If you are buying generic non-branded or cheap cables, go for digital coaxial cable. Electrically there is no difference. Digital coax must be 75ohm and most manufacturers make sure of that.

Svideo is only useful for 2 or 3 players which have debatable quality comb filters. Component video doesn’t exist for LDs. Theta Voyager version 2 with the progressive scan output module is the only LD player in existence with a component output and its output isn’t that great.

I use decent, well-shielded composite cables for most of my players. I would like to make cable that is the perfect length to my TV though with BNC on one end for my LD-S2.


That is pretty cool.

If your player has S-Video, you should always use it unless you have a high end player like the X0 or X9.

Composite output on nearly all players that have S-Video is simply the Y/C signals recombined, because it cost more to make a dedicated composite signal path. Look up "recombined composite" or "direct composite".

That’s not the complete issue. Regardless if it’s a recombination composite or a true one, to run s-video to the TV still means you’re bypassing the TV’s comb filter. Your TV may do a better job with its own comb filter and a recombined composite than if does with s-video and none of its own Y/C separation. Many low end players have really bad comb filters.

Trying both is the only way to know. Some LD players have garbage comb filters. By today’s standards all of them do.

How can Sony TV be better than Samsung if its using Samsung's display? I am talking picture quality not extra added features with software, wifi speeds, buttons on the remote, and such

I know that LDs are not better than BD, but I thought there are ways to output a better LD picture because this seemed to be true on videogame consoles. I believe the Wii can output better picture if you use component instead of composite for example. Why settle for less if it can output better?!



So am I right? using s-video or SCART might get you a better picture?

That's because the input levels (voltages) that contain the signal won't go into the panel with no other work. In fact there are many factors that play along when a TV, monitor or projector displays an image but to make things as easy as possible let's just divide it into two segments.

First there's how the signal is being treated. Are the levels handles properly or are they cut off? An extremely common issue on Philips TVs. Is additional noise reduction being added that cannot be removed? That drove me nuts on older LG OLEDs. Is the frame rate taken care of properly? Many OEM sets like B&O always force 3:2 pulldown on 24p content. Etc...

Second there's how the electronics and controls behave to the panel. This is a very apparent factor that plays a big role. For instance...

The brightness controls, which normally sets the black level, can behave very irregular. Both Philips and LG have had issues with that many values are simply not making any real difference, like going between 52 to 56 may leave the image untouched but as soon as you turn it up to 57 you'll see big jump. Samsung have for a long time had very limited, aggressive controls for brightness that go from -10 to +10 and the final value depend highly on your viewing angle. When you sit in front you may end up leaving it at zero, but move 7° to either side and you'll probably raise the brightness by two or three steps.

The controls for white balance are also completely unpredictable on different sets. Panasonic and Sony have really nailed it on their OLEDs, despite using the same panel as LG and Philips. On Panasonic it does pretty much what you'd expect. But if you, say, try to raise red gain on an LG OLED you'll see on the measurements that the TV in fact have decreased blue and some green instead. And don't even let me get into those 10 or 20 point greyscale controls. They are usually broken to begin with.

Color matrixes are also implemented very differently by manufacturers. Since pretty much all displays over the past ten years have technically speaking had a native gamut larger than the BT.709 standards, pre-loaded LUTs are always activated on consumer sets in order to maintain a somewhat accurate representation of the color space in question. This vary greatly too, depending on again verious factors. Some TVs are provided with good enough electronics and controls to make this issue essentially nonexistent whereas other sets are not really up to the task. The Samsungs I've seen so far have not been able to reproduce a complete 8-bit color pallette, which is something both Sony and Panasonic have achieved with help of better dithering. LG have also suffered for sure but seem to have improved over last year.

I'll ask you a hypothetical question in return: If you can expect the same quality from two sets using the same panel, how come the Sony BVM-D24W1WU had a MSRP at nearly ten times the price of a GDM-FW900 despite both using the same tubes...?


Video on Laserdisc is stored in composite video format and won't magically become better by having a player with YPbPr output. In fact, before displayed on color television it must be converted to RGB at some stage.

The Nintendo Wii produces the graphics internally in YUV, using YCbCr (much like the GameCube), meaning going the composite route instead of YPbPr will lead to a loss in quality.

The Wii is a computer. It makes signals from scratch, it doesn’t pull them from storage. It converts what it does *to* composite for compatibility purposes but component is best and it’s the native format.

Laserdisc is analog video. It’s stored in composite because analog RGB on tape or disc would be hilariously huge. A 12” LD in RGB would probably last 11 minutes per side. If you’re making the signal and sending it six feet to another device this is fine. Actually storing RGB in an analog format would be super inefficient. I’m not sure if it was ever done.

SCART is not a video format. It’s a cable. Virtually all SD formats can exist in a SCART cable. It’s not natively anything. Connecting most LD players via SCART will give you composite. SCART is not equal to RGB. Only people living outside of SCART countries think that.

The best path for quality video in 2020 is to use the composite combined with quality processing in your TV or a standalone box or a receiver. This is because there is nothing natively better than composite ON the LD and therefore any other format is a conversion made from composite. If you use s-video from a X-O, a 99, anything, it’s a s-video built from the composite signal. Therefore, feed composte to something that does a great job of converting it to your display. This of course goes with the caveat that all options should be tested individually with your setup. Most people don’t have any s-video options anymore so I’m assuming that. With older stuff, especially CRTs, the s-video is likely to be superior.

The question about Sony/Samsung panels ignores that there is more to a TV than a panel PARTICULARLY in this VERY discussion. The stuff that goes beyond inches or lumens or contrast ratio. The stuff mainstream customers don’t care about because they’ve been BSed into “better” and “worse” as if such things really exist.

Y/c being combined is overrated. In signal processing applying the inverse of any function returns the original signal. In other-words you split y/c in a mediocre function with poor results then you recombine it the result is equal to your original signal. The issue is some players recombine in an analog circuit which introduces noise and some high end players recombine in digital which is non destructive.

TBH I think that most LCD panels used by Sony were manufactured by NEC for a fairly long time. Not sure what it's like nowadays tho.

There are a lot of variables depending on the equipment you're using. so test it on a case by case basis and decide.
LD is by nature composite, but player post processing can complicate the issue.......

Shielded composite cable to an external 3D comb filter.
From comb filter to DVDO VP20 scaler with an S-video cable.
DVDO VP20 to my screen with HDMI

And here is one of results of image fully scaled on my ultra wide 21:9 34 inch display.

What standalone comb filter are you using? I'm using an HD CRT so I don't need one but I am curious.

It's a Japanese device.

https://sknet-web.co.jp/sknet/news_release/3dwpro.htm

I would never want to go back to CRT.

Forper vs therussian steel cage match.

I've personally never been happy with LD on other displays. I don't have a 4K OLED however.

So can anyone answer this question? What's the best cable to use from my Sony MDP-650 to my DVDO-VP50 (which then outputs RGBHV to my CRT, a CRT that has perhaps the best comb filter ever made by man?)?

So from the 650 to the VP50, should I use composite or S-video?

A well made composite cable.

While I always had my LDs connected with S-video I will agree and have converted to a well made well priced composite cable.

Not expensive but well made.

ah, what I've always been using

Well if you want to use that fancy comb filter in the CRT then it has to be composite straight to the TV. Composite to DVDO you're using the comb filter in the DVDO, s-video to DVDO you're using the comb filter in the player.

Frankly I'm kind of disappointed (but not surprised) a thread like this still even exists where people haven't done some basic research and worked it out for themselves......

I’m always surprised that people go a forum to ask what’s the best config for gear they themselves have. How many times do you have to say “try it out yourself”? Don’t people have any faith in their own judgement? Why would you care what someone else’s opinion is on how to setup a chain of gear that most likely nobody else has witnessed an exact duplicate of?