The quality of the picture on the TV depends much on the type and the length of the cable used. It´s obvious, the shorter the better. But in many cases the TV is not placed next to the PC but it´s placed a few meters away or even in another room. In these cases cables of 15 m or more can be necessary.
Lenght up to 5m
At this length you will probably find the right cable in an electronic shop. Who wants to make the cable on his own can use normal shielded wire like it´s shown in the illustration. This is a very cheap type and can also be used for the audio connection from the sound card to the TV or the amplifier. Since audio signals are quite insensitive compared to video signals this cable is good for 15 -20 meters.
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| standard shielded wire |
Length up to 15 m
At this length you have to use coax-cable, if you don´t accept a significant reduction in sharpness and overall quality. Coax cable is the cable used for antennas for example. It´s more expensive than the wire mentioned before, I guess it´s about 1 US$ per meter.
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| Coax cable |
If you want to make a S-VHS cable you have to use two lines of course, one for the luminance and one for the chrominance. So if your cable must be 15 m long you have to buy 30 m, what can make the connection expensive. There´s a big difference if you want to watch movies or use the TV for reading text (internet surfing etc.). Video signals representing texts are much more sensitive than video signals representing movies. Therefore if you just use your TV output for movies and want to save money it´s not necessary to make a S-VHS cable.
Problems after the connections are made
After the connections are made maybe you will notice disturbances in the picture and a humming noise in the sound. This is mostly a result of the different ground connections between the PC and the TV resp. the antenna of the TV. In these cases a filter like it´s shown in the illustration can solve the problem. I don´t know how it´s called in English but it separates the mass of the antenna from the mass of the TV and PC, and therefore it´s inserted in the antenna cable.
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| Antenna filter |
But this filter, which costs a few US$ only, has a disadvantage, too. It lowers the level of the antenna signal and can reduce the quality of the normal TV program. An hf amplifier can be used to compesnate this effect. The filter can be easily made by yourself. Have a look on Carsten Gross´homepage. It´s in German only, but the pictures will probably be enough to see how it works.
You can test if the filter mentioned before will work for you. Just disconnect the antenna cable from your TV resp. VCR. If the disturbances are gone this filter will work.