Why is the S-Video port and S-Video plug different?

[leet6thgrader]

Why is the S-Video pins on my S-Vid cable different from the port that it plugs into?

 

[magicman]

There are two different standards for S-Video that I know of, 4 and 7 pins. Is that the problem you're having, one being 4 pins and one being 7 pins?

 

[leet6thgrader]

Yes.

 

[magicman]

You haven't said whether the female or the male is the 4-pin, but converters do exist, such as this one.

 

[leet6thgrader]

What's a male or female?

I'm going to record BF2 by using a S Video cable going from my 7600GT to my video capture card. I'm concerned because the cable has the 4 pin thing and the 7600GT and my Hauppage capture card has the 7 pin thing.

 

[magicman]

What's a male or female?

Think human anatomy, and you'll understand why male is the one with the pins and female is the one with the pin holes.

It wouldn't damage anything putting a 4 pin male into a 7 pin female (like the image says), but obviously the other way round the holes aren't there to support the pins, so trying to force it in would damage it.

 

[leet6thgrader]

Oh.. Ok.. Lol.
So my capturing thing would work right? By using a 4 pin "male" and the 2 7 pin "females"..?

 

[magicman]

Correct, there's been no reported problems or quality dips that I found in plugging 4 pin males into 7 pin females. The three middle pins in some cases are for composite signals, but the 4 outer pins are the ones that carry the S-video signal.