I have a conundrum... I have a DirectTV TiVo system. I purchased a Plextor ConvertX to capture stuff off my TiVo for personal backup. Here is the problem. The TiVo only has one S-Video output. It's plugged into my Bose 321 system, which is plugged into my TV. I purchased an S-Video splitter cable but I found that using it changes the picture. It doesn't seem to degrade the quality noticeable, but it lightens the picture a great deal. This is the cable I purchased:

29164 Cables To Go - 12" Blue Velocity S-Video Y-Cable Splitter at TigerDirect.com

I'm sick of moving the entertainment system out from the wall and swapping the S-Video cable from the Bose to the ConvertX every time I want to capture some video. So what do I do?

I can use regular RCA Video from the TiVo to the ConvertX. Or I can use RCA Video from the TiVo to the Bose. Would the lower quality video due to the RCA cables be more noticeable in viewing on the TV or in viewing the captured, MPEG-2 DVD HQ compressed video that has been burned to DVD?

Or is there another option that would allow me to split the S-Video signal without a loss of quality?

Any help would be appreciated!

Honestly, I have never understood the stigma around S-Video cables versus RCA cables. There is a theoretical difference, but I know of no tests that clearly demonstrate (scientifically, i.e. blind test) S-Video's supperiority. On a purely theoretical basis, you should use the S-Video to the ConvertX and the RCA to the TV.

Edit: BTW, if anyone knows of any tests, point me in the right direction.

If I am not mistaken RCA is just the type of connector on the cable and not the video transport method. Both composite (1 RCA) and component (3 RCA) cables use that type of connectors. I would guess that "RCA Video" means composite.

S-Video vs Component: I really can't tell the difference
S-Video vs Composite: Very easy to spot the difference. Easiest way to try it out is to test with a DVD-player. Try configuring it for composite/video vs S-Video (with the applicable cables of course). Look for sharp edges where the color difference is large. With composite you get a jagged edge, but not with S-Video. The menu screens of the DVD-player is a god place to find such edges.

EDIT: Found these...
http://www.hifi-writer.com/he/video/

Thats a good point, yeah I assumed we were talking composite and not component.

Thanks for the link, very interesting. I knew a little about the difference between S-Video and composite (how S-Video and composite work, how the signals are matrixed together, etc.), but I hadn't realised how much loss there actually was. I honestly thought that on analog televisions for playback there just wasn't enough difference to worry about it (recording's another matter).

My suggestion stands though, S-Video into what you want to keep (I assume your keeping the recording), and compostie into the Bose.

Thanks for the input! (No pun intended!) Now it turns out that I can't seem to get video through the composite-RCA video jack. One of the jacks must be broken.

Life is never easy!