480p versus S-Video on DVD player?

Question

which would look better, progressive scan at 480 or S-Video, and do all DVDs support progressive scan

Answer 1

480p through the component outputs will offer the best picture quality. And 99 percent of new DVD players are progressive scan. Even the cheap ones. I recently seen an add at Menards for a progressive scan DVD player for $14.95. This webpage http://lyberty.com/encyc/articles/svideo.html
gives good breakdown of the formats (excluding HDMI and DVI) in simple terms without all the jargon.
You didn't ask about HDMI or DVI so I wont talk about those. They're a whole other can of worms.

Answer 2

They are not really comparable.

S-video is a type of video connection that falls between composite (yellow RCA) and component (three RCAs, red, blue and green) in quality.

480p is deinterlaced DVD quality ... i.e. a 480i DVD played on a progressive DVD player. Most modern DVD players output a progressive signal (but not all).

Output from that DVD player can be via composite, S-video or component ... with component offering the better picture.

The next level up (only useful if you have an HDTV) is an upconverting DVD player, which will output a 720p, 1080i or (sometimes) 1080p signal. The image is not as good as a true HD disk (native 1080p) but better than 480i/p (at least on a good upconverting player i.e. better video scaler chip). Output needs to be via component (some will output upscaled video over component others won't) or DVI/HDMI cables though ... composite and S-video just don't cut it.

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

Even if the information is the same, the progressive picture is a lot nicer. Just look at your computer monitor vs a standard def TV to see an example.

All DVD's support progressive, but not all players output progressive.

Answer 4

480p

Not all DVD players support progressive scan.