Friday 26 March 2010

Connecting your laptop to your TV (make your own 7 pin SVideo to RCA cable)

Following on from the article describing how to make a 4 pin SVideo to RCS cable, Anonymous requested the cable for a 7 pin SVideo to RCS cable.  So here are the instructions… note, I haven’t tested this – just info that I’ve put together from the http://www.allpinouts.org/index.php/S-Video_7_PIN site. 

So, if you have a laptop with a 7 pin S-Video output and want to watch a DVD on your TV (that didn’t have an S-Video input), here’s how to make your own cable (and save about R150). 
See below for the wiring – you’ll need a ceramic capacitor in the wiring.
Remember, the S-Video plug does not “carry” video signal and the audio – you will need 2 cables: 1 for the video (this one) and another for audio.
image {Thanks to www.allpinouts.org for the images and diagrams pasted below !}

Video cable:

Here’s a 7 pin S-Video plug: image (plugged into the laptop’s S-Video output, and the TV end soldered onto a RCA jack and plugged into the video-in socket on the TV)

Here’s the RCA plug: image  

Here’s the wiring of the S-Video to RCA cable:
image

Pin S-Video

Description

Pin RCA

1

GND Ground (Y)

Ground

2

GND Ground (C)

Ground

3

Y Intensity (Luminance)

Signal

4

C Color (Chrominance)

Signal through 470pF Ceramic Capacitor

5

- -

- -

6

V Composite Video

- -

7

VGND Composite Ground

- -

Notes (from allpinouts.org):
* Those 7 pin connectors seen on some PC graphics cards are non-standard connectors for carrying S-video.
* Generally the first four pins on those 7-pin connectors on the same places as the standard four pin S-video connector have practically always the same functionality as those pins in S-video connector.
* The other three pins can have then some extra signals which are not part of S-video (usually some pins of those carry composite video and some control signals, but the use of those three extra pins vary quite much).

* Larger capacitor values will also work, but cause picture to become "softer".
* The impedances and signal levels not matched exactly right, but near enough to work acceptably.


image
Audio cable:
The audio cable had a small stereo jack on it and plugged into the laptop’s headphone jack, and the TV end had two RCA male connectors and plugged into the audio-in (“Left and Right”) sockets on the TV.

www.allpinouts.org
While investigating this article I Googled into www.allpinouts.org which is an absolute mine of valuable information regarding pinouts of cables and connectors for all sorts of devices.  If you need to know how to wire up a connector or cable, then www.allpinouts.org will be your last stop!image

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