Good S-Video switch w/ no noise and loss

[Logan Jones]

I'm looking to buy a new s-video switch for my game systems. The one I currently own is a 4-port Radioshack one, bought right before they hit rock bottom. I also bought a Radioshack S-video cable the same day. Here's the problem; my Radioshack splitter introduces noise or loss to the picture and I know it's not from my game systems. I think it's the switch, but it may be the cable. Or both. Honestly, I just want a better switcher.

If the problem is just the switch, (I believe it is,) then does that mean the S-video cable is okay? Just wanted to know. I mean, they're a lot less complicated than switchers, right?

There was one switch recommended to me by a Facebook group called "The CRT Collective". It's a 4-port AV/S-video switch from Walmart, and a guy said it introduced no video noise or loss. Is this true? Would this be a safe purchase? (Twenty bucks).

There is also a 4-port AV/S-video switch on Amazon for sale, which was made by Sony. I've heard this one doesn't introduce any noise or loss, so can anyone confirm this, or recommend it? (I mean, it is Sony.)

Thanks!

[nmalinoski]

I've been thinking about an S-Video switch myself for quite some time now, and I would go with one of Extron's SW SVA models. They come with 4, 6, or 8 inputs (although I've only really seen the 4-port ones on eBay), and I think each has regular and RCA variants (Phoenix and RCA for audio respectively). Of course, I don't have any qualms with rackmount hardware.

[Logan Jones]

I've been thinking about an S-Video switch myself for quite some time now, and I would go with one of Extron's SW SVA models. They come with 4, 6, or 8 inputs (although I've only really seen the 4-port ones on eBay), and I think each has regular and RCA variants (Phoenix and RCA for audio respectively). Of course, I don't have any qualms with rackmount hardware.

I've heard about those. Great switchers, but kind of expensive.

[nmalinoski]

I've been thinking about an S-Video switch myself for quite some time now, and I would go with one of Extron's SW SVA models. They come with 4, 6, or 8 inputs (although I've only really seen the 4-port ones on eBay), and I think each has regular and RCA variants (Phoenix and RCA for audio respectively). Of course, I don't have any qualms with rackmount hardware.

I've heard about those. Great switchers, but kind of expensive.

If you bought one new, sure. $30 to $50 can get you a functional used one on eBay, shipped.

[bigbadboaz]

1) You won't know if it's the switch or the cable without testing each separately. But I doubt it's the cable, unless you bought something ridiculously cheap and it's noticeably thinner than what you've seen before.

2) Back when there was a current market for these things, I used several ordinary, cheap switchers ($20 range all) and never had degradation issues. So.. the $20 switch with people vouching for it is probably going to do you just fine.

[ChuChu Flamingo]

From my experience manual switchers have less problems than ones that are powered. The important thing to note is to use highly shielded cables on the output of your consoles and OUTPUT of your switch.

If you have the space a Extron Matrix S-video switch would work nicely. I have a MAV 88, but the audio is phoenix connectors. The one below with rca connectors is what you want unless you get some phoenix connector adapters/build them yourself.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0869/ ... 1507299199


Most of my setup is RGB now except three consoles so I just stick with a good ol manual switch. Pictured in back is the manual no power one with my giant daisy chained electrical fire death trap cables.

[DirkSwizzler]

If you get svideo to rca breakout cables. Routing luma to green I think (that’s Y right?), and chroma to either red or blue. You should be able to use a gcompsw as an automatic switcher.

I’ve been meaning to do this to run some composite and some svideo sources into a composite/svideo to component transcoders. But time has been too short to actually follow through yet.

[orange808]

FWIW, I tried out one of the cheap passive RCA branded (grey with black buttons) switches pictured above and I found leakage/interference and loss of brightness. I threw it away.

Inexpensive powered Shinybow component switches perform much better. Also, the Extron Crosspoint can handle composite, component and svideo without any issues.

In my experience, a proper powered high quality switch is the only way to go if you're picky.

[Syntax]

Or a rotary switch. You can find really cheap db9 to db25 printer switch boxes and make your own adapters or use the switch in your own box.
https://i.imgur.com/RSppVf5.jpg

[ChuChu Flamingo]

FWIW, I tried out one of the cheap passive RCA branded (grey with black buttons) switches pictured above and I found leakage/interference and loss of brightness. I threw it away.

Inexpensive powered Shinybow component switches perform much better. Also, the Extron Crosspoint can handle composite, component and svideo without any issues.

In my experience, a proper powered high quality switch is the only way to go if you're picky.

The one I have above is Philips SWS2325W/17. Only problem I had was with another duplicate one, the switches sucked. They essentially wore out and had brightness loss or no picture at all on 2 inputs. I kept all my runs super short though so that might factor into it.

I also tried a radioshack powered one sometime ago and it produced noise.

but yeah I should've mentioned I mean low end manual ones vs powered. If you really want high quality & flexibility you need to step up to a Shinybow like you said or Extron. The MAV88 I have is super nice but man it takes up a lot of room compared to that tiny switch (which only has three things on it).

also Logan, make sure you have no composite cables plugged into the switchbox input/outputs.

[Logan Jones]

FWIW, I tried out one of the cheap passive RCA branded (grey with black buttons) switches pictured above and I found leakage/interference and loss of brightness. I threw it away.

Inexpensive powered Shinybow component switches perform much better. Also, the Extron Crosspoint can handle composite, component and svideo without any issues.

In my experience, a proper powered high quality switch is the only way to go if you're picky.

The one I have above is Philips SWS2325W/17. Only problem I had was with another duplicate one, the switches sucked. They essentially wore out and had brightness loss or no picture at all on 2 inputs. I kept all my runs super short though so that might factor into it.

I also tried a radioshack powered one sometime ago and it produced noise.

but yeah I should've mentioned I mean low end manual ones vs powered. If you really want high quality & flexibility you need to step up to a Shinybow like you said or Extron. The MAV88 I have is super nice but man it takes up a lot of room compared to that tiny switch (which only has three things on it).

also Logan, make sure you have no composite cables plugged into the switchbox input/outputs.

Thanks for the info! Extron sounds nice, but what about a Sony switch I found on Amazon? A guy reviewed it and said it did not produce noise, compared to the RCA brand switch.

[ChuChu Flamingo]

Only real way is to buy it yourself. Not sure if I like the automatic switching though, it could be a potential problem.

I haven't seen many tests of S-video switches that puts them all together to test for brightness loss/noise. So really all you can do is go by word of mouth / do your own testing. Even component boxes comparisons haven't had much testing imo and that is heads and shoulders above the testing done for S-video.

The best thing you can do is use high quality fully shielded S-video cables for consoles, and a high quality fully shielded short length output cable. From then on just test a console connected directly to your device, then connect it to the same device via the splitter and see if you can notice a difference.

When I was messing with my S-video capture card I recorded it directly and via the splitter/ amplifier and didn't notice anything abnormal but ymmv.

[jdawg131]

FWIW, I tried out one of the cheap passive RCA branded (grey with black buttons) switches pictured above and I found leakage/interference and loss of brightness. I threw it away.

Inexpensive powered Shinybow component switches perform much better. Also, the Extron Crosspoint can handle composite, component and svideo without any issues.

In my experience, a proper powered high quality switch is the only way to go if you're picky.

The one I have above is Philips SWS2325W/17. Only problem I had was with another duplicate one, the switches sucked. They essentially wore out and had brightness loss or no picture at all on 2 inputs. I kept all my runs super short though so that might factor into it.

I also tried a radioshack powered one sometime ago and it produced noise.

but yeah I should've mentioned I mean low end manual ones vs powered. If you really want high quality & flexibility you need to step up to a Shinybow like you said or Extron. The MAV88 I have is super nice but man it takes up a lot of room compared to that tiny switch (which only has three things on it).

also Logan, make sure you have no composite cables plugged into the switchbox input/outputs.

Thanks for the info! Extron sounds nice, but what about a Sony switch I found on Amazon? A guy reviewed it and said it did not produce noise, compared to the RCA brand switch.

If you're talking about the SB-V40S (https://www.amazon.com/Sony-Composite-C ... B000092YPH), then yes. I used it for a few months before I went fully RGB/component, and had zero issues with video noise. I was able to snag it brand new, in box for about $15 a year or two ago.

[strygo]

If you're talking about the SB-V40S (https://www.amazon.com/Sony-Composite-C ... B000092YPH), then yes. I used it for a few months before I went fully RGB/component, and had zero issues with video noise. I was able to snag it brand new, in box for about $15 a year or two ago.

I also have gone full RGB, but can echo this. These Sony switches work great for S-Video.

[FinalBaton]

Never seen these particular Sony s-video switches before. Pretty cool. The more known good switchers out there, the better

[Logan Jones]

Tis decided then. Since the Sony switch is of good repute, I think I will buy that one. It is Sony after all. Thanks, guys!

[Steamflogger Boss]

FWIW, I tried out one of the cheap passive RCA branded (grey with black buttons) switches pictured above and I found leakage/interference and loss of brightness. I threw it away.

Inexpensive powered Shinybow component switches perform much better. Also, the Extron Crosspoint can handle composite, component and svideo without any issues.

In my experience, a proper powered high quality switch is the only way to go if you're picky.

The one I have above is Philips SWS2325W/17. Only problem I had was with another duplicate one, the switches sucked. They essentially wore out and had brightness loss or no picture at all on 2 inputs. I kept all my runs super short though so that might factor into it.

I also tried a radioshack powered one sometime ago and it produced noise.

but yeah I should've mentioned I mean low end manual ones vs powered. If you really want high quality & flexibility you need to step up to a Shinybow like you said or Extron. The MAV88 I have is super nice but man it takes up a lot of room compared to that tiny switch (which only has three things on it).

also Logan, make sure you have no composite cables plugged into the switchbox input/outputs.

The extron switches are nice* and I've also had zero issues with audio authority's powered auto-selecting component switch (1154A iirc). It also has good audio connections, whereas those old extrons are not going to have coaxial or optical audio. For awhile I was using two of them even but I'm down to one now.

*they do everything, but of course size can be an issue plus wire nesting

[Logan Jones]

Here's the thing... The switch I want to get is one that is affordable, but also quality. I want to use a switch that will be intended for systems that temporarily use s-video before I upgrade to RGB. I know I can mod my N64 for RGB, I know I can get RGB natively on the SNES, and I know that my GC has more options for better quality output than S-video.

However, I simply want a quality connection that will look good on a CRT. Once I get a PVM, I will get my systems all working with the highest quality cables possible, including RGB.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Buy my pvm!

[Logan Jones]

Buy my pvm!

Thanks, but can't. I'm too young to get one yet. Maybe in the future.

[bigbadboaz]

Here's the thing... The switch I want to get is one that is affordable, but also quality. I want to use a switch that will be intended for systems that temporarily use s-video before I upgrade to RGB. I know I can mod my N64 for RGB, I know I can get RGB natively on the SNES, and I know that my GC has more options for better quality output than S-video.

However, I simply want a quality connection that will look good on a CRT. Once I get a PVM, I will get my systems all working with the highest quality cables possible, including RGB.

I'm putting on my flame suit here, but FWIW and could save you a ton of money..

If you get your S-Video set up in a way you're happy with, you might want to just stop there. I personally found the jump from composite to S-Video mindblowing, and the step from S to component/RGB so much smaller as to be negligible. The huge thing for me was getting rid of the dot crawl and excessive color bleed that composite introduces.. after that, you're looking more at fine-tuning than major change. If you're anything like me, getting that one quality switch could be the last piece in the puzzle.

Maybe try to get some eyes-on experience with a PVM setup before you commit to making the investment. Food for thought.

[SCARTicus]

I bought a Sony SB-V40S off of Amazon for ten bucks a few years ago and it has been great. There is no noise or signal loss. It is a genuine Sony product from back when that still meant something. There is no better option for a practical S-video switcher and you will not get any improvement from using an Extron or breakout cables with a component switch. It also looks great velcroed to the top of a KV series trinitron, as seems to be its intended purpose.

Svideo is great. It is certainly hard to complain about in most situations. It is a huge step up from composite, night and day. That being said, anyone telling you that RGB is not a big step up from svideo must have quite poor eyesight. The difference in sharpness and color are very noticeable and appreciable. The main reason why I use RGB over svideo, though, is that the OSSC doesn’t take svideo, and so RGB or ypbpr are absolutely necessary in order to play laglessly on a modern consumer tv or monitor or old pc crt. It’s necessary for future-proofing your games collection.

Since you said that you were too young to get a PVM, I will assume that you have very little cash to spend. Don’t go chasing RGB yet. It is quite expensive.

Stay with svideo, it is good enough and better than what most people were playing with at the time. Most of my friends had a jungle of RF switches daisy chained behind their televisions well into to N64 era. I played on composite or RF until I got my Gamecube.

[Logan Jones]

I bought a Sony SB-V40S off of Amazon for ten bucks a few years ago and it has been great. There is no noise or signal loss. It is a genuine Sony product from back when that still meant something. There is no better option for a practical S-video switcher and you will not get any improvement from using an Extron or breakout cables with a component switch. It also looks great velcroed to the top of a KV series trinitron, as seems to be its intended purpose.

Svideo is great. It is certainly hard to complain about in most situations. It is a huge step up from composite, night and day. That being said, anyone telling you that RGB is not a big step up from svideo must have quite poor eyesight. The difference in sharpness and color are very noticeable and appreciable. The main reason why I use RGB over svideo, though, is that the OSSC doesn’t take svideo, and so RGB or ypbpr are absolutely necessary in order to play laglessly on a modern consumer tv or monitor or old pc crt. It’s necessary for future-proofing your games collection.

Since you said that you were too young to get a PVM, I will assume that you have very little cash to spend. Don’t go chasing RGB yet. It is quite expensive.

Stay with svideo, it is good enough and better than what most people were playing with at the time. Most of my friends had a jungle of RF switches daisy chained behind their televisions well into to N64 era. I played on composite or RF until I got my Gamecube.

That's exactly what I will do. Thanks!

[jdawg131]

OP - I agree with the consensus. S-Video is a massive improvement over composite. It really is a night and day difference. I don’t regret my decision to go all RGB, but it really is going down a black hole. It costs a lot more money. The one thing to be mindful of if you stilck with S-Video is the cost of the cables. The Monster brand ones have gotten ridiculously overpriced. You could get used Nintendo branded ones from Japanese sellers for ~$30-35 when I picked one up prior to the RGB switch.

[FinalBaton]

For SNES, N64 and Gamecube, I really recommend this S-video cable :
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/The-best-S-vide ... SwEppUPd4d

It is wired correctly (S-video is really passing through, onlike cheaper "s-video" cable that only really pass composite), I saw no dithering, and supposedly it's isolated and grounded in a satisfying manner (althought I haven't opened up my wire to confirm this myself).

[Steamflogger Boss]

Svideo is great. It is certainly hard to complain about in most situations. It is a huge step up from composite, night and day. That being said, anyone telling you that RGB is not a big step up from svideo must have quite poor eyesight. The difference in sharpness and color are very noticeable and appreciable. The main reason why I use RGB over svideo, though, is that the OSSC doesn’t take svideo, and so RGB or ypbpr are absolutely necessary in order to play laglessly on a modern consumer tv or monitor or old pc crt. It’s necessary for future-proofing your games collection.

Since you said that you were too young to get a PVM, I will assume that you have very little cash to spend. Don’t go chasing RGB yet. It is quite expensive.

The difference between svideo and rgb is definitely noticeable. Now if that is worth the cost increase (particularly with equipment) is a person by person basis. To me it is but I could see someone look at good svideo vs rgb and not care enough to want to sink more money into it.

Also one last thing on svideo like FinalBaton said it is very important to get good and proper cables. Don't be tempted by the cheap ones from China, there is a noticeable difference.

Stay with svideo, it is good enough and better than what most people were playing with at the time. Most of my friends had a jungle of RF switches daisy chained behind their televisions well into to N64 era. I played on composite or RF until I got my Gamecube.

Heh, this is so true. Hell I was using composite with PS3 early on since that's what it shipped with. Eventually I got so fed up with the quality I knew there had to be something better. Found out about hdmi and shortly after found fudoh's site (I want to say this was around 2012 or 2013). Now I have 5 standalone scalers, a pvm, scart cables etc... Life changer LOL.

[Logan Jones]

Great news, guys! A guy sent me photos of the video quality of two switchers; A crummy-quality Cables2Go switch, and a great-quality General Electric switcher from Walmart. He said the GE one had no video degradation. NONE. Look at the photos to see for yourself:

Crappy Cables2Go:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lak5mi7hzecja ... o.jpg?dl=0

Great General Electric:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tfjwzoq9cog05 ... n.jpg?dl=0

Tell me what you think, guys! A great alternative or what?

[Logan Jones]

I recently received the AV/S-video switch from Walmart and it works great. I can testify that the switch does not produce any noise or loss! If you need a good S-video switch, get the General Electric switch from Walmart.