Difference Between RCA and AV Composite, (Which is better to get for use with a Nintendo NES)

[KRC]

Ok so I bought a Pal Nintendo NES and it comes with standard RF which is pants and also my LG TV doesnt have an RF socket, which would be better RCA or AV Composite cables for the NES console?

I know RGB can be used if you mod the console but I'm not modding it.

Edit: I know RCA and AV are the same but in terms of nes output would it make a difference?

[hansolo77]

You got me. I'm not sure what the AV is. If you were to ask which is better between RCA and S-Video, I would say S-Video.

[Draco1962]

To be honest, I doubt you are going to experience any difference.

[nullPointer]

I'd agree with Draco that the three prong RCA (Composite) connection(s) would likely have identical output to the five prong Component connection (well ... five if you include the audio connections). The difference between these two is that the RCA composite cable does not support HD resolutions whereas the the Component does. With the NES though it's a non-issue being that the native resolution on the NES is a mere 256X240.

I think you're good to go with the readily available RCA Composite cables

[KRC]

Well the composite cables I purchased are working a treat, I had to change some layout options and brightness settings but it's working great, I managed to pick up some good boxed and complete games yesterday like Super Mario Bros 2 and Mario & Yoshi for £1 each which is a bargain as these can go for £30 each usually.

[helpman]

Hi there!

I'm getting two possibly damaged NES as a gift (as I collect old consoles ) and I'm facing the same problem, as I want it to look as best as possible on my big TV

I also got a N64 some time ago, and the picture looks SO blurred it makes me dizzy and can't play at all...

Do you guys recommend me to use a composite cable to plug it to the tv? The NES I mean.

[KRC]

Yeah AV composite is the way to go, I'm running my nes on a 42" LG LCD TV and its looks pretty good but not as good as I would like it to be. Unless you want to perform surgery on your nes to get RGB to work.

[davidj1987]

I run almost all of my retro consoles except NES, PS1 and Laseractive with Sega PAC with a RGB SCART to Component Video converter and I will say the NES looks fine in composite... it's more than good enough, much better than my Laseractive in composite which sounds amazing but ehhhh could look better. The only reason I run the systems in S-video or composite is because the best I can do for the Laseractive and NES is composite, and the PS1 looks fine in S-video and I can't be bothered to buy a SCART cable just for it.

[KRC]

I haven't used an original ps1 since they first came out and it came with an RF cable, back then though nobody was really bothered about AV etc.. I have never ran anything with S-Video as I have never had a TV with S-Video compatibility.

[Tom Speirs]

In the UK we have SVIDEO too which is better than composite. SCART is better than both. I personally thought RCA and composite were the same thing.

[Draco1962]

RCA and composite are the same, maybe you are thinking component (with 2 additional RCA connectors for stereo audio in addition to the 3 for video).

[KRC]

I decided to run the NES through RCA/COMPOSITE > HDMI BOX > HDMI CABLE, A little bit better but no drastic improvement, The audio is slightly quieter aswell.