to just build our own...

Just have to find the shielded wire... and connectors.

[cwilbar]

I bookmarked these from another thread:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Kenable-Phono-Plugs-Audio-Cable/dp/B00M0FXR8A

https://www.fullcompass.com/prod/092192-hosa-vsf-454-10-s-video-to-dual-rca-f-breakout-cable?dfw_tracker=36058-092192&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpJqhoPaQ6wIVgT6tBh3s8gBnEAQYBCABEgK1D_D_BwE

 

They appear to use individual 'cables'.... cant say if they are shielded or not, but I only bookmarked them as they were indicated to be good quality.

 

[mikesk8]

I will shoot later email to Lotharek asking if he is planning to improve it. I am using his cable and the picture quality is OK, but definitely proper shielding would help it

[TGB1718]

Maybe I was lucky, I seem to have quite a few S-Video cables lying around from old cameras that I never used,

so all I did was cut one end off and solder on a DIN plug, the cable I used had good shielding and works with no

bars on my 800 or 130XE.

 

I think with these things, the people who are making them have no real idea of how higher frequencies need

to be shielded and just think any old cable will do.

 

[Fierodoug5]

I am just waiting on 5 pin din connectors to arrive, and am going to try making my own with a high quality s-video cable I have. Will post my results here.

Edited August 22, 2020 by Fierodoug5

[TGB1718]

21 minutes ago, Fierodoug5 said:

I am just waiting on 5 pin din connectors to arrive, and am going to try making my own with a high quality s-video cable I have. Will post my results here.

Don't forget you have to add the Left and Right Audio (I know it's Mono) to the monitor.

 

This is what I did, as the cable was S-Video already, there were no Audio connections, so I added the Audio cable

then used some heat shrink sleeving to keep it all together

[+mytek]

3 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

I think with these things, the people who are making them have no real idea of how higher frequencies need

to be shielded and just think any old cable will do.

I also think it comes down to being able to use the least expensive cable they can find, and also something that is easy to make - using individual shielded wires is a lot more challenging to solder-up. Not making excuses for them, and it certainly isn't right that they cheap out on the construction, but just stating what is likely their reality.

 

55 minutes ago, Fierodoug5 said:

I am just waiting on 5 pin din connectors to arrive, and am going to try making my own with a high quality s-video cable I have. Will post my results here.

That's the ticket ? . It's the best way to insure that you will get good quality video.

 

4 hours ago, mikesk8 said:

I will shoot later email to Lotharek asking if he is planning to improve it. I am using his cable and the picture quality is OK, but definitely proper shielding would help it

Please report back to this thread when you get a response .

 

[jamm]

1 hour ago, Fierodoug5 said:

I am just waiting on 5 pin din connectors to arrive, and am going to try making my own with a high quality s-video cable I have. Will post my results here.

I'd love to see a picture of the soldering work done on a properly shielded cable. I have a pretty good idea of how it needs to be done, but pictures always help. 

 

[invisible kid]

18 hours ago, Fierodoug5 said:

No s-video on that cable though

Ok, reread op

Edited August 22, 2020 by invisible kid

[NISMOPC]

I know this isn't much help, but I use Best Electronics composite and it works great. I also have a generic one that I use on my TI-99 that works well. 

[+skr]

22 hours ago, mytek said:

I ended up seeing the worse case of jail bars in my entire Atari history.

I absolutely can´t second that. I have Lotharek´s cable too, and it has a great picture on all my screens (i have lots of CRTs and LCDs I connect my Ataris to). In no combination I´ve ever spottet Jailbars.

 

Latest "new" Screen I´ve connected my 800 XL (with UAV, installed by @tf_hh) is a DELL 2408WFPb:

 

[mikesk8]

1 hour ago, skr said:

I absolutely can´t second that. I have Lotharek´s cable too, and it has a great picture on all my screens (i have lots of CRTs and LCDs I connect my Ataris to). In no combination I´ve ever spottet Jailbars.

 

Latest "new" Screen I´ve connected my 800 XL (with UAV, installed by @tf_hh) is a DELL 2408WFPb:

 

As I mentioned earlier, I have this cable too and the picture quality is good. However, I think the proper shielding would improve it. I have tested a custom made one (full shield inside and outside) and the quality was better

[Gunstar]

19 hours ago, jamm said:

Well, it's starting to look easier to just build our own...

That's what I do. A clean picture on the one I made. I used shielded VGA cable to make my 800's video cable and Jaguar RGB cable. Crystal clear here...I bought about 100' of it about 20 years ago, I still have about half. I've made three or four Jaguar cables for others too, over the years. The individual wires inside are not separately shielded, but I've never had an issue with signal cross over. maybe because there are all the extra wires I don't use that create shielding for the ones I do use, and a ground wire outside the shielding. I like it because it is very sturdy cable and never an issue of a broken wire through the length of it. All those wires together deliver added strength.

Edited August 22, 2020 by Gunstar