I'm got a Toshiba 27WLT56 LCD TV, Sky+ and a Panasonic DMRES15 DVD Recorder. Nothing complicated.

So what's all the RGB meant to do??

I have RGB cables from the TV to both the Sky+ box and my DVD recorder. However the quality is no better whatsoever. Should it be??

Can I default my system so that my TV selects AV1-RGB and AV2-RGB when I use these things instead of simply selecting AV1 and AV2. It's a pain in the butt having to change it each time.

I have made my output from my Sky+ and DVD Recorder RGB, so I would have expected it to activate automatically on my TV. Do I have to do something with the TV too?

Please have sympathy with my blatent average knowledge of all things technical.

HELP ME PLEASE!!!!

Thanks

RGB should show a fairly marked improvement in picture quality over composite video - the fact that you are seeing no difference at all, suggests that something needs to be looked at further.

When you say you have RGB cables between the DVD and the TV and the Sky+ and the TV, I assume you mean SCART cables? Not being funny, but have you remembered to set both the Sky box and the DVD to output an RGB signal?

Also, how exactly do you have them linked together?

PS - Welcome to DS, its a nice friendly site - pop over to General Discussion and join some of the fun that goes on over in those threads
Last edited by fat controller : 22-06-2007 at 15:52

Firstly, can you clarify what composite video is and how it relates to RGB and scarts etc?

I have purchased RGB Nikkai (spelling???) scarts cables. One goes from AV1 on my TV to the Sky+ box, and the other goes from AV2 to my DVD recorder. Then there's a third scart (a cheap scart cable waiting to be upgraded) from my Sky+ out to the DVD recorder.

I don't mind you asking me basic question as it wouldn't surprise me if I've missed something obvious. And thanks for your welcome.

Thre are several different types of video signal, here is a list in order of worst quality to best:

1 RF, via an aerial socket.
2 Composite video, via a phono socket usually coloured yellow, or via SCART.
3 S-video, via a very small round socket, or via SCART but that's rare.
4= RGB, via SCART only.
4= Component video, via three phono sockets coloured red, green and blue, or via SCART but that's rare.

You should indeed notice a huge difference in quality between composite video and RGB. But there are some gotchas:

1. Most pieces of equipment need to be told to use RGB instead of composite video. It will be in the setup screen somewhere. With a Sky box in particular, it is called PAL rather than composite video. you need to change it to RGB.

2. Most pieces of equipment with two SCART sockets will only output RGB on one of them, usually the one labelled TV. The VCR output from your Sky box, for example, will only output composite video. And most TVs will only accept RGB on one of their SCARTS, usually AV1. It sounds like you will not be seeing RGB from your DVD recorder because it's going into AV2. A way round this is to daisy-chain your Sky box to the DVD (Sky TV out ==> DVD in) and then take the DVD's TV out to AV1 on the TV.

3. To be able to carry RGB, a SCART cable ust be fully-wired with all 21 pins. In the "early days", SCART leads had some pins missing or didn't have all 21 pins connected. you can still end up buying one of those leads if you're not careful, but if you've got decent ones then I would fully expect them to carry RGB.

It sounds like you've got the Sky box correctly plugged in at least (as long the the TV is connected to the Sky box's TV out, not the VCR out). If you go into the Picture Settings screen and change between PAL and RGB and back, you should definitely see a change on the TV if all is well. With PAL, you will maybe see shimmering around edges of objects and colour bleed?