All about the S Cable

S Cable

By Anne Ahira

There are a lot of cables that are meant for transferring video sources. The most common in the earlier days of analog video electronics were the composite cables and are still being used today.

The S cable or S-video cable solves some of the problems that the composite video introduces while still requiring a single cable to display the full picture.

History

The S cable was introduced by JVC back in 1987 through their S-VHS standard where S-video is utilized to playback S-VHS cassettes in their optimal resolution. The S-video format failed to make an impact and didn’t make it to the large screen television systems until the late 90s.

Currently, many modern devices including widescreen TVs, laptops, and video cards have S-video ports for an S cable to be plugged into.

Potential

S-Video performs better than composite video as it keeps the luminance and color in two separate signals to prevent crosstalk which can greatly affect the image quality. Composite video handles crosstalk by passing the luminance signal through a low-pass filter which costs some bandwidth.

Therefore S-Video has increased bandwidth which leads to some noticeable improvements in image quality such as the lack of “dot crawl” effects displayed by composite video.

It can also be considered a type of component video since it separates these signals, but remains as the lowest quality when compared with the latter.

Although component video signals outperform the S cables in a color perspective, the S-Video format still earns some advantages on its current compatibility status with other devices.

Many laptops today are outfitted with an S-Video out allowing connectivity to larger television displays that have an S-Video port as well. Even some of the latest HDTV models have an S-Video port in addition to HDMI ports to allow non-HDMI devices such as laptops to use the television display as a second screen.

The same applies to projectors as these laptops can be connected to the projector using an S cable if a VGA cable isn’t available. Desktop computers lack S-Video ports by default, but many 3-D PCI-E video cards have an S-Video port so it can use the TV as a monitor as well.

It is also possible for other home electronic devices like DVD players and camcorders to connect to the S-Video port for easy transmission even if other component and composite ports are in use.

Although devices are unlikely to come with an S cable, S cables are highly affordable compared to other cables like DVI and HDMI cables. Even a 25 ft. gold plated cable can cost less than $10 in Amazon.com. Shorter cables are even priced less than that amount.

There are also a number of converter S cables such as the VGA to S-Video/RCA cable and the smaller RCA jack to S-Video adapter which can be useful in adding S-Video support. S cables may be outclassed by the newer formats, but it will still remain as a flexible and affordable analog video connector for the next few years.

Here's S Cable Selections:

Samsung USB Home Travel Charger with Detachable Mi...	Customer Review: Click Here for More Info	$29.99
S-Video Cable 6 ft. Gold Plated...	Customer Review: Click Here for More Info	$0.00
Nikon UC-E6 UCE6 USB Cable Lead Cord for Coolpix S...	Customer Review: Click Here for More Info	$9.99
S-Video Cable 12 ft. Gold Plated...	Customer Review: Click Here for More Info	$0.00
S-Video Cable 25 ft. Gold Plated...	Customer Review: Click Here for More Info	$0.00