What is max length you can use with a S-Video cable

[stockjock]

I have a 25ft length of the cable that I'm using on my TV and its seems the picture is "wavy". Is this happening because the S-video cable length is too long? The cable is coming from my computer to a 52" big screen non-projector TV.

 

[Pariah]

So long as it is a quality cable, 25ft should have no affect on image quality. Monster cable sells 250ft runs for some of their lines.

 

[stockjock]

Thanks for that answer...I went back to place that I bought the cable, www.cablesnmor.com and here is what they say about the length:
Please Note: The maximum industry recommended length for s-video cables is 35'. It is similar to video; the further you go the more ghosting may appear. Most of our customers have had no problems. Your mileage may vary.

So, I'm thinking its some other problem that is interfering with the signal.

 

[LethalWolfe]

You could have gotten a bum cable, try it w/a new cable and see if it still happens. You can have miles and miles of S-video cable if you want, but you better have a lot of signal boosters. I can't remember the maximum effective length of an S-video cable (w/o a signal booster), but I know it's well short of 250ft. S-video was made to connection devices that were relatively close together, not to make big runs between point A and point B.


Lethal

 

[Pariah]

I wouldn't think runs that long would be possible without boosters either, but here is what Monster says about their Super Video 3 cable:

"Ultra-low attenuation design for excellent TV/video picture quality, even over long runs (up to 300 feet)."

Why you would ever need to run 300ft of cable I don't know, but you seem to have that option.

 

[Dunjon]

I think 25ft is a common length to buy. Tell us more about the problem. Is your tv and computer conected at the same outlet? Have you connected anything else with the s-video cable.

 

[stockjock]

The computer and big screen are NOT connected to the same outlet...I guess I could try another computer with TV out to see if I have the same problem...
Here are the specs of the system:
XP 1800+
FIC AN11 board
512mb PC2100 DDR
GeForce3 TDH

Thats main parts...This was built for a friend who wants to use it as a gaming machine on big screen TV.

 

[rbV5]

My 32" TV is connected with a 25' S-Video cable. There is virtually no difference in the picture quality(very good btw) than when I'm using my 6' cable, so I don't think the cable length is your problem.

 

[Barrei]

Did you try a shorter cable and moving the computer to lets say 6ft-10ft , if that doesn't make a difference then its probably your 52 " screen is to big to allow a decent picture from your video card.