Is it undesirable to run video through a receiver?

[brigden]

I was told by someone that it was better to run a DVD player or video game system directly to a TV, rather than through a receiver. Any truth to this?

 

[Balt]

Oui.

Edit: If the receiver is decent you probably won't notice any difference, though.

 

[KLin]

Running through the receiver makes it easier to switch through devices, but it could affect image quality depending on the quality of the video switching on the receiver. I don't use it only because my receiver only has S-video switching. My cable box is connected to my TV via DVI, and my dvd player via component video.

 

[brigden]

Originally posted by: Balt
Oui.

Qui ou non?

 

[tweakmm]

It all depends on your system and one's definition of better.
Theoretically a signal is going to degrade the longer it travels and the more circuits it has to traverse. Whether or not you are going to notice a difference depends on your eyes, the dvd player video output, the receiver's switching quality and the quality of the TV.

 

[brigden]

Originally posted by: tweakmm
It all depends on your system and one's definition of better.
Theoretically a signal is going to degrade the longer it travels and the more circuits it has to traverse. Whether or not you are going to notice a difference depends on your eyes, the dvd player video output, the receiver's switching quality and the quality of the TV.

Yes, thank you. The answer I suspected.

Second question: Honestly, is the difference between s-video and component cables really that significant?

I assume one may be able to see a difference should one posess a high-end HDTV and near-thousand dollar cables. Should Joe Average, like myself, really expect to notice a difference with a basic 480i TV and standard DVD player?

I have a 24" FD Trinitron Sony Wega, a standard Sony DVD player, and a PS2. The DVD player is connected with component cables and I noticed a huge difference over composite. The PS2 is connected with an s-video cable and I noticed a huge difference over composite.

I'm trying to wade through the BS.

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: brigden

Originally posted by: tweakmm
It all depends on your system and one's definition of better.
Theoretically a signal is going to degrade the longer it travels and the more circuits it has to traverse. Whether or not you are going to notice a difference depends on your eyes, the dvd player video output, the receiver's switching quality and the quality of the TV.

Yes, thank you. The answer I suspected.

Second question: Honestly, is the difference between s-video and component cables really that significant?

I assume one may be able to see a difference should one posess a high-end HDTV and near-thousand dollar cables. Should Joe Average, like myself, really expect to notice a difference with a basic 480i TV and standard DVD player?

I have a 24" FD Trinitron Sony Wega, a standard Sony DVD player, and a PS2. The DVD player is connected with component cables and I noticed a huge difference over composite. The PS2 is connected with an s-video cable and I noticed a huge difference over composite.

I'm trying to wade through the BS.

well, i know this is two different video sources, but on my parents 32" WEGA, the DVD player looks much better on its component cables than my laptop does on its S-video cables. that's not the best comparison in the world, i know.

 

[kazeakuma]

Originally posted by: brigden

Originally posted by: tweakmm
It all depends on your system and one's definition of better.
Theoretically a signal is going to degrade the longer it travels and the more circuits it has to traverse. Whether or not you are going to notice a difference depends on your eyes, the dvd player video output, the receiver's switching quality and the quality of the TV.

Yes, thank you. The answer I suspected.

Second question: Honestly, is the difference between s-video and component cables really that significant?

I assume one may be able to see a difference should one posess a high-end HDTV and near-thousand dollar cables. Should Joe Average, like myself, really expect to notice a difference with a basic 480i TV and standard DVD player?

I have a 24" FD Trinitron Sony Wega, a standard Sony DVD player, and a PS2. The DVD player is connected with component cables and I noticed a huge difference over composite. The PS2 is connected with an s-video cable and I noticed a huge difference over composite.

I'm trying to wade through the BS.

From my experience, Component is far better than S-Video or Composite. It does really depend on your TV etc, but on my TV with the PS2 hooked up, I can still see a lot of colour bleeding in games and it's not quite 'sharp'. With component I was blown away, Text is 100% clear and no bleeding of colours anywhere. Also no banding of colours unless you count the colour banding in the game itself. That said, I have a TV capable of 720p/1080i, widescreen etc. YMMV

 

[RaiderJ]

For a TV that doesn't support 480p (or higher), going from S-Video to Component isn't much of a difference, but either one is superior to composite.

However, going from S-Video to progressive scan is a big difference IMO.