PureAV S-Video Cable product reviews

The TV blew up. Time to replace. Bought a fairly decent 25" flatscreen, and noticed during installation it had an S-Video port on the front. "Handy, " thinks I, recalling a similar socket on the trusty camcorder, "Christmas home movies on the bigscreen! Little man's birthday! Right, let's test..."

So, unpack the camera, find the right tape, unpack the nice shiny new cable and hooked it all up. Clicked the TV over to Front AV ports, hit >play< in the camcorder and sat back to see if my mental storage matched the magnetic one.

Having tried the same thing using the supplied RF-AV leads, and also knowing the quality of the downloaded composite stream via IEEE Firewire, it was stunning to see the quality jump I got from camera to TV using the S-Video.

The image was so sharp, I actually had to soften it with the TV controls, it enhanced every dot of grain in every frame. Stunning, but not always a great thing. So, be sure to reset your TV's image preferences if you can. It will throw things a little out of whack at first glance.

Once the remarkable image detail issues had been compensated for, It was time to see how it handled the high-speed fast-forward. Could it keep up with increased signal flow? Simply, yes. It was great to see a definite reduction in the flicker. The 99%+ pure copper strands and gold-enhanced pins certainly ensure the maximum signal gets through.

I found the connection to be a bit of a snug fit, meaning a good hold under any circumstances. Combine that with the fact that the TV and Camera sockets have literally never been used, and you have an excellent high-contact connection. A very good thing indeed.

Overall, I was highly impressed with the cable's abilities, with the smooth, high-friction casing allowing a firm grip, and the overall effective increase in the communication channel will prove highly useful with the new video editting system under construction.