Boost II

iTrader: (1)

Any technophiles out there? I want to connect my digital cable box and TV to make the most of the sound/picture.

The cable box has settings for "Composite Only" or "Compostite and RGB"

The TV has 1 Scart input for "Audio/Visual or RGB" and 2 Scart inputs for "Audio/Visual os S-video"

What do RGB/Composite/S-video mean and which combination of output/input should I use?

I would be very greatful for replies.

Thanks

boomer

I think that you should go for RGB, because it keeps the three colours separate to the TV, whereas in composite they can interfere with one another.

If you use a fully-wired scart cable, then the TV might also automatically switch to the cable box when it is turned on - one of the wires is for switching.

mb

p.s. Now all that you have to worry about is the sound (mono?, nicam?, dolby?, paper bag on your head!)

Charlie H

Scart lead from cable box to vid (aux input or something similar) another one from vid (tv output scart)to tv. RGB is better than composite, reasons stated above. If you want to e-mail me with ports etc you have, I'll try and help you out (I used to be a service engineer for a large cable company and have set up many tv/vcr/cable combo's)

Charlie H

boomer

Boost II,

must admit, i asked a similar question when i bought a DVD player. There is some useful information at

Boost II

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the info guys - looks like RGB is the best then, so I have set the cable box to RGB output and connected it to the RGB Scart input on the TV. That said I have also connected the cable box to the video which is in turn connected to a second AV on the TV which does not support RGB and I can't really tell the difference viewing through the RGB or composite AV.

Charlie,
Something else you may be able to help with. On my TV I have channels 1,2,3,4 tuned in as you would expect and the Cable on channel 5. All channels are in stereo and 1,2,3,4 also come from the cable box not a seperate arial. The TV downloads tuning info to the video so that is set up the same.

If I switch the TV to the video channel and switch from channel to channel using the video tuner 1,2,3,4 are in stereo but 5 (cable channel) is only mono. I can't understand this as it is stereo on the TV.

The only way round this I found was to use another Scart lead directly from the cable box to an AV on the video and to record through that rather than channel 5.

Hope this makes sense

boomer

It is just a guess, but channels 1-4 (presumably the normal terrestrial channels, BBC1, BBC2, ITV and Channel 4) will all send their stereo sound using NICAM. The Cable channel may send stereo directly as left and right signals (along two of the wires in the SCART lead).

Perhaps somewhere along the way, these left and right signals get combined in the video?

You are not using normal aerial cable to connect anything are you? The video will not be able to convert separate left and right signals into NICAM!

mb

kelvin

I assume that you have your cable box connected to the TV via an RF lead <I>as well</I> as the scart lead which is why you're having problems. RF leads can only carry a mono sound signal and as a result, if you tune you're TV into the RF signal, you only get mono sound.

What you need to do is to manually select your AV channel with your remote as it seems that your TV does not support auto scart changes. You should then see the same picture, but it will be coming via the Scart instead of the RF (you can't watch Scart pictures on normal channels - it must be AV!)

Hope this helps,

Kelvin

TRIGGER

My video doesnt actually have stereo sound when you watch different channels through the video unless you wantch through the av lead. But, once recorded the program will be replayed in stereo. I was told this is usual for vcrs.