DVD interconnects

[radioflier]

I just received an inexpensive DVD player and now I have a question about connecting it to the TV. The TV is a fairly new Toshiba 36" conventional tube set (non-HDTV). It can accomodate a standard video cable, S-video cable, and component video cables. The DVD player has the same cable connections. I hooked up the DVD player up using standard video cables from my VCR just to try it and it looks great.

Will I gain anything by going to S-video or component video cables with this TV? The TV is in an entertainment unit and it's a real pain to install cables in the back - I would prefer not to do it if it isn't going to gain me anything. Any comments?

Thanks for your input!

[Geoffcin]

I just received an inexpensive DVD player and now I have a question about connecting it to the TV. The TV is a fairly new Toshiba 36" conventional tube set (non-HDTV). It can accomodate a standard video cable, S-video cable, and component video cables. The DVD player has the same cable connections. I hooked up the DVD player up using standard video cables from my VCR just to try it and it looks great.

Will I gain anything by going to S-video or component video cables with this TV? The TV is in an entertainment unit and it's a real pain to install cables in the back - I would prefer not to do it if it isn't going to gain me anything. Any comments?

Thanks for your input!

Even if the TV is not an HD model, buy having Component inputs it allows you to get a true 480 progressive signal from your DVD player. This is the best quality that you can get from standard DVD, and well worth using.

[NickWH]

You will definitely notice a difference going to S-video and then again going to Component Video. Even with a standard set, the higher resolution signal is noticeable. I wouldn't bother with anything less than S-video when hooking up a DVD player.

[radioflier]

Thanks for the response. I'll look into getting some new cables this week.

Now on the the next problem -

I borrowed several DVDs today from a friend and am having problems playing them. They play, but we can barely see the picture. The screen is very dark for most of the time, but comes up to normal brightness for a second or so, then goes back to dark for maybe 10 seconds. It keeps repeating this pattern. What's going on here?

[E-Stat]

I borrowed several DVDs today from a friend and am having problems playing them. They play, but we can barely see the picture. The screen is very dark for most of the time, but comes up to normal brightness for a second or so, then goes back to dark for maybe 10 seconds. It keeps repeating this pattern. What's going on here?

Sounds like a copy of a protected movie to me.

rw

[radioflier]

[QUOTE=E-Stat]Sounds like a copy of a protected movie to me.

That's what I thought too, but these same DVDs play just fine on my computer here.

[radioflier]

[QUOTE=radioflier][QUOTE=E-Stat]Sounds like a copy of a protected movie to me.

UPDATE: I was temporarily running the DVD player thru the VCR because the VCR jacks were a lot easier to get to than the ones on the back of the TV. I forgot about the jacks on the front of the set (camera, etc). This morning I plugged the player into the front jacks and everything is working fine. I suspect this all has to do with keeping you from making vcr copies of the dvd movies. I recall many years ago of trying to watch a video tape of a movie that a relative had tried to copy from a comercial tape - same problem with the alternating light/dark picture.