signal converter; s-video to video
 

does anyone know of a *real* s-video to video converter for a reasonable price...or pricey price, whatever?

and i'm not talking about your typical radio shack $19 converter...a unit that converts properly.

thanx & peace-olah, juLiE

Is there really such a thing? You are always going to lose quality when going from S to RCA. Does an "active" converter do a better job than a passive cable? I don't know. I have a couple little adaptors with a male S video plug and female RCA jack, they were included with other stuff I've bought like my PowerBook. I also have two things that would fit the "pricey" option. First is a VCR that has both S and RCA inputs and outputs. The second is a DVD recorder with the same. There are various other media converters out there that would also fill the "pricey" bill. These are expensive and most are really geared towards converting between 1394 and the various analog flavors.

thanx a lot Boyd for the info, appreciate :)

re: link, pricey is real pricey! sheez...and i'm not a starving artist, but...

well, maybe i'll go the vcr route...

and yes, "lose quality", yes'em, know, but...

it seems to be a 'but' day ;)

peace-olah, juLiE

Most DV decks have an S-input, and so do many Betacam SP decks and even the old Hi-8 decks. If you want to convert to DV, then all you have to do is play the tape from the S deck to the DV deck. Most any dub house can do this for you. Or, as the above post said, just take the RCA output of the S deck.

thanx Bill, another good suggestion, will do! :)

p.s. i actually did a test of my own similar to what you and Boyd recommended (due to a Steve McDonald posting of similar solution), which was based on 2 sony D8 camcorders and a firewire link (outputing from pc to tv) - the colors were on the money, but i use 1 of my camcorders for live feed while VJ-ing, so i can't use this method...i'll either look for a cheap hi-8 or get a dv or vcr deck w/s-video.

peace-olah, juLiE

An inexpensive converter would be to get a distribution amplifier that will accept S-Video and output either S-Video or Composite Video. Like the Sign Video DA.

I've forgotten the price but it has obvious application beyond just converting the signal.

thanx Mike, i'll look into the sign video da, not aware of this brand/type! :)

actually i already have a radio shack s-video distribution amplifier which i'm currently using since my tv does not have s-video input. but it bleeds red big time; basically the color and quality is off. i even bought a separate $19 s-video to video coupler (if that's what you call it), to make sure my dist. amp was not off, but both produced the exact same results. and what's funny is that the amp cost maybe $40 and they do the same thing...

found a site:
http://www.signvideo.com/das5_das15_s-video_distribution_amplifier.htm

only DAS-5 & DAS-15 (not DA8-DA16) have s-video included; price is not bad; $149 - 249! thanx!

peace-olah, juLiE

The radio shack DA has so much internal amplification that I use it to drive long S-Video cables. The copy I have amplifies the signal by about 150%.

ahhhhh, ok, that explains a lot, thanx! :)

i'll keep that in mind when i fall into the same long-scenario.

peace-olah, juLiE