S-Video/Composite AV Cable Image Quality Comparisons

The exact quality difference between your normal AV cable & a s-video cable...

Featured below are images taken from various software using the 2 most common cable setups, composite and s-video. Since virtually every TV on sale today now has s-video input, this page would argue it's crazy not to 'upgrade' to s-video if you're using the defacto AV cable w/ composite video. Of course for owners of large TV's or for those in Europe, other/better options would be preferred. The older images were grabbed using an MJPEG card, while any newer images come off an DVB tuner card w/ analogue input.

If you're serious about getting good picture quality, s-video is far from perfect. Go up to the full guide for more information.

Sega Dreamcast

The Dreamcast was the first console to truely need the best quality A/V hook-up. With all applications running in VGA resolution, there is a lot of detail loss on the regular composite cable.

Sega Saturn

When the saturn is running in its low resolution mode (320x224~240 pixels) it can be harder to see the quality increase, however the older graphics often have more defined edges.

Nintendo Various

The Nintendo 64 in low resolution mode (256×224) again gives less improvement, games in full resolution (640x480) like the GameCube, benefit greatly.