We have a Sharp 27" television. It has composite video in…it does NOT have either s-video or component video.
Is the quality of picture that I would get from a DVD player through composite video input still quite a bit better than VHS?
We currently run the audio from the VHS into our home stereo…I assume I can do the same thing with a DVD player…?(I know its not Surround Sound…but it’s pretty good, much better than out of the tv)
Any specific brands to consider (keeping in mind…only 27" tv with composite video input)…I’ve heard good things about Panasonic.?
Composite video - Thats just like an 1 RCA plug for video, right?
The answer is Yes. Even compared to a good 4 head VHS, you will notice far less “graininess” (if thats a word). The picture will definetly be sharper. I use mine on S-Video but still have the “composite” hooked up as well. Of course, the S-Video looks better, the std composite still looks good too.
PS - I use a 5 or so year old Hitachi 27" Ultra-black for a TV.
My stupid TV is set up so that if something’s hooked up to the S video input, nothing else works. As I have both a cable box and a VCR that need to be hooked up to the composite, I have to run the DVD as composite as well. Either that, or spend about $150 for some sort of gizmo that will allow my VCR & Cable box to hook into the S video as well.
I did a comparison test when I got the DVD player, and although the S video input was slightly nicer, it was not enough to make me want to spend the extra bucks to run everything through the S video. I’m not a cheapskate, either - if it had been a significant difference, I would have gladly spent the money. But it wasn’t, so I wouldn’t sweat it too much if I were you.
I have my player hooked up in the worst way possible, that being through an RF converter as my cheap-o set only has a coax cable input–and routing through the VCR’s rca connections is a no-go due to the idiocy of Macrovision encoding. Picture quality is still miles ahead of videotape.
Add another one o the list, composite will look fine, if not great. The S-Video, in all honesty, is not that much better than standard composite. Only when you get into component do you notice a big difference, but even then it probably isn’t worth the extra money (unless you already have a set with component, of course). I would suggest that you do spend a little bit more on the cable though. Get some with more shielding, and you should be good to go. If you get into cheaper stuff, or even the cable taht comes with the player, you can run into all kinds of interferance problems, and that could result in picture degredation.
I have a JVC player with component, S-vid, and composite video out, and I only use the composite. It really does look great. From what I haer Panasonic is a good brand as well, and Sony has been getting good marks. I wouldn’t hesitate to say that any Japanese player should do fine, but I wouldn’t touch the American ones (RCA, GE, whatever). APEX ahs some cheaper players out there ($100-$200), and they tend to have a lot of features, especially for something in that price range.
Circuit City may be the best place to buy from, according to personal experience, anyway. When I got my player, I was able to take any of the home, and “test” them, return them if I didn’t like it, and try a new one. This helped me in my decison a lot. Either way, good luck out there
“Any specific brands to consider (keeping in mind…only 27” tv with composite video input)…I’ve
heard good things about Panasonic.? "
Of what? Im not sure what you are shopping for.
s-video does look better than a/v (you know audio/video plugs) but after a half hour you don’t notice it anymore. If your player only does a/v then you can only do a/v tv.
IMO, DVD is a lot better than VHS. The picture is sharper and much more clear, the sound is incredible, and you can do so much more with the DVD player than you can a VCR. You can fast-forward through an entire chapter of a movie in two seconds, you can pause and zoom in on stuff, you have wide screen and standard to choose from, you can stop in the middle of a movie, take the DVD out and watch another movie, put the first DVD back in the player, hit the Play button twice to resume and pick up right where you left off. It’s really awesome! As for brands to consider… I’ve never bought anything but Phillips Magnavox so I’m pretty biased.
I believe my knowledge is still up to date. The hierarchy of video connections in order of quality:[ul]-Progressive video. A rare three output progressive system, Toshiba has a brand name for it: ColorStream PRO.
-Component video. Three output interlaced system.
-S-video. Most common and a very good solution.
-Composite video. 3 RCA cables. Also quite common but inferior to S-video or the similar looking Component system.
-RF. A last resort option. Still superior to VHS, but you sacrifice most of the advantages of DVD picture quality.[/ul] For audio connections, and anything else you with so know, try: http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#3.1
