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webby
03-04-2010, 15:15
Hi,

I'm after a bit of advice regarding my tv setup. I hardly use my dvd recorder but now that I just have, I noticed that the sky picture viewed via the dvd box is fuzzy.

I'm sure I've got a connection wrong somewhere. It's wired up like this:

RF Aerial > TV
SKY Cables > Sky Box
Scart 1 out of Sky Box into TV (AV1)
Scart 2 out of Sky Box into DVD
Scart 3 out of DVD into TV (AV2)

No other RF cables used as I only need that if I want to watch or record freeview from the TV's tuner, everything else is watched and recorded from the Sky Box via Scart.

What have I done wrong? Do I need to daisy chain those RF leads?

The Vinyl Adventure
03-04-2010, 15:26
daisy chaining rf wont make any odds...
are you using cheap scart leads? .. thats usually the cause of fuzzyness

The Vinyl Adventure
03-04-2010, 15:28
also, on the back of the dvd recorder make sure you have the correct conection conected to the tv... "tv" conection for tv, "decoder"(sometimes blue) conection for sky... sorry if im stating the obvious

Ali Tait
03-04-2010, 15:29
Try making and breaking the connections to see if it improves the picture.

webby
03-04-2010, 15:34
Ok, most of 'em are cheap scarts. I'll check.

The Vinyl Adventure
03-04-2010, 15:35
them really cheap thin ones are a waste of time, you dont need to spend loads to get a slightly chunky one that should solve your problems if that is the cause

Stratmangler
03-04-2010, 19:24
Scart 2 from the Sky box is meant to feed a VCR - its' output is S-VHS IIRC.

webby
04-04-2010, 10:32
Thanks guys, looks like I might have to get a couple of scart leads. What do I need to spend? Any recommendations?

The Vinyl Adventure
04-04-2010, 10:38
Hmm, not much... Let me see if I can dig a couple out for you ... I'm all hdmi these days :)

The Vinyl Adventure
04-04-2010, 10:40
Does the fuzz look like interferance? Does it sorta move over the screen in lines?

webby
04-04-2010, 10:44
Oh, nice one Hamish.

I'm in a pickle at the moment. Our Sky+ box is nearly full and I want to archive some stuff off it, but I'm beginning to think that the DVD REC is too much hassle. I might ditch the it in favour of a DVD/HDD recorder. Or, perhaps I could upgrade to Sky+HD which has more capacity. At the end of the day, recording from the Sky box is a real time affair isn't it?

Any recommendations in the DVD/HDD box market? I'm way out of touch in this area.

webby
04-04-2010, 10:48
Does the fuzz look like interferance? Does it sorta move over the screen in lines?

No it doesn't. It just apparent around the edges of things. The Sky menu shows it up quite badly, but it's noticeable on the general viewing picture too.

The Vinyl Adventure
04-04-2010, 10:50
pm m eyour addy and il chuck an ixos scart i have found in the post to you on monday ... we might have another s/h one at the shop i could let you have cheap too.. that will at least help answer this queery!

any hdd/dvd-r is going to mean real time recording unfortunately , but a hdd one would at least provide you with less limits on the time you can record for .. if that makes sence?
dvd/hdd recorders... we sell the sony dc205 http://www.sony.co.uk/product/dvd-recorder/rdr-dc205 they have gotten pretty good these days and the picture quality is very good with the hdmi conectivity (obviously you need a hd tv for that?) ... but you have to ask your self how important it is to you that you keep the stuff you record... as at over £200 its a lot of money for occational use!
the new sky hd boxes are great, but once again only if you have a hd tv... other wise its just a bigger hdd!

The Vinyl Adventure
04-04-2010, 10:56
No it doesn't. It just apparent around the edges of things. The Sky menu shows it up quite badly, but it's noticeable on the general viewing picture too.

... gawd knows... scart issues usually show them selves in lines that move over the screen ... but i guess thats not always the case... do you have any other options for output on the dvd/r .... i could just be as chris said, the decoder out put is crappy.

have you gone into picture setting on the sky box ... i cant remember if ou can control how both outputs output... might be worth a look though

webby
04-04-2010, 10:59
Yep, I have an HD TV, the Panny 42px80

webby
04-04-2010, 11:01
... gawd knows... scart issues usually show them selves in lines that move over the screen ... but i guess thats not always the case... do you have any other options for output on the dvd/r .... i could just be as chris said, the decoder out put is crappy.

have you gone into picture setting on the sky box ... i cant remember if ou can control how both outputs output... might be worth a look though


I'll have a look at that.

The Vinyl Adventure
04-04-2010, 11:01
... same as me (well mines a 37... i think we have spoken about this before actually breifly...)
get your slef a free upgrade to sky hd box then... make you of those hdmi sockets if i were you!!

webby
04-04-2010, 14:19
... same as me (well mines a 37... i think we have spoken about this before actually breifly...)
get your slef a free upgrade to sky hd box then... make you of those hdmi sockets if i were you!!

Yeah, but it's that extra £10 a month that irks me. We'll see.

The Vinyl Adventure
04-04-2010, 16:35
Nah, just blag them that your gonna ditch sky for freesat HD unless they give you it for the same price your currently paying.... Bet you they do!!

pwood
07-02-2011, 12:04
It seems to me that you are not getting RGB out of the sky box passing through to your TV. Ensure the Sky box is set to output RGB in the setup menu for scart and connect the scart to TV out no VCR as that does not pass RGB (had a similar setup and was miffed at the recording quality as well till I did this). Then ensure that your Dvd recorder is set to output RGB via the scart and then ensure that you have the scart cable connected to the correct scart socket on your Tv as not all scart inputs accept RGB. Failure to ensure RGB passthru will result in a composite signal full of noise. Obviously you will only be able to watch live Sky via the DVD recorderswitched on but for archive purposes I'm sure it is worth the hassle.

No regards scart cables. Some very old ones wont allow RGB but there is no need to spend much just ensure the cable states RGB compatible on the box higher quality ones do have some effect but a decent low cost Techlink works as well as anything.

I had a setup like this a several years ago so not sure if it still applies but SKY2 would not record due to copy protection and I couldnt be bothered buying a macrovison stripper. Not sure if Sky still do this with some channels or programs which I gather was down to the Production companies of some of the programs.

WAD62
07-02-2011, 12:16
Oh, nice one Hamish.

I'm in a pickle at the moment. Our Sky+ box is nearly full and I want to archive some stuff off it, but I'm beginning to think that the DVD REC is too much hassle. I might ditch the it in favour of a DVD/HDD recorder. Or, perhaps I could upgrade to Sky+HD which has more capacity. At the end of the day, recording from the Sky box is a real time affair isn't it?

Any recommendations in the DVD/HDD box market? I'm way out of touch in this area.

If you record real time to any device you'll be going digital to analogue and then back to digital again, so it won't be the best quality...

To do it properly (and it would invalidate one's warranty if you were to be honest with them), get the HD out of the unit, into a docking station on your PC and use a program called 'Copy+' which will convert the stored digital info to a burnable format.

You can also clone your drive to a bigger one, and reinsert that, that will give you extra storage space for the future. You'll still be stuck with the wasted anytime space, but at least it won't be half the drive any more.

Some people run a SATA cable to a docking station at the back of the Sky box, so you can pop in drives like cartridges.

N.B. I have not done this yet myself, but I am considering it as an option ;)

A link to the forum...
http://www.skycopyplus.co.uk/forum/index.php