S-Video Cable

Description

The S-Video Cable is the a third party s-video and composite cable for the Xbox. The Xbox uses a Multi AV port, a proprietary connector that allowed different types of analogue video outputs and cables. While the bundled cables were composite video and stereo audio (including a SCART adapter for PAL units), the Xbox supports higher‑quality outputs such as s‑video, RGB SCART (in PAL regions), and component. This s‑video cable plugs into the Multi AV port on one end and provides an s‑video connector in lieu of composite video, in addition to stereo RCA plugs on the other.

The advantage of s‑video is that it separates the video signal into two channels: luma (brightness) and chroma (colour), which reduces colour bleeding and dot crawl compared to composite. The result is a noticeably sharper image, especially on CRT televisions or capture devices that accept s‑video. Composite, in theory, can still look good but requires high quality components not seen on consumer hardware. Moving from composite to s-video provides the biggest jump in image quality, with diminishing returns as you work up to full quality RGB (SCART) / VGA).

These cables were widely available from third‑party manufacturers and inexpensive, usually bundled with both s‑video and composite connectors on the same lead. Microsoft’s official pack also included a digital audio output for 5.1 surround sound. The ideal and my preferred solution at the time was to use the official Component AV Pack, which allowed for 480p in select titles, and even HD 720p for a small handful, along with digital audio. These however were expensive and today quite uncommon. Xbox’s emphasis on a more mature market was the first time western consumers were encouraged or targeted to consider the equipment video quality they were receiving. I was one of the lucky few to have a high end CRT HDTV around the Xbox launch but kept a couple of the cheap s-video cables on hand for visiting friends.