Sky - Scart to component

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jahc

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#101840 26-Dec-2007 16:46

sbiddle: To be completely honest Sky just looks like rubbish on a 60" TV - there is no other?way of describing it. The bitrates are just way to low for a screen of that size. Even SD stuff starts to look poor however feed some nice 720p HD stuff into the TV and it looks absolutely stunning.

You'll be best using a SCART -> Svideo for the DVD recorder?and using component output on both DVD recorder and Sky into the TV.

I dont quite understand.. the sky signal goes through the dvd recorder before it goes into the tv. Are you saying connect just the DVD recorder to the TV using component video? Or does the sky decoder have two outputs?

EDIT: I rang Sky. They tell me Sky digital decoders have 2 outputs. Interesting. Your advice makes perfect sense to me now.

cyril7

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#101851 26-Dec-2007 21:05

Yes there is a TV SCART and a VCR SCART the TV one support all video formats including component, the VCR SCART only supports composite and S-Video. Some of the older STBs will not output anything other than composite on the VCR SCART if anything above composite is selected on the TV SCART, however most of the newer boxs are more flexible.

Cyril

hairy1

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#101985 28-Dec-2007 06:09

Continuing on the theme of Component out: I currently have the mysky TV SCART output hooked to my DVD recorder SCART input. I have Component Out selected on the mysky box.

I have the DVD recorder outputing component out to the big LCD. Will I get an improvement by buying the SCART to Component Jaycar cable and running the Sky direct to component on the TV?

So it currently goes:

MYSKY -> SCART -> DVD Recorder -> COMPONENT -> TV.

I am running it this way as there are only two component inputs on the TV (the other one is PS2 for the kids!) and the DVD recorder is not HDMI.

I have been pretty impressing with the LCD picture quality of Sky the way things are running at the moment. It seems to be a bit better than my father in laws Panasonic 42" plasma, however he is not running Mysky, just the little silver decoder. I don't know if it is the mysky improving the picture quality or the slightly newer generation LCD panel.

Cheers,

Matt.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

cyril7

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#101999 28-Dec-2007 09:17

All the latter Sky boxs including the DS-230 (small silver one) and the MySky share the same SGS Thompson Omega decoder chip family. From my observations the pictures are pretty much the same. However between two digital panel displays you could see dramatic differences depending on how the displays handle low bitrate mpeg images in their deintelacers and scalers.

I dont know what size LCD you have but once you start scaling Skys lower bit rate channels over 32" things seems to start getting scratchy.

Cyril

hairy1

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#102015 28-Dec-2007 11:06

It is a sharp 46 inch full hd LCD. It gets scratchy if you sit within a couple of feet of it on the sky. In my unprofessional eye the panasonic seems to show more artifacts...

Should I stick with the SCART to SCART through the DVD recorder?

Cheers, Matt

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cyril7

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#102025 28-Dec-2007 12:02

The Pana might need its sharpness turned down and any digital enhancements turned off, also turn off any noise reduction including the mpeg noise reduction, they cause more than they fix on low bit rate pics.

As for going through the DVR or not, I would try going direct and see if there is any degredation, but unless the DVR has more than just buffers and a couple of video switches between the in and out then there would most likely be little gain, so suck and see.

If you do decide its worth going direct then the VCR SCART will support S-video for the DVR and the TV SCART component for the TV.

Cyril

hairy1

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#102079 28-Dec-2007 16:16

Thanks very much Cyril. you are a gold mine of information! cheers. Matt.

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