[GeeTee72]

Hello all,

First post so please be kind

I think this is pretty basic stuff but I'm a semi-luddite with AV stuff.

I've just purchased a Phillips HTS3154 5.1 DVD home cinema system and will be setting it up tonight (all being well).

It's replacing a faulty DVD recorder, so I'm going back to a VCR for the time being.

Here're the basics-

Chunky Widescreen telly - 2 SCART
Standard Sky digibox - 2 SCART
VCR - 1 SCART (I think - might have 2)
DVD 5.1 system (2 SCART)

I've purchased a decent set of red/white audio plugs as I believe these need to go between DVD and Sky box (or maybe DVD and TV?).

All I'm really looking to do is get surround sound for DVD playback - I don't have Sky Movies. My aerial signal is appalling so I just want the VCR hooked up to be able to tape Sky output.

How should I configure this?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[broadz]

If you've bought a DVD home cinema, you've already got surround sound when playing back DVDs. That's what a DVD home cinema is - a combined DVD player and surround sound system.

What it isn't, is a surround sound amp capable of accepting lots of inputs from other sources - like your Sky box, your VCR, your television, another DVD player, a Freeview box etc etc etc.

If your home cinema accepts auxiliary input (the red and white stereo cables that you have bought) then you connect these from the audio outs on the back of the Sky box into the auxiliary inputs on your home cinema. This will allow you to listen to your Sky box in stereo (possibly Pro-Logic, which is pseudo-surround). But not Dolby Digital. But then, if it is only a standard Sky box and you don't subscribe to the movie channels, you wouldn't be able to listen to any Sky transmissions in DD5.1 anyway, even if you had an amp capable of decoding it.

[niall campbell]

http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/h/h...5_dfu_eng.pdf+


take this back is my advice.

it only has left and right audio in with no video input

you will be able to hear normal telly through your speakers by pressing TV on the dvd players remote but for watching sky it will be annoying to get it to work for you

my advice is to get a standalone amp with at least optical sound IN

or even better an amp that has 2 or 3 HDMI inputs and one output


http://www.eu.onkyo.com/indices/index_com_en_42170.html

[GeeTee72]

Thanks for the replies.

Broadz - I knew the info in your first couple of paras, but I'm wasn't clear on whether if I plug the red/white cable into the Skybox rather than the TV I would get the surround sound on DVD playback.

It seems I can so that's cool. The system has pro-logic so that is positive too.

Really I wanted some advice on connecting the scarts. My thoughts are that I need the VCR to go into one of the Sky digibox SCARTs and that the DVD should go to the Sky box as well, but it doesn't seems right that only the DVD then goes into the TV!

Should it be- TV to Sky, TV to VCR, DVD to Sky?

or even- TV to Sky, DVD to Sky, DVD to VCR?

My head hurts!

Niall, I do appreciate your reply but sending me a link to a £400 piece of kit is not relevant to me. I'd prefer to spend that sort of money on a holiday for my kids. I picked this system up for £85 based on good reviews from Which? and Amazon.

I don't really know what HDMI is but I assume it has something to do with HD TV, which I won't own for at least another 6/7 years. I have a rubbish old widescreen telly which does me fine for now. I just fancied watching my DVDs with some cinema sound.

[broadz]

Why would you connect your DVD player to your Sky box via scart? Both are outputs - Sky can't send a signal to a DVD player, a DVD player can't send a signal to Sky.

Scart from DVD to TV.

Scart from VCR to Sky VCR scart.
Scart from Sky TV scart to TV.

[GeeTee72]

Quote:

Originally Posted by broadz

Why would you connect your DVD player to your Sky box via scart? Both are outputs - Sky can't send a signal to a DVD player, a DVD player can't send a signal to Sky.

<embarrassed>Er, good point. If I knew the answer to that I wouldn't be here though!</embarrassed>

Better change semi-luddite to fully blown luddite

Thanks very, very much for your help. Can't wait to get home now.

[bobcar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by broadz

Why would you connect your DVD player to your Sky box via scart? Both are outputs - Sky can't send a signal to a DVD player, a DVD player can't send a signal to Sky.

It's a perfectly reasonable and sensible thing to do under the correct circumstances and is something I've done in the past. Connecting the DVD player to the Sky VCR scart means you can play either in RGB (even with only one TV RGB SCART) and also not have to worry about switching between them as it's all automatic.

Now that I have a DVD recorder I have Sky+, Freeview PVR and a DVDR all sharing the same SCART socket on the TV with no switching required. (The DVDR is also connected via HDMI).

[broadz]

But given that the OP has a VCR (for recording Sky) which requires connecting to the second scart socket on the Sky box, and has a DVD player, not recorder, which can be connected directly to the TV via scart, there is no need for connecting a DVD player to a Sky box.

And I think if you mentioned RGB instead of composite to the OP they would smile nicely at you but not have a clue what you were talking about (and I'm not having a go at you here OP, just saying what I think would be the case).

[GeeTee72]

No offence taken Broadz - you'd be spot on. To me RGB makes pefect sense in Adobe Photoshop, but I have no clue of its AV meaning.

Anyhoo, your advice earlier was spot on. All working like a dream.

Niall, you may well be right about video input, but it currently has no draw for me. And you were wrong about it being annoying to get Sky coming through the speakers - worked first time simply by following Broadz SCART instructions and clicking TV on the DVD remote.

[bobcar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by broadz

But given that the OP has a VCR (for recording Sky) which requires connecting to the second scart socket on the Sky box, and has a DVD player, not recorder, which can be connected directly to the TV via scart, there is no need for connecting a DVD player to a Sky box.

Agreed, I was just giving a general response to your post.

The OP may also have a problem with only one RGB SCART so when he removes the VCR (he did say it was temporary) it may then be best to connect the DVD player to the Sky box.

[niall campbell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeeTee72

No offence taken Broadz - you'd be spot on. To me RGB makes pefect sense in Adobe Photoshop, but I have no clue of its AV meaning.

Anyhoo, your advice earlier was spot on. All working like a dream.

Niall, you may well be right about video input, but it currently has no draw for me. And you were wrong about it being annoying to get Sky coming through the speakers - worked first time simply by following Broadz SCART instructions and clicking TV on the DVD remote.

thats good you got it going. Some people with similar set ups cant get it going