[mythtv-users] coax vs. composite

[Brian Wood]

On May 16, 2006, at 11:00 AM, Meatwad wrote:

> Brian Wood wrote:
>> On May 15, 2006, at 6:45 PM, Robert Johnston wrote:
>
>>> On 5/15/06, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
>>>> In home consumer systems:
>>> For Video (Or more accurately, A/V) we SHOULD be using RGB over  
>>> SCART
>>> (Or "Péritel" in France).
>
>> For video here in the US, BNCs are pretty much the standard now,
>
> I'm fairly certain Robert was still answering from the realm of  
> consumer
> equipment. In the US, very little consumer equipment has BNC video
> routing - excepting projectors - to the lament of every other
> professional I have discussed the matter with. The BNC is truly the  
> most
> logical connector for terminating baseband video. It locks, it is
> impedance matched, can be properly relieved, easy to work with in
> confined spaces. BNC is the standard in commercial av, film, tv,
> multichannel and security baseband video where compromising designs
> cannot be tolerated.
>
> The RCA and S-Video DIN connections are sadly still the norm for
> consumers in the US. RGB over SCART is a huge jump up in quality from
> composite RCA but (so I'm told) the physical interface is poor,  
> like the
> S-Video.
>
> <rant>BNC is also the typical termination of Serial Digital Interface
> (SDI) which is effectively an HDMI signal before it gets DRMed.  
> This is
> widely regarded as the holy grail of SD/HD routing and transmission  
> and
> is the preferred digital interface in all non-consumer realms.
>
> This interface will not be seen on consumer equipment however. We will
> soon be saddled with HDCP HDMI which is then slated to be ousted by a
> newer-fangled 1394b interface which will have more DRM than you can
> shake a stick at. There is also much talk of the content providers
> downrezzing the "HD" analog YPrPb outputs as well. Isn't progress
> wonderful? </rant>
>
>> though I remember when "UHF" connectors were used (PL-259/SO-239),
>> those are pretty much used only for RF nowadays. Interestingly,
>> although they were called "UHF" they were never certified for
>> anything above VHF frequencies).
>
> PL-259 terminations performed well for their applications in the early
> half of the 20th century. Even though there are far better designs
> available now, UHF terminations are still widely used today.
>
> Expect the RCA-terminated baseband video termination to be with us for
> some time.

I agree, but WHY???

It's not that BNCs are all that expensive, or hard to acquire. Surely  
we are talking about mere cents per device to use a far better  
connector.

Though I guess when you are talking about millions of devices a few  
cents saved per device is significant ?

Maybe the evil Taiwanese RCA-Connector Czars have threatened,  
tortured and killed enough manufacturers to ensure the survival of  
their nefarious world-domination scheme ??

Perhaps one day, a secret code will be transmitted to all of the RCA  
connectors on the planet, causing them to rise up against their human  
masters and ...