Xbox cables, resolutions/others stuff question.

[nutsak]

So my girlfriend bought a new TV because our 51cm was a little too small to see oncoming traffic in Burnout3 . She's bought a 68cm ( 29 inch ) Hitachi.

Now, the new TV has two new plug things at the back 'S-Video' and 'Composite' . I'm not really clear on either of those. Which one is better? What will it let me do if I plug my Xbox in either of these? Higher res or just a bit clearer some other way?
Currently I have the Xbox plugged into a switch box (I use it to flick between DVD/XBOX and Digital TV) , which plugs into my VCR which goes to the TV via a standard RF aerial cable.

-- other stuff --

What the fuck is composite all about? I have it on my DVD player and now on the TV. It looks just like a standard RCA port . ( RCA = yellow, white and red ) Nutsak is confused!

My TV says it supports PAL-60 and in the video settings for the Xbox it says something about PAL-60. I'll be googling this in a second but I wondered if anyone could offer me any advice on it.

[Kool Moe Dee]

S-Video is better than RCA/composite.

As for PAL-60, that's just a TV standard that has the higher resolution of PAL as well as the 60 Hz refresh rate that is more common with NTSC. (PAL's normal refresh rate is 50 Hz.) The Xbox actually makes it reasonably easy to support for developers, but it's not automatic, and I don't know how many games actually support PAL-60. But if a game does support it, it's worth using.

[XPav]

Composite < S-Video < Component

[nutsak]

ok, what are the differences? And can I get a 3rd opinion ?

[Phil_Stein]

I tested S-Video versus Composite closely in connection with some dev work I was doing a few months back. On the TV I tested with, S-Video was only marginally better.

Component, on the other hand, is much better, and is the primary cable setup for HDTVs

[Warlord of Mars]

I read somewhere 3 years ago that there's a percentage of video quality increments in what you use.

Coaxial is the ground level for the purposes of this exercise, therefore 0%.
Composite is 10% better.
S-Video is 20% better.
Component is 25% better.

I have no idea what the jump from component to DVI is.


* The numbers might be a bit off, but that's how I remember, plus the quality of the TV itself is important in showing these differences. A standard TV built 5 years ago isn't going to show these improvements dramatically to the naked eye.

[croman]

To get kinda technical with it , the 3 types of cables transport colors to the TV differently (OK, that's Very non-technical, but ya get the point).

Composite transmits all the colors (basically Red,Green,Blue, and brightness) all on the same wire, a yellow RCA cable.

S-Video seperates the brighness from the RGB colors, giving you a little better picture. It's not That noticable, but you will notice less color bleeding.

Component transmits brightness on one cable, 2 of the remaining 3 colors on the other two cables, and 'makes up' the 3rd color. This is needed for progressive/HDTV type resolutions and does give a small jump up in picture quality over S-video, and lots better than composite.

So like others said, Composite < S-Video < Component

One thing to keep in mind about composite and S-video is the quality of the TV set. A good quality TV can clean up the picture of a composite source to make it the same, or even better depending on tastes, than a s-video source. You can have a 2-line, 3-line, and 3d Comb Filter depending on the TV set and what it basically does is 'pretty up' the picture on the composite input, but not on the s-video input (that uses the comb filter from the source, i.e. your VCR or Xbox...).

So to sum up what I've used way to many words to say... Check it out and see what you think :)

[nutsak]

Righteo. The TV has 1 component plug ( For video I presume ). What do I need to get to plug the Xbox into that ? ( I'm assuming I'd plug the sound cables into the ordinary AV sockets.. ? )

We can buy 'Xbox Advanced AV Packs' here.. will that let me plug this in or is that just for S-video?



if it helps heres the details of the TV she bought here (http://www.hitachi-hk.com.hk/Products/index.aspx?nodeID=417&UID=1393&detail=1)

[Thierry Nguyen]

You need the "Xbox High Definition AV Pack" to plug your Xbox into a component input. The "Advance AV Pack" is for using the S-Video input. And yes, you still use the white/red cables to plug in your sound, though either the Advance or the Hi-Def pack allow you to use an optical cable for surround sound.

[Chris Nahr]

Component transmits brightness on one cable, 2 of the remaining 3 colors on the other two cables, and 'makes up' the 3rd color. This is needed for progressive/HDTV type resolutions and does give a small jump up in picture quality over S-video, and lots better than composite.

Sure about that? I thought what you guys call "component" is the equivalent of what we call RGB cables -- as the name implies, one cable each for the red, green, and blue color component.

[XPav]

US HDTV Component is subtely different than RGB. There's a whole history behind it, but it goes to making sure that its an easy upgrade from composite color, which did some magic trick to make it compatible with black and white.

If you take the Y channel of a non-HDTV signal, you can run that into a black and white TV.

I understand RGB is bigger in Europe. And you have different connectors.

[Chris Nahr]

Yeah, we normally use SCART connectors for RGB. That has all possible signals (stereo audio plus several video standards) combined into one huge plug, with a total of 20+ connectors.

Interesting trivia about the component standard. The B&W backwards compatibility sounds like something that would make Raymond Chen proud. :)

[nutsak]

So went into EB today to get the HDTV adapter for my Xbox and was informed by the guy behind the counter that I can't get one because it would be illigal. I WTF'd and was told the only way to use the HDTV was to mod my Xbox to get to the HDTV options menu ( AFAIK it isn't illigal to mod chip anyway ) so I told him there's another method . HUZZAH! (http://www.xboxworld.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=28489) ... I got really defensive because the instant "YOU CAN'T FUCKING DO THAT IT'S AGAINST THE LAW" attitude of the store guy*.

So what the hell can I do? Can I buy an American HDTV plug and get it shipped over? Am I stuck with just S-video despite my TV having the correct plug etc?

[Kryten]

Am I right in thinking that just because you connect via Component, you don't *have* to use the higher resolutions (ie. the HDTV modes)? If so, I'll get you one of these (http://www.trademe.co.nz/Gaming/Xbox/Accessories/auction-21140230.htm) and send it over (I'll try it here on my modded Xbox).

There is probably an advantage is using component over composite anyway, before worrying about the high def modes.