It also eliminates several types of visual defects such as dot crawl which commonly occur with composite video.

[3] However, S-Video was not widely adopted until JVC's introduction of the S-VHS (Super-VHS) format in 1987, which is why it is sometimes incorrectly referred to as Super-Video.

[4] Before the shift towards digital video the S-video format was widely used by consumers, but it was rarely used in professional studios where YPbPr or component was generally preferred.

[5] Standard analog television signals go through several processing steps on their way to being broadcast, each of which discards information and lowers the quality of the resulting images.

A signal with three components is no easier to broadcast than the original three-signal RGB, so additional processing is required.

To play back composite video, the Y and C signals must be separated, and this is difficult to do without adding artifacts.

This difference is meaningless on home videotape systems, as the chrominance is already severely constrained by both VHS and Betamax.

[3] The Commodore 64 released in 1982 (with the exception of the earliest revisions using a 5-pin video port) also offers separate chroma and luma signals using a different connector.

These plugs are usually made to be plug-compatible with S-video, and include optional features, such as component video using an adapter.

[10] The three extra sockets may be used to supply composite (CVBS), an RGB or YPbPr video signal, or an I²C interface.

In the latter case, it becomes all too easy to misalign the plug when inserting it with consequent damage to the small pins.

In many European countries, S-Video was less common because of the dominance of SCART connectors, which were present on televisions until the advent of HDMI.