S-Video cable question

steve0202 · July 2003

I have Direct TV (satellite TV) and it was hooked up to my TV via Coax connections. I went to the local electronics store and asked them if a S-Video cable would enhance the picture on my TV (for regular viewing and while playing DVD's). I was told to eliminate the coax running from the Direct TV box to the TV and replace it with the S-Video cable and that should do the trick. Well, I tried this and although the picture seemed clearer there was no sound. The only time I got sound was when I was playing a DVD, which is hooked up thru my stereo system. Can anyone give me the real story on how to hook up a S-Video cable to my TV? I have a JVC TV with one S-Video connection and the Direct TV box has one S-Video Connection.

dorokusai · July 2003

I was told to eliminate the coax running from the Direct TV box to the TV and replace it with the S-Video cable and that should do the trick.

If by this you mean that you removed all the cables leaving your DTV, then you probably just disco'd your analog cables for audio. When you "eliminated" the coaxial, how many cables does that mean? 1 cable or 3?? S-Video will only provide an improved video, no audio is carried by it. You still need your audio L & R connected.

Or do you route audio from the DTV into your receiver? If this is the case, turn it on and check. My AVR doesn't pass thru my sound from the cable box to the TV, unless it is turned on.

HBombToo · July 2003

What kind of Direct TV box do you have? Is it DD capable meaning it has a TOSLink? If so you want to run that directly into your receiver so you can pick up DD programming. If not then run your left and right audio pair from your Direct TV receiver into your Reveiver so you can at least use dolby pro logic.

Hope this helps
HBomb

steve0202 · July 2003

I eliminated the lone (1) coax cable running from the "out" on the satellite box that ran directly to the coax antenna connection on the back of the TV. I then hooked up the S-Video cable in its place. I do not want to have to turn on my stereo to watch TV. Of course, I always pipe my DVD's thru my system, but did not want to have to turn my stereo on to watch the evening news. Right now I hooked up the original coax connector back along with the S-Video. The problem I have now is the TV will only recognize one of the inputs at a time, so my picture quality has not changed. Is there any solution to this?

BeginnersLuck · July 2003

If your are trying to elliminate the coax cable, you will need an s-video cable and a pair of rca interconects. For example, if you choose to run the s-video cable into the video 1 input on the back of the TV, the audio interconnects should also go into video 1. This will allow you to set the TV to video 1 and watch/listen to your Ditect TV feed without having to turn on the receiver.

Follow these instruction to fix the problem:

S-video output from Direct TV box output to S-video on TV input,
Audio L/R output from Direct TV box to Audio L/R input on the same TV input as the S-video connection...

The coax line from the dish company carries both the audio and video signals, the S-video cable only carries a video signal, which is why one needs to also hook up the L/R audio outs if you decide to go with the s-video cable...

Later,
-BL

steve0202 · July 2003

Thanks BL. I assume regular RCA jacks for the audio L/R are OK? And I can eliminate the original coax cable from DTV box to TV?

HBombToo · July 2003

Originally posted by steve0202
Thanks BL. I assume regular RCA jacks for the audio L/R are OK? And I can eliminate the original coax cable from DTV box to TV?

Steve, your not running your audio into your receiver for at least dolby pro???

Yes regular old RCA jacks are all ya need.

H

steve0202 · July 2003

Yes H Bomb, I have the "3 style" connection hooked up in the back of the receiver for the TV. I use the Dolby Pro II to watch all my DVD's. Can I use that connection to use DP II to watch cable movies, such as an HBO movie? Is that what you are asking? I never thought to use it that way, but that would be nice if it works that way.

HBombToo · July 2003

Originally posted by steve0202
Yes H Bomb, I have the "3 style" connection hooked up in the back of the receiver for the TV. I use the Dolby Pro II to watch all my DVD's. Can I use that connection to use DP II to watch cable movies, such as an HBO movie? Is that what you are asking? I never thought to use it that way, but that would be nice if it works that way.

Yes SIR!!! all the way. Don't run you L/R to your TV but directly to your receiver. WAY BETTER!!! If you have an Optical Light connection, "looks like a little square black button", you can get DD on your HBO fead. Your TV cannot decode that.

HBomb

BeginnersLuck · July 2003

H Bomb is right, just remember, you will have to turn on your Receiver in-order to get sound everytime you want to watch TV...

Hooking the sound up through the receiver will enhance your TV viewing, even the local news...heh

-BL

steve0202 · July 2003

Thank you everyone for your help. I got everything working last night and was enjoying great sound from all sources! Heck, I was watching the Yankee game and it felt like I was at the Stadium! Good stuff!

HBombToo · July 2003

Steve, what kind of DTV box do you have? You really need to look into a DD capable unit. Total cool factor watching the movie channels in DD!

HBomb

steve0202 · July 2003

HBomb,
The only thing I know off hand is that it is a Philips Satellite TV box/receiver, basic unit that was supplied with the dish.

HBombToo · July 2003

take a look here:

http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.jsp?c=1&b=g&catoid=-9712&qp=0&bookmark=bookmark_3&oid=76843

If you have a High Def TV this box is outstanding:

http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.jsp?c=1&b=g&catoid=-9712&qp=0&bookmark=bookmark_7&oid=65243

For 99 bucks ya can't go wrong with the Hughes. I had the RCA DD befor upgrading to the Zenith. The RCA was fine for DD but I was never impressed by the vidio quality. I'm no pro in this catagory but I think the MPEG decoder in the RCA is a POS!

HBomb

Loud & Clear · July 2003

Good job, Steve; even though it's not DD, running rca out of the cable/DTV boxes to our receivers allows for Pro Logic II, which is nothing to thumb your nose at as you've now heard.

I'd like to get a box with a digital audio out, heck mine doesn't even have an S-Video out.

steve0202 · July 2003

Thanks L&C,
I am very pleased for now.......always looking to improve on things although the wife seems to think we are just fine.....NEVER! HaHa

Hey, if there is a component video out on my TV and one on the back of my Denon, should I be using those? What are the advantages of Component Video versus the the regular connections?

gmorris · July 2003

just curious,

i just finished reading the thread, & I don't understand why you are playing DVD's in Pro Logic II? DVD's should be played in Dolby Digital or DTS. You said your DVD player is hooked up to the Denon receiver, which I'm sure has DD & DTS. Why are you not using them?

Also, you did not state what type of connection you are using to connect the DVD player. I'm assuming you are also using the S-video. How are you doing that with only 1 S-video input on the TV? Are you manually switching the S-video cable back & forth from the DVD to the sat. box?

If you are manually switching your video cable, you could use the receiver to switch your video source. You will, of course, need a total of 3 S-video cables.

In response to your last question about component video, the component video on a TV would be an "IN" not an "OUT". If you have a component video "OUT" on your DVD player, and it is connected to the component video "IN" on the TV, that is the BEST possible connection type. Component Video uses three separate cables to transmit the luminance and two components of chrominance. The benefits -- improved color accuracy and less color bleeding -- are especially noticeable on larger-screen TVs. Although, you will not notice any difference unless your DVD has progressive scan & you are using a digital TV. It doesn't sound to me as if you have a digital TV, so I'd just continue using the S-video, it is cheaper to buy S-video cables than it is to buy quality Comp. video cables.

-Greg

BeginnersLuck · July 2003

This thread is not talking about DVD players, it's talking about Direct TV decoder boxes that are used to descramble the signal comming in from the Direct TV dish...His decoder box has a s-video output on the back of it and no digital output. So we were just recommending the use of the s-video cable. It was also recommended that he hook up the L/R audio outputs from the Direct TV decoder box to the back of his receiver to enjoy DPLII...

-BL

gmorris · July 2003

this thr'd started off about Direct TV boxes, but it seems to be evolving. I was just offering suggestions, as it seems our friend is a relative newcomer to the world of A/V. He was the one who asked about comp. video cables.

Lighten up bro.

dorokusai · July 2003

Component Video works way better as a garrotte, than S-Video cable....bah!

S-Video cable question

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