mame via s-video

[jox43w]

at the moement i cant afford an arcade vga so im thinking of getting a cheap gpu with s-video out to hook up to my tv, is anyone here running such a set up that could give any kind of review to what it is like? evern better screenshots?

will mame look better on my pc via s-video than my pc monitor?

 

[JoshM22]

I have been thinking of doing this too. Some high quality screen shots and review would be awesome.

 

[Zach]

It will work fine for the most part. The only problem will be using Windows itself.. It tends to look horrible, even on s-video out, on most TV's. But the games are much lower res and should run fine since TV's are still primarily low-res displays.

 

[betaman]

It also depends on what video card you re using.
ATI cards have a sharper, clearer picture quality than nvidia.
I use the svideo output through DVD Recorder for my youtube captures.
It looks not so bad, although the YT compression is very tight.

Here is one of my Recordings through SVideo output with 1024x768:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IbYOLndL6_U&fmt=18

 

[Spellsong]

Composite display already looks sharp on my TV for mame, and even better than the original consoles through other emulators so I assume that S-video is much better.


S-video to composite BTW, and that is true about ATI having sharper colors that NIVIDA. I'm using a low end ATI HD card as well.

 

[Zach]

S-video and composite are the same thing. They just use different connections, with S-video simply providing slightly better picture quality..

Also.. I don't believe all this hype about ATI image quality. That was definitely true years back, when the GPU race was heating up and TV-out was becoming a big deal for a lot of people.. ATI may even have slightly better TV out clarity for something like S-video.. However I have never seen any difference that I truly noticed.

That being said, with todays connectors like HDMI and and DVI, and component. It doesn't really matter. My bros shuttle hooked up to his LCD TV (which admittedly does function like a PC monitor by nature) looks crystals clear with great image quality. He just uses the onboard Nvidia GPU for his Shuttle PC.

I have hooked up my Geforce 6800 to our regular big screen downstairs, via it's component out converter box, and had no complaints about the picture quality either.. I'm sure I will get the same, if not better results from my newer 8800 GTS 512.

When it comes to S-video, you are pretty much dealing with an analog signal anyway and what becomes important is not so much your GPU brand, but the quality of your cards DAC (digital to analog converter).

 

[Spellsong]

Then I realize that the difference came from hooking up my s-video to composite cable to the VCR instead of the TV itself. I though it was the card, but what I can do.