S-Video port instead of Composite / CVBS or hack??

I am quite tempted to buying the Raspberry Pi model B but having no access to HDMI compatible hardware limits me to using the poor quality composite video output.
What would be really good if it was possible to have an S-Video port instead of composite or access on the board to hack for chroma luma signals.
S-Video offers much better quality over composite (near RGB) because mixing chroma luma causes nasty colouring effects and dot crawling.
While it's true not many TVs support S-Video it's still used with many video capture devices such as my BT878 chipset TV card which I intend to use with this computer.

Does the video chip actually provide chroma luma signals or is it hard wired for composite only?

Would it be possible in the future to offer the option for purchasing a S-Video version of the PI over the composite one??

Richard S.

Sadly the answer to this question if anyone was wondering is no, unfortunately the video chip does not provide chroma / luma signals just the poor quality composite signal.
Not to worry though I'll probably ssh with PuTTY anyway or divert my X-Windows session to Windows using an X-Windows emulator.

Richard S.

[mahjongg]

Don't forget you can also use a DVI-D supporting monitor instead of HDMI, you only need a different cable.
Many older 15 and 17" LCD monitors have a DVI-D (or also useable DVI-I input), just be careful not to end up with a monitor only supporting only DVI-A .
DVI-A is just using another connector to input VGA signals, and that won't work, as the R-PI doesn't output VGA signals.

The DVI connector should have at least two full blocks of 3x3 pins, google for DVI-D pictures, or read the DVI entry in wikipedia if you are unsure.

These monitors are sold secondhand for only a few tenners.

The only drawback to using a (DVI) monitor instead of a HDMI TV is that the monitor doesn't support sound, so you have to use the analog sound output connected to amplified speakerboxes.

Composite video isn't so bad. It's certainly not full HD high resolution blabla, but it's not bad either

Remember that nearly all early computers (like commodore 64, Atari, SNES, playstation 1) used composite video and it worked fine for displaying gameplay graphics, menu interfaces and text.

Even when using the analogue output, its important to set the correct standard and resolution.

I seems to default to NTSC which when compared to the PAL standard isnt so good.

I had a play with the Pi at the weekend on a Sony 21" OLED monitor, the HDMI results where stunningly good, PAL not bad after a few tweaks.

Next job is to get a 16x2 LCD display working..