AV advice: s-video to rca

[gasper]

I'd like to use my component s-video out on my laptop view my PC on an older TV that uses RCA inputs.

I know that cables exist that do this, but I've heard some only give you a black and white image.

How do I know if the one I'm buying will convert the colour signal to RCA?

An online source for purchasing such a cable would be awesome, with available shipping to Japan.

Cheers!

 

[Chubbs]

It wont be a 3 pronged RCA cable tho, what you need to get is a S-Video--> RCA Yellow (Video, the color doesnt matter, but you know the deal) and then a stereo --> RCA "y" Cable.

You'll get color images, the resolution might not be the greatest tho, TV's have shitty images.

 

[green_souljah]

Ive got that running right now

s video from comp to my tv, so I can watch movies and stuff on it.

The TV will suck for text etc, but gets the job done for videos.

 

[graham]

you need a pentium

 

[green_souljah]

actually I just saw a bunch of those cables on Ebay pretty cheap.


I got hosed at Radio Shit for mine.

 

[gasper]

Originally posted by mr tall
you need a pentium

LOL

 

[zoo]

Originally posted by Chubbs
It wont be a 3 pronged RCA cable tho, what you need to get is a S-Video--> RCA Yellow (Video, the color doesnt matter, but you know the deal) and then a stereo --> RCA "y" Cable.

can you please explain what you mean here

i have bought three cables so far:

S-Video --> RCA FEMALE BLACK COLOR ... this results in Black and White
S-Video YELLO COLOR --> RCA FEMALE YELLOR COLOR ... this results in Black and White
S-Video --> RCA MALE ... this results in colour, but playing DIVX or XVID movies results in a blank screen wherever the playing area is

weird eh?

 

[beaker]

the colors of the connectors don't really matter.

i'm believe this is how it works: to carry the colour information you need a circuit that combines the luminance (b/w) and chrominance (colour) from the s-video signal (two conductor) into the composite signal (which just uses one conductor to carry the signal). it sounds like the cables that only do black and white just take the luminance and drop the chrominance altogether. i would say just go to a decent stereo shop and ask for an s-video to composite adapter that passes colour information.

not sure about the divx thing...

 

[KiFe]

Originally posted by zoo
but playing DIVX or XVID movies results in a blank screen wherever the playing area is

weird eh?

i assume you have the dvix and xvid video drivers installed on your laptop? Does the movie show on your laptop but not on the tvset?

P.s. SVHS ---> RCA Yellow male is right.

 

[zoo]

Originally posted by beaker
i would say just go to a decent stereo shop and ask for an s-video to composite adapter that passes colour information.

can you recommend a decent stereo shop?

so far radio shack, 2001 audio video, and futureshop haven't got what i'm looking for at a reasonable price [under $100]

 

[zoo]

Originally posted by KiFe
Does the movie show on your laptop but not on the tvset?

when i have the $35 radioshack SVIDEO--> RCA MALE cable hooked up, i cannot view DIVX/XVID on my TV or my LAPTOP

when i have the $2.50 generic SVIDEO --> RCA FEMALE cable hooked up, i can view DIVX/XVID on my television and on my laptop, but it comes out in Black & White on my TV

I realize that S-VIDEO splits up the video signal into B/W and Colour, I'm just wondering why it is I cannot seem to find a cable that will give me a colour picture AND will allow a DIVX to play.

I don't understand how the output cable can possibly affect the DIVX video codec ... the sound works fine, it's a video problem.

I've tested this on 3 different video cards ... ATI Radeon 8500, GeForce 2 MX 400, and Intel Extreme Graphics On-Board. I've actually tested 5 different cables, and they only had three different results [as mentioned previously].

Weird eh?

 

[zoo]

Truthfully I'm about to give up and just get an S-VIDEO input TV.

I've already spent so much time trying to solve this problem it's worth it to simply buy a new TV.

 

[KiFe]

Originally posted by zoo
Truthfully I'm about to give up and just get an S-VIDEO input TV.

I've already spent so much time trying to solve this problem it's worth it to simply buy a new TV.

That sounds like proper reasoning... only if it doesnt solve your problem, will you vomit with rage, or still be happy to have a new tv?

sounds like you done shit loads of trial and error... but you'd hate to find out (after shelling $300+) that it wasnt your tv all along.

 

[beaker]

Originally posted by zoo
Weird eh?

that's definitely bizarre.

try calling metropolitan sound or bay/bloor radio. i can't see the adapter costing any more than 20 bucks tops.

 

[gasper]

Originally posted by zoo
when i have the $35 radioshack SVIDEO--> RCA MALE cable hooked up, i cannot view DIVX/XVID on my TV or my LAPTOP

when i have the $2.50 generic SVIDEO --> RCA FEMALE cable hooked up, i can view DIVX/XVID on my television and on my laptop, but it comes out in Black & White on my TV

I realize that S-VIDEO splits up the video signal into B/W and Colour, I'm just wondering why it is I cannot seem to find a cable that will give me a colour picture AND will allow a DIVX to play.

I don't understand how the output cable can possibly affect the DIVX video codec ... the sound works fine, it's a video problem.

I've tested this on 3 different video cards ... ATI Radeon 8500, GeForce 2 MX 400, and Intel Extreme Graphics On-Board. I've actually tested 5 different cables, and they only had three different results [as mentioned previously].

Weird eh?

This situation is exactly why I thought I'd seek advice before shelling out money and getting frustrated. Sorry to hear about your troubles.

As for the DIVX issue, I have no idea... some laptops don't display video on the LCD and CRT at the same time (one appears black) but I've never heard of both blacking out.

 

[gasper]

do you think this will work?

 

[zoo]

Originally posted by gasper
As for the DIVX issue, I have no idea... some laptops don't display video on the LCD and CRT at the same time (one appears black) but I've never heard of both blacking out.

no no

you can see the windows media player on both of them

it's just what's inside the windows media player that doesn't show up ... on neither tv nor laptop

and this only happens when the $30 RadioShit cable is plugged in

 

[gasper]

Originally posted by zoo
no no

you can see the windows media player on both of them

it's just what's inside the windows media player that doesn't show up ... on neither tv nor laptop

Ya, that's what I meant... guess I wasn't very clear. Sometimes I get the media player app showing up on both the lcd and crt, but the video content inside only shows up on one. This happens when I use the RGB output on my laptop.

The same sort of issue can also occur when trying to take a screen capture of a video (see the app but not the content).

 

[beaker]

Originally posted by gasper
do you think this will work?

can't really tell by looking at a picture. but they seem to address the b/w thing so i'd say go for it.

 

[gasper]

Originally posted by beaker
can't really tell by looking at a picture. but they seem to address the b/w thing so i'd say go for it.

I'm giving it a go. I'll let you know how it works out in a few weeks (it's being shipped to me in Japan).

Cheers!

 

[gasper]

Originally posted by gasper
I'm giving it a go. I'll let you know how it works out in a few weeks (it's being shipped to me in Japan).

Cheers!

I received the converter and it works like a charm!!!

Ebay user "atariexplosion" came through!

 

[RhesusMonkey]

Originally posted by gasper
Ya, that's what I meant... guess I wasn't very clear. Sometimes I get the media player app showing up on both the lcd and crt, but the video content inside only shows up on one. This happens when I use the RGB output on my laptop.

The same sort of issue can also occur when trying to take a screen capture of a video (see the app but not the content).

I'd argue that's because the video card can't keep the refresh rate high enough to display it on both simultaneously. Also depends on if the processor or the video card is doing the frame decoding. for MPEG2 movies, most video cards have a built on/in MPEG2 decoder, which means your processor can offload a lot of the work to the video card. But MPEG4 (DivX) is a pure-software construct, and the decoding process requires a lot more horsepower to do. So in order to keep the video curning at 30fps or whatever at whatever pixel size (640x480?), it has to drop one of the display ports. Or something. Maybe WMP is just a piece of shit. Should try the DivX player maybe...???

 

[zoo]

the divx player from divx.com doesn't work either

 

[zoo]

i seriously doubt that my 64 meg 3d accelerated video card is having a hard time 'handling' the power to the extra output

 

[Sunshyne Jones]

whoooooooosh

[the sound of most of the info in this thread going over my head and under my feet]







i knew i wouldn't know what you were talking about beyond the basic but thought it would be fun to be totally baffled for a sec lol