S-Video woes

[nat]

I got an SVIDEO cable for my SNES so I could get super-great picture out of it.

Only the picture sucks. Like, really bad. It's like it's missing half the color information and every other pixel is blacked out. It's very hard to explain. It's almost like in addition to having horizontal scanlines, the picture also has vertical scanlines. And it's not so much that the picture is missing "half the color information" it's more along the lines of the color looks very washed out.

Since the GC and SNES both have the same AV port I tried the cable on my GC and it does the same thing. I don't have any more of these cables to try so I can't rule that out. Since Nintendo uses super-lame proprietary connectors I can't try a normal SVIDEO cable I know to be working.

So, it could be the cable, it could be my TV, or it could have something to do with the way Nintendo systems output SVIDEO. I'm not as technically savvy when it comes to video signals as some other members here so maybe a resident videophile can help me out. My PC-FX and Playstation both use SVIDEO on the same TV though and it looks great.

Do Nintendo systems use a funky resolution or something that my TV can't process correctly? Or do you think it's the cable? The TV was manufactured in 2004. It's a JVC 29" CRT with a flat screen.

For me it seems to hard to believe it could be the cable since isn't there only ONE pin for color in SVIDEO? Wouldn't that make it an all-or-nothing deal (either there is color or there isn't, no half-color nonsense)?

[Kitsunexus]

I got an SVIDEO cable for my SNES so I could get super-great picture out of it.

Only the picture sucks. Like, really bad. It's like it's missing half the color information and every other pixel is blacked out. It's very hard to explain. It's almost like in addition to having horizontal scanlines, the picture also has vertical scanlines. And it's not so much that the picture is missing "half the color information" it's more along the lines of the color looks very washed out.

Since the GC and SNES both have the same AV port I tried the cable on my GC and it does the same thing. I don't have any more of these cables to try so I can't rule that out. Since Nintendo uses super-lame proprietary connectors I can't try a normal SVIDEO cable I know to be working.

So, it could be the cable, it could be my TV, or it could have something to do with the way Nintendo systems output SVIDEO. I'm not as technically savvy when it comes to video signals as some other members here so maybe a resident videophile can help me out. My PC-FX and Playstation both use SVIDEO on the same TV though and it looks great.

Do Nintendo systems use a funky resolution or something that my TV can't process correctly? Or do you think it's the cable? The TV was manufactured in 2004. It's a JVC 29" CRT with a flat screen.

For me it seems to hard to believe it could be the cable since isn't there only ONE pin for color in SVIDEO? Wouldn't that make it an all-or-nothing deal (either there is color or there isn't, no half-color nonsense)?

My GC cable works just fine for me, although now I'm using a unviersal gaming SVIDEO cable and it works fine too.

[Necromancer]

I bet that your cable's dying.  To rule out your television's S-Video port, hook up a DVD player via S-Video (or try your SNES on another set).

[nat]

My GC cable works just fine for me, although now I'm using a unviersal gaming SVIDEO cable and it works fine too.

I'm thinking maybe Nintendo systems output SVIDEO in some kind of resolution my TV can't handle or something. I dunno. Probably not.

I bet that your cable's dying.  To rule out your television's S-Video port, hook up a DVD player via S-Video (or try your SNES on another set).

Like I said, the PC-FX and Playstation look great over that same SVIDEO port.

[awack]

I just saw a super nintendo (super mario world) in s-video for the first time at my brothers place, we compared it with composite, the difference was dithering became very visible in s-video, dot crawl was gone, and the colors were different, in composite Green was dark, in s-video it became lighter, paler, kinda lime green.

[nat]

I'm familiar with the "normal" changes S-VIDEO makes when compared with composite. These are not it.

[awack]

 I was surprised how much the colors changed when i saw it, almost washed out, well hopefully its just your cable.

[Necromancer]

Like I said, the PC-FX and Playstation look great over that same SVIDEO port.

Sorry, missed that part I guess.  Go with my other suggestion and try it on another set; if it works fine, then you'll know that your television is most definitely not a snerd.

[Joe Redifer]

I'm thinking maybe Nintendo systems output SVIDEO in some kind of resolution my TV can't handle or something. I dunno. Probably not.

Most SNES games run in a 320x243 window, just like other game systems of that time.  If it did the same on your Gamecube, then the SNES isn't at fault.  The GC runs in a 640 x 486 window.  The cable=problem.

Can you take a picture of what the screen looks like with this cable?

[ccovell]

The SNES' horizontal resolution is 256 or 512 pixels.  It can't do 320.

[Black Tiger]

Nat, what you described sounds like the image I got when I tried hooking up my SNES2 via S-Video, before I figured out that it didn't support it. Maybe something happened inside your SNES?

[Joe Redifer]

The SNES' horizontal resolution is 256 or 512 pixels.  It can't do 320.

I said "window", and that includes the borders around the actual graphics.

[Keranu]

"Quote from: My man Nathan, who claims his name isn't Nathan" Hahaha!

[nat]

I'm thinking maybe Nintendo systems output SVIDEO in some kind of resolution my TV can't handle or something. I dunno. Probably not.

Most SNES games run in a 320x243 window, just like other game systems of that time.  If it did the same on your Gamecube, then the SNES isn't at fault.  The GC runs in a 640 x 486 window.  The cable=problem.

Can you take a picture of what the screen looks like with this cable?

I'll post one tomorrow.

Nat, what you described sounds like the image I got when I tried hooking up my SNES2 via S-Video, before I figured out that it didn't support it. Maybe something happened inside your SNES?

That would be incredibly lame.

[Joe Redifer]

Are you using a SNES 2?