drngr said:

poita said:

VHS is not a component format, so even players with component outputs will not output the standard VHS tape via component. If any did, it would be the same as using a composite to component converter anyway.

Weird to be correcting poita of all people, but... Although VHS isn't fully YPbPr, it is Y/C thanks to the color-under process. S-VHS machines benefit from this with S-Video output of standard VHS tapes. A few of the enormous "broadcast" decks also have component outputs from their TBCs, along with some D-VHS. Whether they look any better than the S-Video output of the same machine... I very seriously doubt it since the color bandwidth is so low.

A few VHS-DVD combos also offer component and even HDMI output of VHS, but apparently some of them have dot crawl so they don't use a fully separate path.

Always happy to be corrected :D

That is correct, VHS does store Luminance kind of separately to chroma, with the chroma signal downsampled and carried on a heterodyned 629KHz subcarrier within the 3.58MHz NTSC signal.

As far as I was aware, all playback decks that can play VHS heterodyned the subcarrier back up into the standard subcarrier signal and passed it internally via composite video. The Y/C outputs and YPbPr outputs took the composite signal and combed and split it out again (as most laserdisc players do) I wasn't aware of any decks that would keep the signals separated all the way out on the schematics I have seen. Some claimed to, but when you look at the schematics, they are splitting the already combined signal.

It is good to know there are some decks that do pass the Y/C signal all the way through, it would be very cool, which ones have that capability? It opens up some modding options.