The Miller Channel
By Kevin Miller
Component video comes in a few different flavors, and offers significantly enhanced video performance from DVD players, and it is also the predominant method of hookup from HDTV set-top decoders to HDTVs. Component video was introduced with the advent of MPEG encoding when DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite) first hit the market in the early 1990s. The most important thing about component video in terms of picture quality and video performance is that it separates the black and white portions of the picture from the color, which results in better resolution and greatly improved color saturation.
This separation is most frequently labeled Y, Cb, Cr for the color space of component DVD, and Y, Pb, Pr for the color space of HDTV component sources. The most common connection from DVD players is three RCA-type jacks. Most HDTV set-top boxes use three RCA jacks as well, but many also offer a 15-pin jack that can double as RGBHV or component video.
Composite video is what we all grew up with. It was developed for the implementation of color TV signals. Black and white was successfully transmitted over one wire for many years. So when color TV came along television engineers needed to come up with a single wire solution that wouldn't leave those that purchased black and white sets literally in the dark. The solution was composite video, which managed to put both the black and white and the color signals on one wire. That was a good solution in the 1950s with low resolution color TVs, but today's sophisticated high resolution displays show all the compression artifacts and cross-color or moiré patterns that come with a composite video connection.
S-Video was introduced in the 1980s and solved some of those problems. Unfortunately DBS starts in the composite video domain, and even though it is a component video format the attendant artifacts associated with composite video still show up in the picture even when hooked up via an S-Video connection. You'll notice a rainbow effect on plaid shirts and jackets when watching DirecTV or Dish Network programming as an example.
DVD and HDTV sources are the best examples of the high bandwidth, low noise and deeply saturated color that component video is capable of. The bigger the screen size and the higher the resolution of the display, the more evident component video's enhanced picture quality will be. On small direct-view analog TVs for example you'll be hard pressed to see a difference between an S-Video and a component video connection from a DVD player. On higher resolution HDTV capable direct-views and rear-projection TVs the distinction becomes much more evident.
On higher-end HDTV-ready sets a progressive-scan (see my column on progressive-scan video) DVD player will deliver the best DVD picture possible. As you may have guessed progressive-scan DVD is delivered via component video outputs from a progressive-scan capable DVD player. Progressive-scan adds even more resolution and detail to the picture, as well as the enhanced color resolution inherent in a component video signal.
Advanced User Tip: If you are in the market for a home theater system you should definitely make sure to get a TV with component video inputs, whether it's a new generation HDTV capable set or just a big screen analog set. Virtually all HDTV capable sets have component video inputs. Many of today's HDTV compatible sets only have one high-bandwidth (broadband, 480p or 1080i compatible) component input for the HDTV set-top box. A set with two broadband component video inputs will give you greater flexibility, as it will allow you to hookup a progressive-scan DVD player, and an HDTV set-top box simultaneously without the need for an expensive component video switcher.
7/24/01
(from the www.cnet.com archives)
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