NEW HOME THEATRE SETUP

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steinlagerpure

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#27210 17-Oct-2008 19:17

Hi

Im in need of some help please.

I have the following equipment:

Sky UHF Decoder Model AD06 with UHF out / in and Scart (TV Serial)
Marantz SR 3001 Receiver with more inputs and outputs that I can imagine
Panasonic DVD Recorder - SCART / component / S Video ins and outs
Panasonic PT200X Projector - HDMI x2 / S Video / Component

Sky have recently sent me a SCART - Component cable, but my decoder does not accept this? Is that try?
Do I need to upgrade my UHF decoder to one that can handle SCART to component?

I dont require the digital broadcast at this stage, but would like to get the best setup as possible.

Any help or suggestions would be great.

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#171850 17-Oct-2008 19:57

None of the Sky UHF decoders do component output. Just composite via scart.

The scart -> component cables are only good for the digital decoders.

geekiegeek

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#171853 17-Oct-2008 20:15

You have to get HD for your projector, it would be rude not to! I have the same model and feed it Freeview HD - it looks fantastic.

steinlagerpure

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#171855 17-Oct-2008 20:34

Hi geekiegeek

Yeah I probably would but we dont get in in New Plymouth....we dont even get C4 here.

I friend of mine has offered to sell me a converter box for $100 that is suppose to allow me to convert SCART to component.
From Sky decoder to converter via scart lead and it comes out the other end in component. Has anyone heard of this? I've googled and not found much.

Any other suggestion of geting my Sky UHF to run to my projector through the Receiver?

sbiddle

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#171863 17-Oct-2008 20:55

Running the composite input from the Sky box to the amp and then component or s-video output should work.

You can convert composite to component but it seems a waste of money - is there any reason why you don't just upgrade to Sky Digital? I thought the basic package was the same price as analogue?

cyril7

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#171872 17-Oct-2008 22:04

You are completely wasting time and effort without upgrading to Sky Digital, converting a composite video feed from you UHF analog Sky box to Component achieves nothing, you still just have a composite video feed in component form, something your TV/PJ will do anyway, but its still got all the trappings of composite.

Cyril

steinlagerpure

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#171886 18-Oct-2008 00:15

The reason why I dont upgrade to digital is because I get the 2 channels that I need just on UHF. Sky Sport 1 for me, and Sky 1 with Nick for my daughter. I pay only $33 a month for this. Yes if I upgrade I get a hell of a lot more channels. But I dont necessarily need them. I get free Discovery most of the time, Prime is good, TV 1, 2 & 3, and thats abut all the TV I need. To get sky sport through Digital is going to cost me in excess of $70 p/m. Not budgetable unfortunately.

We are building a new house at the momment.

I have 2 viewing lounges.

1 will be formal with LCD / AMP / DVD Recorder feed by sky via coaxial cable o DVD and component to LCD from there.

The other room will be home theatre, with Projector, amp, dvd player.

My electrician is in the midst of pre wiring so hence Im trying to sort our the best solution for pic / sound quality without going digital.

My Sky has only SCART - composite out and UHF out/in. So am I best just to use SCART / composite to the amp. Then component from amp to projector?

cyril7

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#171899 18-Oct-2008 08:24

Hi, yes thats a solution, but as I said, theres only so much gloss you can put on the turd, and its still a turd. Composite 4:3 images at 90"dia or more will look shocking, but it will work. I advise you prewire your PJ for both component (ie 3x RG59) and a HDMI feed.

Cyril

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steinlagerpure

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#171909 18-Oct-2008 09:51

Hi Cyril7

He has pre wired a 10m component cable and uhf coaxial. Dont know whay the coaxial?

So I can still use the SCART/Composite to the Receiver, then component (10m) to the projector.

A 10m HDMI cable cost a bomb huh?

Ive heard that HDMI cable is only good over certain distances too? Any suggestion on what type of cable to buy at a reasonable price?

What I am doing is hiding my Sky decoder, Marantz Receiver, DVD Player away in a closet just outside my Theatre room. Im using remote blasters to relay the signals.

cyril7

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#171910 18-Oct-2008 10:00

Hi, I would forget the RG6 to the PJ, what other odd things has your sparkie done. Have you also looked at network data cables and RG6 for distributing LBand (Sky dish feed) and UHF antenna (oneday FreeView|HD might come to the naky) to other rooms for TV.

As for HDMI cables, in the early days of HDMI there were cables out there that did not work well if over 5m, most of those vendors soon learnt, if buying from a good supplier a 10 or 15m cable should be fine, it will normally be thicker than 1-5m cables. I get mine from Selbys, they are pretty quick to ship here.

Edit:
Also if I am not mistaken your DVD/recorder will output any composite input to component, this may be cleaner to upconvert the sky feed than using the avr.

Also I know Sky Digital is a heafty price over the old analog, but be aware the UHF service is on death row, and not too far away. Further watching sport on Sky in 4:3 is painfull, pretty much all of SS is now 16:9 (pity the criket from Bangladesh isnt at the moment) and when watching on your beut 16:9 AE200 it must be real painful. If you have a 16:9 display the fact that only the digital services are 16:9 is good enough reason in my view to dump all analog TV sources and let it disappear into the history books as it will in not to many months.

Cyril

steinlagerpure

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#171912 18-Oct-2008 10:16

Hi

Have considered Freeview. But form listening to the local retailors talk, there doesnt seem to be a hurry up on getting freeview here. Hell we dont even get C4!

Some big mound of dirt blocking that I think.

I have looked at this cable. Do you think its alright? http://www.rapalloav.co.nz/products.php?viewproduct=157&cat=27&sub=32&detailid=1044

I am walking through with the sparkie next week for a final go over. So you recommend running UHF antenna to the other rooms. Sorry Im a novice to freeview. Does this work in conjunction with Sky UHF? The cable he's run to each viewing room is the same cable he's used for the sky uhf supply.

Just so Im not confused here. Is Composite and RCA the same thing?

Thanks for your feedback. With a house full of stuff to think about, the AV seems to be chewing my time up. But want to get it right rather than rush it. No use buying good equipment if not setting it up properly.

cyril7

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#171917 18-Oct-2008 10:32

Hi, yes that cable from Murray (Rapalloav) looks good and a keen price.

Personally I would not get too worried about FreeView|HD turning up, officially there is no schedule till the guvment releases funds. But thats no reason to no look at a FreeView Sat for all you home TVs, (this does get C4), a new dish install is not that much dearer than a UHF antenna, and the boxs can be got from $100-150, its a no brainer.

If you run RG6 to each room, I suggest you run 3feeds to your main lounge, and also 3feeds to the AV site in the home theatre. All these feeds should meet at a central location in the ceiling space that is easy to get to and has a power feed nearby. You also want to ensure you have at least 3feeds from that site to the roof for dishs and UHF antennas. This way you can distribute UHF and or Lband(sat) signals to each room. You can also diplex both UHF and LBand onto a single cable if you want.

Composite video is the normal single line baseband video signal (normally yellow RCA body).

You should also be running data lines to provide both phone and data around the house, there is a thread on it here Steve Biddle also has a blog on it.

Cyril

steinlagerpure

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#171925 18-Oct-2008 11:29

Would this be a better solution for me for my home theatre?

UHF Sky to receiver - SCART / S Video to S Vdideo in
Receiver to Projector - S Video out to S Video in

cyril7

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#171929 18-Oct-2008 11:45

I dont believe the Sky UHF boxs output S-Video, and even if they did the analog UHF transmission itself is composite, so you dont gain anything.

Cyril

Jaxson

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#172198 20-Oct-2008 09:56

Freeview is the future method of broadcasting 'normal' tv channels in NZ. It has two flavours, satellite and uhf. The satellite quality is good, and the uhf quality is good too. UHF has the ability to broadcast HD resolutions to, -if the program content is in HD.

Freeview is not an alternative to the SKY only channels such as sports and movies. If you want these, you'll need to get SKY.

If your box outputs a low quality signal (composite / yellow rca socket out) then changing it to any other type of signal will not improve the quality at all. You'd only do this possibly if you'd run out of one type of input. Anyway, Cyril is absolutely right, a crap signal is possibly ok on a smaller tv, but blown up on a 100"+ screen it will look blocky as hell, or put another way, it looks like crap.

butlerboy

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#172521 21-Oct-2008 14:38

You could always get an upscaling freeview satellite stb. www.freeviewshop.co.nz has the Topfield TF5050CI for $259, it upscales to 1080i. May be a good option for you if you can't get freeview uhf. Would give you a way better picture on the free to air channels and TVNZ6 has a lot of kids programmes every day.

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