About these 480p Component Cables...

[Kumoriken]

Hey, umm... I'm just wonderin'... (I know this is a noob-like question, but...) ...What exactly do they do? >.<
Like... I figured that they give better picture of the games and such, but I'm not familiar with all of this tech-talk. xP I so feel like a noob right now.
Anyway, the main questions are...

-What are these component cables, and what do they do?

-Will I get my $30 worth if I buy them?

-If so, should I buy the ones that I can attain at launch, ir should I wait a while and get the actual Nintendo ones? (Not sure if I'm misunderstanding anything or not. >.<)

Well, thanks everyone! ^_^

 

[ocdan]

yeah I'll back ya so you dont feel so akward... I have no clue to what their purpose may be, and now people are going post crazy aboot them

 

[Kris]

Yeah, you'll get your money's worth, because progressive scan is essentially low grade HD. However, if you don't have a HD tv or an ED tv then there is no point in getting them, because you won't have component cable input on your tv.

 

[GreyKirby]

I have a nooby question too hehe
What exacly is 480p? yea 480 pixels??? If it is what or how big is the TV for this..

 

[ocdan]

oh well then I dont care! woooooooo, go us lo-res'ers!!!

 

[Kris]

It's not 480 pixels. Progressive scan uses "scans" to redefine the image, so basically, it blasts out more pixels on your screen more times per second, and it's way over 480.

 

[GreyKirby]

oh okay

 

[ABC]

What it actually does is 480i which is Standard definition uses an interlaced image. What this means is that there is 480 vertical lines which make up the image that you see. This is OK for a standard telvision that works in a 4:3 aspect ration (standard square TV in lamens terms). 480p which the p stands for Progressive Scan, which cm be explained here: Progressive scan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

480p is definitely recommended for anyone that owns a widescreen HD Television.

 

[Kumoriken]

Ah, okay. So, should I buy the ones that will be available to me at launch, or just wait for the official Nintendo ones?

 

[Cyan Winters]

Well the 3rd party ones by Mad Catz are 60 bucks.

Nintendo ones are only 30.

 

[Inspire]

It's not 480 pixels. Progressive scan uses "scans" to redefine the image, so basically, it blasts out more pixels on your screen more times per second, and it's way over 480.

Not exactly. Standard Televisions output 60 interlaced frames per second with 480 scanlines. The catch is that each frame only displays every other row of pixels. This alternates back and forth to create an interlaced image. Progressive scan is a mode where a television or monitor will scan ahead (or progressively) and output 30 full frames per second.

You get an extra boost just using these cables - even if you don't use progressive scan. Video signals are composed of three individual signals - Red, Green, and Blue. Your standard Composite cables compress all three of these signals and trasmit them over a single cable. This is a ludicrous idea - that your sound is actually given more bandwith than your video signal (Sound - red and White / Video - Yellow).

S-Video cables work better, but I won't go into an explanation here.

Component video cables work best (as far as analog signals are concerned) and allow for the video signal to be sent as its separate individual components - Red, Green, and Blue. This helps big time with distortion and color bleeding and sharpness.

Progressive scan ices the cake off real nice by displaying a full image in each frame, rather than playing magic tricks and letting your brain compile the interlaced image.

So, what I'm getting at is that 480i (interlaced) and 480p (progressive) most put out the same amount of pixels per second, progressive scan just does it in a better way.

Now for a tip - don't think that more expensive means better in terms of component cables. You'll usually see longer cables cost a lot more than their shorter counterparts and be tempted to think they must be nicer. Don't fall for it; electric signals deteriorate over distance in a non-linear fashion. The reason longer cables cost more is because they have to be made of better materials to acheive the same distortion level as shorter cables.

The shor tof it is this: don't buy a longer cab;e than you need unless you like wasting money. You won't notice a difference in visual performance.

EDIT - Check out Bestbuy.com - they have a couple more - one set made by Griffin for $60 and another made by React for $25.

 

[registerednerd]

OK, here's the real answer. What the cable itself does is separates the red, green, and blue signals into separate cables, so they aren't all mixed in with each other like on composite (if you look closely at your TV, you will see the pixels are made up of red, green, and blue dots). As for the difference between 480p and 480i is that with p, the screen refreshed top first, then bottom; with i, it alternates lines. A good illustration is like 480p being like cutting a deck of cards, and 480i being like a bridge shuffle.

 

[Kris]

What i want to know is how the hell do I "enable" progressive san?

 

[registerednerd]

What i want to know is how the hell do I "enable" progressive san?

It will probably be in the options of games that support it.

 

[Cyan Winters]

The 30$ Nintendo ones went onsale at the Nintendo store online, already sold out with a new batch coming at the end of the month.