Help connecting tv?

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ulterior

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

# 17478 28-Nov-2007 17:14

Hi,

This is probably a really stupid problem :(, but any help would be great. Anyway we moved place, dont have sky anymore, and are unsure of how to hook up the tv. The model is a Panasonic, TH-42PA50A.

The wall jack, and the tv cable (plugged in, other end showing).

The back of the TV with leads from the dvd player/stereo box and the wii

The back of the dvd player/stereo box

Basically the only place that tv cable seems to fit is in the back of that dvd/stereo box, but that bit is labelled FM (and doesnt seem to work regardless). Do I need to buy another cable? Or is there some tuning trick or something that I am missing?

Any assistance greatly appreciated ^^

[Moderator edit (bradstewart): Fixed image code. We do NOT use BB code here, this is a real forum]

cyril7

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# 97370 28-Nov-2007 17:25

In the 2nd picture showing the back of the TV to the left and slightly down from where the AV cables are is an icon that looks like a little bunny rabbit ears thing, thats where the antenna cable plugs in, however you may have the wrong sex cable .

Edit, the connector may infact be up under the little bit jutting out but directly above the rabbit ear legend.

In the 1st picture you show the wall plate below the TV antenna connector is an F connector, I assume from that there is a dish on the roof from a previous sky install or is it a TCL cable if you are in Wellington or ChCh.

If the house has a sky dish and it appears on that F-connector then I strongly recommend you get yourself a FreeView box, that way your 16:9 plasma telly can really work properly.

Cyril

ulterior

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

# 97382 28-Nov-2007 18:09

Theres a plug under that jutting out bit on the right, above the two upside-down Ls, however it is a female receptor, the same as my wall socket. Is it possible to get two male-ended cables?

The connector below is a dedicated sky connector (I live in an apartmnet block). So do you think I could still plug a freeview connection into that without having to pay for sky? Also what are the advantages really? Doesnt normal tv come in widescreen, and is it that much more HD? The cheapest set box is around $150, right?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, thanks again

cyril7

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# 97403 28-Nov-2007 19:11

Hi, you will need a male to male connector to get the antenna feed connected. Normally the faceplate and the TV or VCR input is a
Female and a standaard Male to Male cabe connects them. The RF out of a VCR or Sky boxs RF loop through is male, hence that cable you have most likely was used to feed RF to your VCR or bedroom on your Sky setup. Dick Smith have standard male to male cables, they normallyl come with a little female to female adaptor to convert one end to female if you should want. Kinky really!

Yes you can connect to the distributed satellite feed and pickup the FreeView satellite service. Basic freeview boxs can be found for around $150, however I recommend the Strong STB's these are not FreeView certfied but work much better than the certified ones here is a link to get one that same supplier also sells the Coships which are a lot cheaper and work just fine, but you will need a SCART to component adaptor cable to get component video out of it which will bring the price to about the same as the stong which is a superiour box in my view. The strong has component video out on RCA connectors rather than via SCART.

Standard analog broadcasts are most definitely not in 16:9, your TV is just stretching them to fit, this creates both image distortion and reduces resolution significantly and also gives you an image with the sides choped off. Only sky and FreeView platforms transmit true 16:9 images.

If you do get a FreeView box, ensure that you set the aspect ratio of the box to 16:9 to suit your TV.

Cyril

Spyware

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# 97405 28-Nov-2007 19:12

Male-male cables are available at Dick Smith.

All analog terrestrial transmissions are 4:3 ratio and will never be widescreen. Stretching 4:3 transmissions using superzoom on your TV to full the screen is NOT widescreen. These transmissions are intended for 4:3 ratio TVs and will cease in less than 10 years.

TVONE, TV2, TV3, C4, TVNZ6, Sport Extra on DVB-S mpeg2 digital satellite Freeview service are all 16:9 widescreen and good quality 576i25 (standard definition). DVB-T H.264 digital terrestrial Freeview service which is due to start (test transmissions are running) in March will provide TV1 and TV2 in 720p50 (high definition) from June onwards. Current test transmissions include some 1080i25 material.

Ross

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ulterior

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

# 97407 28-Nov-2007 19:24

Lol, sorry for the ignorance on the widescreen issue. Guess I'll try saving for a freeview box, or get lazy and grab that male-male connector for now.

Quick question, with that strong SRT4651 and its USB connection, it would be possible to plug in an external HD with music to play, correct? But it wouldnt be able to play any video files? (were there any that did?)

cyril7

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# 97504 29-Nov-2007 11:35

Hi Ulterior, the USB port will support mp3 and jpeg, so you can play back your mp3 sound tracks and browse through your photos, it does not support video files in anyway.

Cyril

Fossie

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# 97516 29-Nov-2007 12:46

Next time you try and add pictures, use the little tree button.