Now, I'm honestly not one to give a shit about the quality of video output from a video game console. I still have a CRT television, I still use RF and even my Xbox 360 and Wii are run through an RF modulator because my TV only has coax input. People who go ape shit over RF vs Composite vs Component vs HDMI simply have too much time on their hands worrying about how sharp every single pixel is on screen. And that is coming from a man who has OCD.
As soon as I got home I tested the cables and noticed the video kept cutting out. My excitement was quelled, but I did the standard bend the cables around and see if the video game back, to no avail. I then noticed there were plastic junctions for the cable to split for each system as well as to split for the S-Video and audio ends to plug into the TV.
I carefully used a guitar pick and some brute force to pop open the little plastic box revealing that one of the wires had come loose, in reality it looked like they had never actually soldered the damn thing in the first place. Since I had (literally) a handful of multi-console RF adapters, as well as my TV only being able to accept S-Video through the RF modulator, I decided to just pack the cables away and not worry about them for a while.
About 6 months ago I was quickly becoming fed up with the way the OEM Xbox 360 cables were so stiff and always got in my way. The AV into RF modulator gave me a pretty good signal as where the MadCatz RF adapter I used pulled in far too much interference. Then I remembered that I had the S-Video cables, so I decided to solder it together. A quick glob of solder firmly attached to the board and a little tinning to the wire, put them together and voila!
I tested everything out and this time everything was perfect, but I did notice something strange. Even though this was going through the RF modulator everything seemed sharper than the AV cables I used for each system. Same TV, same RF modulator, exact same layout as before, except this time I was using the MadCatz multi-console S-video cables.
As time went on that difference has faded away, not sure whether that is because I've become accustom to it or what. I do, however, find these cables to be far more convenient to use, less stiff and cumbersome, as well as allowing me to use a lot more consoles than a single set of AV cables or RF adapter.
To me video output is video output. Only for the past 4 years have I ran any of my systems in anything other than RF, because it was just easier to have the old NES RF adapter plugged in and use it for Nintendo and Sega consoles alike. Even though I did notice a difference when I first used the s-video cables, that difference has since faded and I honestly can't tell much of a different between the RF and s-video cables. Sure it could be that I'm using an RF modulator, but if that were the case why and how did I notice the difference in the first place?
To me video output is video output. Only for the past 4 years have I ran any of my systems in anything other than RF, because it was just easier to have the old NES RF adapter plugged in and use it for Nintendo and Sega consoles alike. Even though I did notice a difference when I first used the s-video cables, that difference has since faded and I honestly can't tell much of a different between the RF and s-video cables. Sure it could be that I'm using an RF modulator, but if that were the case why and how did I notice the difference in the first place?
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