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Toshiba DVD Recorder
TheUnholySinner
09-05-2007
I was just wondering if there is a difference between gold connector scarts and standard ones and between ones you can buy in like tesco for a couple of pounds to the ones you get in currys for about 5 times more.

Reason i am asking is, i have my Sky connected to my dvd recorder via just a cheap £2 scart lead and to be honest the picture isnt perfect. When you watch Sky and then go to the dvd recorder channel, you do notice a difference, and that difference is worse when you actually watch a recording, even though i have it on the XP mode which apparantly is meant to be the best quality mode. I can notice a drop is sound too along with more 'blurr', and reminds me of how a video recording used to be when you recorded a tv program.

Haven't got much money (as my baby takes it all) so please don't recommend me a cable that's about £20, i can deal with the problem for that much lol
Nigel Goodwin
09-05-2007
To keep the quality the best possible you need to use RGB (assuming your DVD recorder accepts it?), on the Sky box only the TV SCART outputs RGB, so you need to connect that to an RGB input on your DVD recorder.
gomezz
09-05-2007
As long as the cable has well-made connections to the pins and individually screened wires then you are 99.9% of the way to getting as good a connection as is possible. Some would say 100% of the way. £20 is definitely the top wack you should be paying. A tenner or even less if you can find them will suffice.

Gold plugs and oxygen-free wire make a difference that only people who have spent a lot of money on them seem able to hear and see.
TheUnholySinner
09-05-2007
On the DVD, it comes through on AV2. I think i might have AV1 going to the TV.. Should this be other way around?

I have just pulled the Sky box and DVD Recorder out, and it looks like everything is in the right place as the DVD R is labelled AV1(TV) AV2(Decoder), so AV1 goes to the TV, and AV2 to the Sky box. Then on the Sky, the bottom scard said TV so it goes to the TV, and the top one goes to the DVD R

Could it be the cable as i mentioned?
gomezz
09-05-2007
Originally Posted by Catterbury:
“On the DVD, it comes through on AV2.”

That sounds right to me, although connect the Sky box *TV* SCART to the DVDR if yiu want to make RGB quality recordings. Also check that the Sky box output and DVDR input & output are set to RGB.
TheUnholySinner
09-05-2007
I understand.. although would that mean when watching Sky, it wouldnt be RGB anymore?

Either way im losing out on the best quality on one of the devices, if im right?
gomezz
09-05-2007
Originally Posted by Catterbury:
“I understand.. although would that mean when watching Sky, it wouldnt be RGB anymore?”

No. You should still be able to watch Sky in RGB quality (via the SCART signal pass-through facility on the DVDR - standard functionality) when:

1) the DVDR is in standby;

2) Or the DVDR is recording something off its internal analogue tuner;

3) Or the DVDR is on and has its input source selected to AV2.

So basically whenever you want as when you are playing a DVD you will not be wanting to watch Sky (unless using the PIP feature on your TV - if it has it).
TheUnholySinner
09-05-2007
I get you.. i might try it then. Many thanks for all your help. Ill go swap the scarts over on the sky now to see the difference!
TommyW
09-05-2007
Originally Posted by gomezz:
“
Gold plugs and oxygen-free wire make a difference that only people who have spent a lot of money on them seem able to hear and see. ”

I use gold connectors, the main reason for this is they do not oxidize the way other metals can/do, the contact remains clean.

You only have to look at a cheap scart and see how tarnished the connections can be. So in time a cheap tacky termination could have an affect on Video/audio.

I also use a mixture of OFC cable for the system in the front room, again with gold airlock terminations for the same reason.

As for the video/audio differences (analogue), that will always be subjective.
broadz
09-05-2007
Originally Posted by gomezz:
“No. You should still be able to watch Sky in RGB quality (via the SCART signal pass-through facility on the DVDR - standard functionality) when:

1) the DVDR is in standby;

2) Or the DVDR is recording something off its internal analogue tuner;

3) Or the DVDR is on and has its input source selected to AV2.

So basically whenever you want as when you are playing a DVD you will not be wanting to watch Sky (unless using the PIP feature on your TV - if it has it).”

Just to correct this comment a little. Some DVDRs only offer RGB passthru when the box is switched on - when in standby mode the passthru drops to PAL quality. Also, if the DVDR is being used to record something other than the Sky AV input, it will not pass the Sky AV input through to your TV - it will show whatever is being recorded. That is how DVD recorders work. If it never showed you what signal it was receiving and recording, only ever showing you what signal it was receiving from a Sky box, it would be pretty useless. As an alternative if your TV supports it, I currently use the s-video output from my Sky+ box to send a signal to my TV, which means I can have my RGB-enabled TV out scart connected to my DVD recorder, my non RGB-enabled VCR scart connected to my video recorder, and still watch Sky direct to my TV in s-video quality (not quite RGB but far better than PAL) regardless of what my DVDR and my VCR are up to.
gomezz
09-05-2007
Originally Posted by TommyW:
“I use gold connectors, the main reason for this is they do not oxidize the way other metals can/do, the contact remains clean.”

Unless you have encased the whole set up in an air-tight compartment then what you have are two different metals and a little bit of slightly acidic moisture in between. You know what that makes, I am sure?
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