Composite looks like $#@!

[eyal8r]

Hey guys-
Got my tv wired up today- just an old 27" I had- but it doesn't take S-Video. So, I have an adapter that takes the S-Video from my graphics card and converts it to an RCA plug- then goes into the tv. It looks like crapola. So my question- If I go buy a new tv that has S-Video- will make a huge difference in the resolution, so that it doesn't look nearly as bad?  I know it wont look like a Monitor or even an Arcade monitor, but, for $180 that's the next best thing.

So will it make a world of difference, or, just a teeny tiny little bit?
Thanks for all the help- you guys have been AWESOME!
D

[Tritoch84]

Yes, it's a HUGE difference. The leap between RCA inputs and S-Vid is EXTREMLY noticable.

I took into account your price range and ease of use.

People will come in here saying "COMPONENT IS THE ONLY WAY TO GO GET A ARCADE MONITOR"

I run S-Vid to my TV in my cab, and I know alot of other people that do to.

Also, What card are you using? Most of the time, it's the card that has a crappy TV-Out. You get a Sapphire Radeon 9200 for 45 bucks on newegg.com that has great TV out. Even a "Hercules" radeon will have good TV out, the people that tell people that only "made by ATI" cards are the only ones with good TV-out are highly mistaken. Just pick a decent company.

[Lilwolf]

Sapphire builds ALL of ATI own boards... So they are good.

Has ANYONE around here ever said that composite out video is acceptable for a cabinet?  I've never heard a single person to really get it working as a usable solution.

[Tritoch84]

There are a few that have gotton it to look decent, and by decent I mean "not REALLY distracting".

But now a days, you can get S-Vid TV's for cheap.

[eyal8r]

Yup- so it sounds like I gotta fork up the cash and get me an S-Video tv, huh?  Now, between tvs w/ S-Video- I dont need some $400 set, right? I mean, best buy has 27" for $180 and another for $200. Well, now I think of it- I think the $180 one is the only one that'll fit in the cab. LOL!!! 

I just got my Mame running tonight- yup, 430am and still up playing games. Nice.  I was playing on a 19" monitor- pretty decent resolution, best Im gonna see I think. So, comparing that to a new tv w/ S-Vid, will I at least be able to read the text/game menus/Mame32 menus on the thing clearly enough? Comparing to the RCA set I have, no way in hell. I just don't know how big of a difference it is. Thank you for the posts!
D

[Tritoch84]

Well, even with S-Video, it's still going to be almost impossible to read your windows text, (without some tweaking) but compared to RCA it's alot better.

[Minwah]

I think I am the only person to think this but IMO S-Video is crap as well.  Perhaps I have only used the wrong video cards but I have never been truly happy with S-Video tv-outs.  Ones I've used have only been marginally better than composite...

But in the UK we have Scart (RGB) so maybe I just have high expectations 

[Tritoch84]

S-Video is far from crap, and was the better solution a few years back. If you compare SCART to S-Video side by side, yes, you will notice a difference.

S-Video isn't "crap" it's pretty decent, and works for alot of people.

What alot of people don't know is that S-Video is touchy, and even a low cost S-Video cable can cut your video quality in half, and the wrong card can make it look HORRIBLE.

Now RF is crap, but not even composite is CRAP.

[Minwah]

Now RF is crap, but not even composite is CRAP.

Maybe I do have high expectations then - I can't even handle playing a console connected with a composite connection.

I would say s-video from decent sources (& composite for that matter) seems to be a lot better than the tv-outs from most video cards for some reason.  Probably has something to do with the relatively high resolutions the PC is outputting I guess...

[Tritoch84]

Ah! See? Your eyes are just spoiled!