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Super Nintendo: Composite AV vs S-video vs RGB SCART to HDMI

2,517 views · Published 10 December 2018 · 28:52 · Indexed 26 October 2026

Channel: Jarrah White · 2018 · Gaming

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The second in a series of videos, requested by 4DAwzomBroz, demonstrating the quality of different video formats out of retro systems. This time we're looking at the Super Nintendo.

The Super Nintendo's optimum output is RGB SCART, but we're also seeing how it compares with composite AV and S-video. Composite tends to produce a blurred image and the bright colours tend to wash out texture details, such as Ark's red cape on the title screen of Terranigma. It also seems to put a jaggedness in vertical lines, which is particularly noticeable on the left and right edges of the screen. S-video eliminates these flaws and restores much of the texture detail. RGB SCART delivers the best of both world: bright colours, sharp visuals and no texture details missing.

One last thing to consider, if you are getting into the Super Nintendo, you may want to pay close attention to what model you're getting. Of the original fat models, the earliest had two Picture Processing Units while later revisions consolidated them into one unit. These are referred to as 2-chip consoles and 1-chip consoles respectively. The 1-chip versions are known to produce a much sharper video output compared to 2-chip units, however the redesigned board some mean some game exhibit minor graphical glitches. The Super Nintendo Jr doesn't support RGB unless modified, and (being yet another 1-chip unit) it is ironically widely regarded to produce the best RGB picture quality of any Super Nintendo. I'm using a 2-chip in this test, and honestly I think most would be happy with RGB from any Super Nintendo.

And yes, I own an original PAL copy of Terranigma and I consider myself lucky to own one. Still haven't got round to playing it from start to finish yet though.

0:00 Composite AV to HDMI 
5:50 S-video to HDMI
11:39 RGB SCART to HDMI
17:28 Composite AV vs RGB SCART
23:10 S-video vs RGB SCART

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