[mythtv-users] coax vs. composite

[Meatwad]

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.