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SDTV and PS3
So i bought myself a PS3 but i only have an SDTV and well seems like graphics and everything look quite bad compared to HD, now im not buying an HD tv just for the ps3 so im trying to get the best graphic quality on the ps3. I did some research and seems like there's 3 types of cables available for me, composite, s-video and component. I know it might seem straightforward but quite alot of websites have some the other way around and im not really sure which one's which, my TV has s-video but it only has the red,white,yellow ports open and i think it's suppose to have 5? and it has another input which has the same R,Y,W ports but it doesn't have the big circle to put the s-video cable into.
--Now is it worth it to buy the s-video cable, at the moment its quite hard to read text or see some players in MW2 so if it really does improve the graphic quality by alot i would easily buy it.
--Now some people say component is better than s-video and others say no, anyone know the actual truth?
--If component is better, that uses 5 ports right? Since i only have 3 for the 2 different inputs i guess i won't be able to use it.
Would greatly appreciate any help!
Comments
How large is your TV? If its the same size as your computer monitor, you might be able to use that instead as all modern monitors come in HD resolutions.
Naw my tv is alot bigger, as for my computer monitor i was thinking about playing some games on it instead but do i just use the same cable i use to connect to my computer and hook it up to the ps3 instead?
Also for the cables, if someone has actual experience with this can you elaborate on how much of a difference there is really.
Ye i want to play it on an HDTV too, but to tell you the truth i barely watch tv and im happy with this tv so can't justify spending any more money in that department. Also, i dno maybe it was just MW2 but i played a bit today and the graphics actually aren't that bad, i mean yeh they'll look wonderful in HD but it was still quite nice looking. As for a marginal improvement, its only the blurriness im really worried about and well since ill have the ps3 for awhile a $20 cable if helps is well worth the money.
Composite is the old 3 cable deal, a yellow one for video, white for left audio and red for right audio. The plugs are usually called RCA jacks or RCA plugs. Every TV has at least 1 or 2 composite ports, and this is what the PS3 comes with.
S-video is a (often yellow) cable with 4 pins in it. The image actually is a little bit sharper than the standard RCA cable and does help with reading text and stuff but don't expect a big change. It's the only cable that actually has a different connector than any of these. It doesn't actually carry audio and is accompanied by 2 RCA audio jacks (white and red) and usually shares a yellow RCA video jack for Video 1 on your TV, which you wouldn't use if you use the S-video jack. Almost every TV has 1 S-video port.
Component (not to be confused with composite) uses 5 plugs, 3 for video including a red, green and blue connector and 2 for audio which are white and red. Component isn't all that common on SDTV's so it's not surprising to not find it on your TV. It's capable of carrying a very high resolution video signal and the quality difference between HDMI and component is sometimes too small to notice depending on the TV's signal processor. This cable is far beyond composite (RCA) cables or S-video in quality.
If your TV has component (which it doesn't sound like it does) then you should buy that so if you ever do get an HDTV you can just use that connector for your PS3 to carry the 1080p HD signal instead of buying yet another cable.
Otherwise the S-video one would help a little bit, if you aren't able to get an HDTV.. if I wasn't too lazy to go to the store just for an s-video adapter then I would buy one for $10 or whatever. I think you can use the PS2 s-video adapter for the PS3 also so maybe you can get a used cable.
Thanks alot for clearing that up, i'll buy the cable tomrw and post the difference.