It depends on the quality of your cable and how good the sync stripper works in the receiver. With good quality, there is no difference at all. If any component in the chain isn't good quality, there can be issues such as noise, patterns over the entire screen or lost sync on white screens. So if you want to decide on a cable, decide first if you may want to use Composite video with it some day. If you're sure you don't, then go with a sync on luma cable, just to minimize the potential for issues.
Hmm, sync stripper on luma??? I was thinking the sync stripper was only used for CSYNC in RGB cables... For Sony PlayStation 1/2 PAL/NTSC consoles this is the diagram: http://members.optusnet.com.au/eviltim/gamescart/psx.png Pin outputs: 1 ground, 2 audio left, 3 ground, 4 audio right, 5 luminance, 6 composite sync, 7 chrominance, 8 ground, 9 blue video, 10 +5V DC, 11 red video, 12 green video. To have: - sync on composite - pin 6 wired with pin 20 on SCART; - sync on luma - pin 5 wired with pin 20 on SCART; - CSYNC - using sync stripper. For GameCube PAL you can use only "sync on composite" because the console doesn't support S-Video output or you can you a sync stripper to have CSYNC. The question remain: If a console support both Composite and S-Video output and create two cables (with shielding and everything) with sync on composite and sync on luma is there a difference in image quality? Thank!
Your receiving device always has a sync stripper, unless it is meant to work with CSYNC or H+VSync only (think VGA monitors). If you have an upscaler or a TV, even an old CRT TV, they all have some circuitry to extract the sync from a more complex video signal. Luma and Composite Video both carry the sync signal but Composite Video is more complex, which makes it harder to extract the sync than using Luma. A good example of this is the GBS8200 upscaler. Its sync stripper has issues with Composite Video sync and on white screens it tends to fail. If you feed it Sync on Luma, it works fine. It also works fine if you use an external sync stripper. So my reply remains, if the rest of your equipment is good, there is no quality difference. If you only want to use RGB, use Sync on Luma for a better chance of having no problems.
For this discussion let's talk about CRT in generals with RGB support (I have Sony Trinitron). If I have 3 RGB cables csync, sync on luma and sync on composite for PlayStation 2 you say that I will have the same quality without any interferences??? Thanks!
Composite video is common practice in Europe. If you're buying a PAL market CRT with RGB support, it'll work. Monitors and other devices may have little concern for what's expected of TVs.
Lum, I know that CRT with RGB SCART, will support al three cables (sync over composite video, sync on luma and CSYNC). My CRT is PAL and have RGB support. My question was, on a CRT with RGB support testing all three cables on a console that support both composite video and s-video will have differences in quality image or the quality will be the same? For example testing all three cables with my PAL PS2 (support both; composite video pin 6 and s-video pin 5) on my PAL Sony Trinitron. I've ask this because RGC advertise that on a PAL GameCube using a CSYNC cable you will have the best quality. I don't know if that test was on a CRT or LCD Here are some info about those: https://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/composite-video-vs-composite-sync Thanks!
RGC are generalizing the issue and make it seem that CSYNC from the console is the fix to all possible problems. That isn't entirely true though: CSYNC cables *can* help with *some* issues, mainly high frequency interference. The thing is, on a good cable, there should be minimal interference and it should not affect the image quality. What's worse is that CSYNC out of consoles is always non-standard. The signal levels can be anywhere from 2V to 5V and may or may not be able to source enough current for the usual 75Ohm termination in the receiver. It's much simpler to just use Composite or Luma for sync, which is always standard in all consoles that support it. To make it simple for your case, @helakustorm, your Trinitron will produce the same image quality with all possible cable types. (Those TV have nice sync strippers and accept a wide range of signals flawlessly.) Just make sure you don't buy the cheapest RGB cable on Ebay. You can't fix a cable with bad shielding.
