Composite or S-Video?

[Tempest]

I'm hooking my Atari 1200XL up to a new monitor tonight and I was thinking, which is better to use, Composite or S-Video?  S-Video is sharper, but Composite allows for artifcating, which some Atari games use.  Do most people use S-Video and just play artifacting games in B&W or do you use Composite?  The monitor I'm using is really nice so I'm not seeing a huge difference between the two.

[+bob1200xl]

I clean up the video signal and use s-video. If you just use the signal the way Atari made it, yes, it won't look much different - either is poor.

You can try s-video by using the composite signal for CHROMA. They didn't wire CHROMA to the video connector on the 1200XL.

 

I don't do much gaming on my Atari but even if I do boot up LodeRunner, it looks OK.

 

Bob

[robcatron]

33 minutes ago, Tempest said:

I'm hooking my Atari 1200XL up to a new monitor tonight and I was thinking, which is better to use, Composite or S-Video?  S-Video is sharper, but Composite allows for artifcating, which some Atari games use.  Do most people use S-Video and just play artifacting games in B&W or do you use Composite?  The monitor I'm using is really nice so I'm not seeing a huge difference between the two.

It's a tough one. I LOVE the video output of my 130XE with s-video, but I can't tolerate the way it looks with games that use artifacting (just about any Sirius or Broderbund title that was an Apple II port - most notably Choplifter!, Lode Runner and AE For me).  

 

So i ended up going with my XEGS with composite.  Not quite as good as the XE, probably as good as my 800 using composite, but "compatible" with all graphics modes and the cart port on top as well gelled it for me. 

 

 

[Tempest]

My 1200XL has the clear-pic mod so it looks pretty good no matter the video source.

 

Where is everyone getting their S-Video cables? I got one a while back off ebay, but the cheap thing broke and I can't seem to find another one.

[+DrVenkman]

For early games that really sort of needed composite, I'll use composite. For most day to day stuff, I use S-video. I got my cables several years ago from B&C's eBay store ('myatari'). They're nothing special but what do you need? They work. They break out the Atari DIN pinout to chroma/luma/composite/mono audio via four RCA jacks, which is perfect for my two Commodore monitors. For connecting to a more recent mini DIN S-video input on a consumer TV, I have another cable that connects to the Atari DIN with an S-video DIN on the end, plus mono audio, also from B&C. 

[6BQ5]

I just installed the UAV Rev D upgrade in my 1200XL. If you can do that then do it and you'll want to use S-Video. Super clean!

[+Nezgar]

With the commodore 1702 I hook up both at once, and can just switch between s-video/composite depending on the application... but most of the time I stay in S-video.

[ACML]

3 hours ago, Tempest said:

My 1200XL has the clear-pic mod so it looks pretty good no matter the video source.

 

Where is everyone getting their S-Video cables? I got one a while back off ebay, but the cheap thing broke and I can't seem to find another one.

I really like these cables Cory makes from 8-Bit Classics 

 

https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/atari-xlxe-5-pin-din-to-s-video-composite-av-cable/

 

It has S-video (Y/C), composite and L & R Audio.  Well made!

 

[Gunstar]

11 hours ago, DrVenkman said:

For early games that really sort of needed composite, I'll use composite. For most day to day stuff, I use S-video. I got my cables several years ago from B&C's eBay store ('myatari'). They're nothing special but what do you need? They work. They break out the Atari DIN pinout to chroma/luma/composite/mono audio via four RCA jacks, which is perfect for my two Commodore monitors. For connecting to a more recent mini DIN S-video input on a consumer TV, I have another cable that connects to the Atari DIN with an S-video DIN on the end, plus mono audio, also from B&C. 

Ditto here. for the more recent stuff, I got a Rix Cat Break-out-box from More Than Games a couple years ago: http://morethangames.a8maestro.com But the link to the store doesn't seem to be working or exist anymore? There's a note on the page linked though, from just last year, saying he got supplies in to finish making 50 more of his A8 & Jaguar audio/video break-out-boxes, so maybe it's just a temporary thing about the store site.

[Tempest]

12 hours ago, ACML said:

I really like these cables Cory makes from 8-Bit Classics 

 

https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/atari-xlxe-5-pin-din-to-s-video-composite-av-cable/

 

It has S-video (Y/C), composite and L & R Audio.  Well made!

 

Could you take a cable like this and hook it up to both S-Video and Composite at the same time and just switch between the two as needed or will that confuse the Atari?

[JR>]

16 minutes ago, Tempest said:

Could you take a cable like this and hook it up to both S-Video and Composite at the same time and just switch between the two as needed or will that confuse the Atari?

That works fine.  All of the available signals are available all the time.

[+MrFish]

29 minutes ago, Tempest said:

Could you take a cable like this and hook it up to both S-Video and Composite at the same time and just switch between the two as needed or will that confuse the Atari?

 

That's what I'm doing -- with a cable I built myself; my monitor has buttons to switch between s-video and composite when needed/desired.

 

[Mr Robot]

I have composite, s-video and RGB (from a vbxe) coming out of my Atari, all going into the same monitor, I just switch between them depending on what I'm doing.