S-Video splitting

it290 · Post by **it290** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 3:54 am

Okay, bit of a long winded question this, so I'll try and make it short. I have a bunch of systems hooked up currently using system selectors/switchboxes. Everything is hooked up via s-video. I also have two TVs going -- one normal and one tate. Right now, just have two s-video cables hanging off, one going to each TV, and I've just been unplugging and replugging depending on which TV I want to use.

I've seen some cheap S-Video 'splitters' -- actually, they're intended to be used to hook up two inputs into one TV, rather than splitting one signal into two. They're passive devices. I've heard that using one of these as a splitter will degrade quality -- reducing brightness or some such. However, I only plan on having one TV on at any given time. So my question is this -- if I get one of these splitters, will I see a degradation in quality, even if I'm only using one television at a time?

Post by **Ghegs** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 5:35 am

I used to have my PS2 and GameCube hooked up via scart-splitter (to just one TV) and I did notice a degrade in quality. And oddly, I wouldn't get any sound from the Cube unless I turned the PS2 completely off (not just into stand-by). Nowadays I have a scart switcher, an active device, and I don't see any degrading whatsoever or it's so small I can't even notice it.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 6:06 am

I'm not sure what the advantages of splitting the signal would be except to stop switching cables.

I don't see any much of a disadvantage splitting the svideo signal into 2 since your already using switch boxes already.

kemical · Post by **kemical** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 7:00 am

The splitters you've seen might just be sending the Y and C signals off on to 2 of those male rca style plugs, or combining those 2 signals into the s-video plug. monitors like the amiga 1080/ 1084 have s-video but its in the form of 2 rca plugs.

a splitter for male svideo into 2 other male s video plugs would still have the same effect of possibly darkening the picture on one or both tvs if they are on at the same time.

s-video plug has 4 pins, y, ground, c, ground... chroma and luma, which is the reason why s-video is better quality than composite, because the 2 signals are seperate, while composite combines them into 1 signal which gets split back apart in the tv and degrades.

If the splitter is actually sending the s-video off into 2 composite signals (which you can do by just combining the y/c wires and the grounds) then the picture quality will get worse.
If it's splitting or breaking into seperate y / c plugs you will just get a crisp black and white grayscale signal from one of them, and then (I think) a bad color signal or no signal from the other.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 7:07 am

Yes, the splitter I'm talking about has an s-video male tip on one end and two s-video female plugs on the other side. I'm just wondering if it will darken the picture with only one TV switched on, or if that will only happen if they're both on.

kemical · Post by **kemical** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 7:24 am

it should only happen if both are turned on from what I've experienced, and the darkening I've seen from doing something similar didn't bother me at all. I was splitting an RGB signal with home made wiring, it just made the larger tv go darker when the smaller one was turned on.