S-Video--What is It?

S-Video means Separated Video and is commonly called "Super-Video". The majority of audiovisual technology today uses S-Vid and it is the video interface industry-standard.

The other system of doing what S-Video does is called composite video. Composite uses an RCA cable,and a yellow RCA jack whereas S-Video employs a mini-DIN plug as well as an S-Video length of cable. If you are hooking-up equipment that has both of these options, you can select to use S-Video.

Connector-plugs for S-Video come in four or seven-pin mini-DIN plugs.

It is easy to ascertain proper orientation of the pins because the connector has a jagged-notched, metallic sleeve that has to line up correctly with the female jack. This must be done before it can be put in.

The expense of S-Video cables are more pricey than RCA cables and can be purchased separately if not included in your product.

S-Video offers a sharper picture as compared to composite video.

It does this by side-stepping the extra processing that composite video involves. Two separate data streams compose the typical video signal. These streams are: brightness or luminescence, which is the Y stream, and color, which is called the C stream.

Originally an analog video standard was in use since the 1950s. In this standard the above-mentioned Y/C signals are packed together into a mono stream, and then passed along through an individual RCA wire, and then the signal is decoded by a TV filter into its respective Y and C elements.

Even though the process is convenient, the procedure of compressing and then 'unwrapping' the video signals creates a degree of degradation in the data integrity. This, in turn, transforms negatively to the screen vis a vis picture quality.

S-Video conserves superior signal integrity by nestling two wires into a single sleeve, devoting one to each of the Y and C signals respectively and reducing processing required for the filtering event. This higher conservation of signal integrity ultimately results in a clearer picture.

S-Video, like composite video, is restricted to the transfer of visual data. You need audio cables in order to hook-in sound. These cables can be standard RCA type, or if you have equipment of the high-end CD or DVD players, digital audio cables might be your best bet.

DVDs are encoded employing a more complex standard, as a result picture quality should be especially evident when using S-Video to view DVDs.

A final note: before purchasing S-Video cables, make sure you check to see whether your equipment supports either a thing called component video or HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface)

It is a fact that these two are even superior to the S-Video process.