Connecting SCART to HDMI

Hi everyone,

I've just bought a new Sony Bravia 32" LCD TV and want to create the
best picture possible. Sky is pretty mediocre in terms of picture
quality so is it best to just buy a decent quality scart or is there a
workaround to use the HDMI? I'm running Sky+ to DVD recorder, dvd
recorder to TV, all with RGB passthrough. The DVD recorder has no DVI
or HDMI output connections, just 2 scarts.

Any help greatly appreciated.

In article .com,
wrote:

Hi everyone,

I've just bought a new Sony Bravia 32" LCD TV and want to create the
best picture possible. Sky is pretty mediocre in terms of picture
quality so is it best to just buy a decent quality scart or is there a
workaround to use the HDMI? I'm running Sky+ to DVD recorder, dvd
recorder to TV, all with RGB passthrough. The DVD recorder has no DVI
or HDMI output connections, just 2 scarts.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Sky+ doesn't do HDMI, and there wouldn't be any point since its output
isn't High Definition. The quality is capable of being extremely good,
though it is programme dependant - storms at sea, heavy rain (in the
picture!) and so on will tend to make the picture slightly blocky: and
some channels don't have a particularly high quality output anyway.
I've found that the movie channels can be subjectively almost DVD
quality, at least on pictures which are well contrasted and don't have
too much movement (viewed on a 32 inch Sony plasma).

Firstly, I assume you have switched the output to RGB in the settings?
- this does give a considerable improvement over composite. Then if you
are still not happy I should try removing the DVD recorder temporarily,
just to make sure it isn't affecting the quality. You could try
connecting the DVD to the Sky+ second SCART and passing it through the
Sky.

Make sure you have proper SCART leads - cheaper ones don't have all the
pins connected and won't handle RGB (and so the set will default to
composite) - you need fully connected leads. However I can't see the
point in buying the extremely expensive ones - just get decent quality
(say £10-14, not £50!). See www.maplin.co.uk for a range of leads.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Roger, this is useful info. Sky+
is set to RGB, as is DVD for the passthrough. I'll try some better
scarts - present ones are not brilliant.

Roger Wilmut wrote:
In article .com,
wrote:

Hi everyone,

I've just bought a new Sony Bravia 32" LCD TV and want to create the
best picture possible. Sky is pretty mediocre in terms of picture
quality so is it best to just buy a decent quality scart or is there a
workaround to use the HDMI? I'm running Sky+ to DVD recorder, dvd
recorder to TV, all with RGB passthrough. The DVD recorder has no DVI
or HDMI output connections, just 2 scarts.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Sky+ doesn't do HDMI, and there wouldn't be any point since its output
isn't High Definition. The quality is capable of being extremely good,
though it is programme dependant - storms at sea, heavy rain (in the
picture!) and so on will tend to make the picture slightly blocky: and
some channels don't have a particularly high quality output anyway.
I've found that the movie channels can be subjectively almost DVD
quality, at least on pictures which are well contrasted and don't have
too much movement (viewed on a 32 inch Sony plasma).

Firstly, I assume you have switched the output to RGB in the settings?
- this does give a considerable improvement over composite. Then if you
are still not happy I should try removing the DVD recorder temporarily,
just to make sure it isn't affecting the quality. You could try
connecting the DVD to the Sky+ second SCART and passing it through the
Sky.

Make sure you have proper SCART leads - cheaper ones don't have all the
pins connected and won't handle RGB (and so the set will default to
composite) - you need fully connected leads. However I can't see the
point in buying the extremely expensive ones - just get decent quality
(say £10-14, not £50!). See www.maplin.co.uk for a range of leads.

wrote:

I've just bought a new Sony Bravia 32" LCD TV and want to create the
best picture possible. Sky is pretty mediocre in terms of picture
quality

I installed one of these TVs the other day (the larger size) and I
wasn't unduly impressed either. Previously I had been thinking of
getting one myself. No longer.
IIRC the factory contrast settings were on maximum and once I put them
down to about 50% there was a significant improvement.


so is it best to just buy a decent quality scart

The scart lead supplied with the Sky box is of suitable quality and
you will get no improvement by buying one of the absurdly overpriced
kind.


or is there a
workaround to use the HDMI?

Having seen one of these TVs working I would be inclined to
investigate a scaler.


I'm running Sky+ to DVD recorder, dvd
recorder to TV, all with RGB passthrough. The DVD recorder has no DVI
or HDMI output connections, just 2 scarts.

Hmm. I wonder if you have the DVDR in standby? When it is on it may be
re-digitising the signal for live pause purposes, depending on the
model.

--
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----
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