UPC digital and LCD TV

Lvbrs

Hi,
New here. not sure exactly where to post this, but this looks like the most obvious place.

I have had UPC digital + for about 6 months, using a CRT TV with no problems, except for the odd downtime. I bought a lovely BEKO 32" LCD TV and now the picture looks bad. DVD's are also not great quality. I have the DVD player patched through the digital receiver via SCART. Could this be a problem with the digital receiver or analogue line going to it? I've tried various different scarts but it ain't great. Going spare trying to sort it out. Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated. ( I already brought back a Walker TV to the shop as the picture was atrocious. ) I may have to resort to my big old CRT TV. I would have thought that LCD and digital would be great? Am i missing something here?

Thanks,

T

Fresh Pots

Unless you get a HD service (sky) you won't have amazing picture, the more you stretch it out the worse it will get. Some channels look worse than others imo, the music channels look particularly bad if you put them in 16:9.

Mossy Monk

Unless your LCD tv is amazing then you will more than likely have a terrible PQ unless using HDMI

Alun

I have no problems at all with my Philips 32" LCD either on Digital+ or my DVD player. 32" isn't big by any means .. if you were talking about a 37 or 42" or bigger set, I could maybe understand, but 32" should be fine. That having been said, my TV was probably the most expensive 32" set Philips had on offer at the time, but then we get an employee discount

Firstly make sure the box's output is set to "high quality", i.e. RGB, and maybe you should trawl through the picture settings on your TV. Try turning off (or setting to the lowest value) most of the "enhancements" which are largely there to compensate for bad signal quality.

It's also possible that it's just not that good a TV. Beko isn't one of the best known brands (it's Philips' budget brand AFAIK).

plodder

It can be bad on my 40" as well. I suspect that better quality decoder boxes, with proper digital/HDMI outputs would (and eventually will be) the answer. With scart, the signal is being converted from digital to analog, and back to digitial again on the TV. That is never going to work all that well.

Sonic_exyouth

Lvbrs wrote: »

Hi,
New here. not sure exactly where to post this, but this looks like the most obvious place.

I have had UPC digital + for about 6 months, using a CRT TV with no problems, except for the odd downtime. I bought a lovely BEKO 32" LCD TV and now the picture looks bad. DVD's are also not great quality. I have the DVD player patched through the digital receiver via SCART. Could this be a problem with the digital receiver or analogue line going to it? I've tried various different scarts but it ain't great. Going spare trying to sort it out. Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated. ( I already brought back a Walker TV to the shop as the picture was atrocious. ) I may have to resort to my big old CRT TV. I would have thought that LCD and digital would be great? Am i missing something here?

Thanks,

T

Ok, as it's just a DVD player, there is no good reason to patch it through the Digi-Box.

In fact, if you go down to Lidl, you'll get a quality DVd player with a HDMI connection that will upscale to your lovely new TV - if you can bare to part with €50.

The Digibox itself is going to change soon, and improve. YOu should contact UPC now to see if you can avail of a better one.. and UPC have been saying they're going to be launching aHD service shortly.

Lvbrs

Many thanks to all who took time to reply. I really appreciate it.

The LCD TV I bought is a BEKO 32WLU520HD model for anyone who is interested. I am not into High resolution gaming etc and all I want is a good clear quality TV for digital signals. I'm afraid I could not afford any of the high end models of TV that cost 500 euro and upwards.

There is only one SCART connection on the TV set, so I have to loop the DVD player through it. I have never had a problem with that before. My older 28" wide screen CRT was also a BEKO and had a perfect picture. It is too big for my room ,so I wanted an LCD, for aesthetics as well as progress etc. Would the DVD play better using Composite cables?

I noticed that the cable ( RFC? ) connection from the NTL Box had two Splitters or junction boxes on it. (I also have NTL Broadband ).I removed one and tightened up the cable. It seems to have improved somewhat. Would this be affecting the TV signal? Can I use the FM connection for BB I wonder? ( says he, already realising the answer will be a no ).

I tweaked some of the settings while watching a DVD and it definitely improved,but it is still not 100%. It is pretty good quality, but not what I would call crystal clear.

That's good to know that UPC are bringing out a HD or higher quality box. I'll contact them right away.

I do not have a landline phone so presumably I could not avail of SKY? ( or is that a myth? ) I do not want an ugly, imposing Satelite dish on my baclony, and anyway, because I live in an apartment, it is not allowed. I also cannot stand SKY and Rupert Murdoch , so I'm afraid I won't be going there. But I do not want to get into a conversation about pros and cons of Sky V NTL etc.

What if i got one of those Freeview satelite dishes ( a small, discreet one!!! ). Is the signal better off those?

Not sure where to go from here.

Anyway,thanks again to one and all.

Jev/N

Also if you have your settings calibrated too sharp or too bright that will only augment the problems. I've analogue NTL on a 40" at the moment and for the most part it looks grand once the settings are adjusted

Lvbrs

Just called NTL /UPC. They sent a signal boost down the line. don't think it made any difference. I've noticed that if I reduce the Backlight it makes it a bit clearer. don't get me wrong it's a good picture on most channels, but not as clear as I expected it to be.

They are testing a new Digibox at the moment but will be a few months before they release any new one. hope it has a HD connection on it.

silverside

I too have UPC - the TV signal is not great, but it's ok

I found it better if i connect both devices (DVD and digibox) directly into the TV instead of patching one through the other or using the aerial feed.

If your DVD has component or HDMI out, use that, else use scart; use scart from the box to the tv.

I found the picture atrocious when I used the TV's built in tuner on the UPC RF signal.

edit: If you can get away with installing a dish (maybe low down on a balcony) it will cost maybe 200-300 euro installed including a reciever box and give better quality and a good range of channels, free forever so will pay for itself inside a year. Look at freesat.ie for an idea - others may recommend local installers.

edit again: Best type of cable is component (3 cables, Red Green + Blue) ; then SCART or s-video ( small cable with 5 pins); composite (3 cables red yellow + white) is worse than SCART but may be worth a try if looping through the digibox really is rubbish.

Lvbrs

Lvbrs wrote: »

Just called NTL /UPC. They sent a signal boost down the line. don't think it made any difference.

They can't "boost" the signal, that's just a fob-off. UPC is so heavily compressed that it'll come out looking like YouTube video on most LCDs. That's why I'm still using a 21" 4:3 CRT, I'd get no benefit from an LCD.

Alun

Karsini wrote: »

UPC is so heavily compressed that it'll come out looking like YouTube video on most LCDs.

A bit of an exaggeration! Some of the more obscure channels way down in the channel order are pretty heavily compressed, true, but the main Irish and UK channels are perfectly OK on my 32" LCD, just as good as on my old 28" CRT IMO, but then it is a top of the range set, not some cheapo supermarket special. Certainly not YouTube quality, far from it in fact.

Lvbrs

I've tweaked a few bits and bobs and it looks good now,tho I agree some channels are ****e,but to be honest I prob wouldn't watch them anyway.

(BTW this wasn't a cheapy from a supermarket like LIDL or TESCO. But I'm sorry I don't do Techno snobbery :pac:)

I guess I'll have to wait for a HD box to come out before I can thoroughly enjoy it the way it should be.

I read somewhere that you can get a box that will upgrade the DVD signal to HD quality. Anybody know about them?

Ta very much.

Sonic_exyouth

Lvbrs wrote: »

I've tweaked a few bits and bobs and it looks good now,tho I agree some channels are ****e,but to be honest I prob wouldn't watch them anyway.

(BTW this wasn't a cheapy from a supermarket like LIDL or TESCO. But I'm sorry I don't do Techno snobbery :pac:)

I guess I'll have to wait for a HD box to come out before I can thoroughly enjoy it the way it should be.

I read somewhere that you can get a box that will upgrade the DVD signal to HD quality. Anybody know about them?

Ta very much.

Yeah, the DVD you get in Aldi/Lidl (though there are others) and cost around €50 will upscale your DVD.
How many HDMI ports do you have on your TV?
A Blu Ray player should also do this (but, costs a lot more)

Freesat can come through via a HDMI wire and give you BBC and ITV HD for free, but you'ld lose your Sky one, discovery, MTV, etc
(The fta music channels tend to suck - Chart Show TV, The Vault, Scuzz, Clubland, AKA, Starz TV, Flava.. NME TV is the only decent one imo)

Lvbrs

Sonic_exyouth wrote: »

Yeah, the DVD you get in Aldi/Lidl (though there are others) and cost around €50 will upscale your DVD.
How many HDMI ports do you have on your TV?
A Blu Ray player should also do this (but, costs a lot more)

The TV has two HDMI Ports, but only one scart.

Guy:Incognito

UPC digital looks fine on my Sony 50" rear projection from about 8 feet.

Sonic_exyouth

Lvbrs wrote: »

Sonic_exyouth wrote: »

Yeah, the DVD you get in Aldi/Lidl (though there are others) and cost around €50 will upscale your DVD.
How many HDMI ports do you have on your TV?
A Blu Ray player should also do this (but, costs a lot more)

The TV has two HDMI Ports, but only one scart.

Yeah,

You really should be thinking about ditching the DVD player. Scart is dying.

When UPC (Later, it seems than they promised back in January) eventually launch the new boxes, it too will connect via the HDMi port.

I mean.. is €50 too much right now?

You might get one cheaper online, but
http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?p=863472
Tha one is very good
http://ww.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055144182
This one is great too.. the Lidl one is available in every Lidl I've been to.

Jev/N

You could go with a blu-ray player that'll play DivX - £135 from Richersounds for the Sammy BDP 1600, can't go wrong with that

zilog_jones

Alun wrote: »

Beko isn't one of the best known brands (it's Philips' budget brand AFAIK).

They're a Turkish company, not related to Philips. Make sure you're getting the RGB input from your box and DVD player, and try changing the picture settings as the defaults are usually awful (they try to make it look as bright as possible but it's just bad). Just don't expect any miracles with such a TV.

edit again: Best type of cable is component (3 cables, Red Green + Blue) ; then SCART or s-video ( small cable with 5 pins); composite (3 cables red yellow + white) is worse than SCART but may be worth a try if looping through the digibox really is rubbish.

Not exactly correct. SCART can be used for RGB, S-video or composite video (but only composite for bi-directional). RGB and YPbPr (often called "component" but RGB, S-video etc. are also component) will be pretty much the same for SDTV (YPbPr can be used for progressive scan and HD too, SCART is usually SD only). S-video only uses 2 component signals so it is worse than the two above (3 components). Composite video mashes everything into one signal using 1960s standards (with phono connectors only the yellow is video), so you can guess the results.

With cable boxes and DVD players you may have to configure them to output RGB over SCART (sometimes it isn't the default), and if you're using SCART cables that don't have all 21 pins they may not work with RGB.

Lvbrs

Thanks for all of those suggestions.
The SCART leads from DVD player and Digibox automatically select RGB.
The picture on most channels is fine, tho sometimes there are moments of pixellation.

I only just bought the DVD player. It is a Lenco. Has a USB connection which is what attracted me as I can now play my MP3's through it ( connected to HIFI Amp ). It is region free too, so thats a good point. However,when I connect the DVD player with no Disc in it, the default screen is also pixellated. This means the DVD is not 100% clear.

I would have thought that SCART was a good connection. I do not want to buy a Blu Ray player, as I will not be able to play any DVD's that I already have.

Lvbrs

Lvbrs wrote: »

I do not want to buy a Blu Ray player, as I will not be able to play any DVD's that I already have.

My parents' Blu-ray player can play DVDs too, it upscales them.

Lvbrs

Karsini wrote: »

My parents' Blu-ray player can play DVDs too, it upscales them.

Excellent. i'll search for one that does that.

Cheers.

Jev/N

Every blu-ray player is backwards compatible!

Lvbrs

I just saw this DVD player on DID electrical website. It has HDMI upscaling, USB connection etc. Looks pretty good. not region free however, but that is not a major issue.

zilog_jones

Lvbrs wrote: »

The picture on most channels is fine, tho sometimes there are moments of pixellation.

Moments of pixelation are problem with the digital signal, i.e. errors have occurred between the broadcast source and your cable box decoding the picture, or UPC are just not giving that channel enough bandwidth to deal with whatever's happening with the picture at that time - some of the +1 channels and music channels can look pretty blocky at times because of this. It's not a problem with the connection between your set-top box and TV - SCART is analogue so cannot cause such digital noise. Examples of noise you'd get from dodgy SCART cables is ghosting, crosstalk, or complete loss of a primary colour.

However,when I connect the DVD player with no Disc in it, the default screen is also pixellated.

Is this a uniform pixellation, or is it only certain parts of the picture like a bad JPEG? If it is the latter, it's probably just that they use crappy compression for the background picture (I've seen this with other players).

I would have thought that SCART was a good connection.

It's good for an analogue connection. Problem is your DVDs aren't analogue, your cable TV isn't analogue and your TV isn't analogue so there's needless conversion between digital and analogue signals. Converting analogue video to digital video - it's also interlaced video which is even more of a problem for LCD TVs - requires an amount of processing and a lot of LCD TVs aren't capable of doing a very good job, especially cheaper ones.

Lvbrs

I know this is off the topic,but I went up and exchanged my Lenco DVD player for a Philips ( added a few extra Euro to it). This one has a HDMI connection and upscaling, and the difference is amazing!!! WAtched a DVD last night, and the quality was fantastic. Thanks for all of your advice, people. All I need to do now is wait for UPC to start transmitting in HD. Tho i am still considering Freesat.

BostonB

What model was it?

Lvbrs

Hi BostonB. It's a DVP5990. I'm pretty happy with it. I'll see if i can find a code to deregionalise it, but that's not a major deal I'd buy DVD's in europe but not the US etc.

Sonic_exyouth

Lvbrs wrote: »

Hi BostonB. It's a DVP5990. I'm pretty happy with it. I'll see if i can find a code to deregionalise it, but that's not a major deal I'd buy DVD's in europe but not the US etc.

The DVP5990 has a HDMI port in it.. use that!
http://www.amazon.com/Philips-DVP-5990-UpConverting-Guaranteed/dp/B001AWOM7Y

Lvbrs

Sonic_exyouth wrote: »

The DVP5990 has a HDMI port in it.. use that!
http://www.amazon.com/Philips-DVP-5990-UpConverting-Guaranteed/dp/B001AWOM7Y

Hi Sonic. Yes, I am using it. Please see my previous thread. This last one was a reply. I bought a good quality HDMI cable with the DVD player and the difference is amazing.

Thanks,

L

BostonB

DivX Ultra too. Where did you get it?

Lvbrs

Hi Boston.
Bought it in Power City. It was 79 .99 Euro. I already had credit from my exchanged one,so made sense for me to change it there. It may be even cheaper elsewhere and most likely 10 euro cheaper online from their online shop.It has a USB connection at the front too so can play MP3's etc from that. It also has a facility to create MP3's directly from CD etc,so you don't need to go via PC if you don't want to. Supports .wma files too.The quality is really good I think. I imagine Blu Ray is even clearer of course, but I am very impressed with this. Sleek remote control. HDMI cable is not included, and neither is SCART.

voxpop

When buying a LCD or plasma for NTL/Sky you really need to do some research and find out which tvs are best for SD not HD. Virtually all LCD and plasma tvs will look good with a HD signal, only a select few will look good with SD. I went for a Panny 37" plasma at the start of the year and the picture quality is good on NTL, better than my 28" crt philips. Its also alot better than my cheapo 32" LCD. The LCD looks super running HD from Xbox360 but rubbish on NTL.

For my mind the best TVs for Standard Definition are :
Pioneer
Panasonic
Sony

in that order. Even then, some models in the range are better than others.

Mossy Monk

I would have to agree on the Sony recommendation. I have one and the analogue picture is perfect.

Lvbrs

I would love to have a really good Panasonic or Sony, but alas, I cannot stretch to the price range at this moment. The TV is fine now, with the exception of one or two stations, and particularly movies that are broadcast.

voxpop

Hi Lvbrs - Im glad the TV is working well now. The reason I posted was to urge ppl not to buy an LCD tv for NTL/SKy without doing some research. There are alot of cheap and crap LCD around now (a few cheap and good) and electronic stores are peddling these crap TVs to the general public urging them to upgrade.

Most of these cheap LCD tvs are cheap for a reason and cannot compare to the good model when it comes to SD and movie playback. I have seen cheap LG tvs playing a spiderman dvd, and when there is a large panning shot, the picture jerks rather than smoothly panning. This Tv might cost 400 and be a few hundred cheaper than a good tv, but I know that I would be disappointed at wasting the 400 on a rubbish TV.

Unless you are using the TV for HD content (ie Xbox360/PS3), then I would recommend either sticking with a nice CRT or investing in a good model LCD or plasma. Even going for a 32" good TV rather than a 42" bad tv is a wise decision imo.

I paid ~800 for my 37" panny and it came with a free blu-ray player. I think it was available from richersounds for 600e. It is much better than my previous 28" CRT and virtually all NTL channels look good from about 5 feet away. I will be keeping this tv for at least 5 years, rather than upgrading to the newest each year (they seem to be pushing 600hz tech now !?!). Well worth the price over that time frame imo.

Lvbrs

Hi Voxpop,
Thanks for your advice.
I think I have it sorted now. I have a HDMI cable for DVD player. TV quality is great too,with the exeption of one or two channels,tho it tends to be older movies or tv programmes that look blurry. The rest is great. I have rigged up my PC to it now and am using a DVI to HDMI cable. I had to update the Graphics drivers but now it is really good. Tho some games are not showing,but i'll check the settings for those.

I was in Peats yesterday and saw some of the new LED TV's. The quality was pretty amazing i must say. Maybe in a few years.........

Thanks to all who responded / contributed to this post. Much appreciated.

Lvbrs

Lvbrs wrote: »

Hi Voxpop,
Thanks for your advice.
I think I have it sorted now. I have a HDMI cable for DVD player. TV quality is great too,with the exeption of one or two channels,tho it tends to be older movies or tv programmes that look blurry. The rest is great. I have rigged up my PC to it now and am using a DVI to HDMI cable. I had to update the Graphics drivers but now it is really good. Tho some games are not showing,but i'll check the settings for those.

I was in Peats yesterday and saw some of the new LED TV's. The quality was pretty amazing i must say. Maybe in a few years.........

Thanks to all who responded / contributed to this post. Much appreciated.

There have been lots of people feeding you crap in this thread tbh.

Your television is being fed a standard definition source from both the dvd player and the ntl box.

A hdmi connection will make absolutely no difference to the picture even if the upc box had one,if anything it shows up imperfections even worse than a scart cable.

Your dvd's and ntl digital arent looking as good as they used to because the lcd screen has more pixels and it stretches the picture to fill these pixels,a high defintion broadcast would have these extra pixels in it.

You got a new dvd player with hdmi so you have that connected up,so leave it as it is.Try changing the picture settings,this can make the world of difference.

For your UPC box, get a good quality scart cable.Its an analogue connection so better materials will improve the picture quality alot.

This one is a good reasonably priced one.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PROFIGOLD-PGV782-Scart-Cable-Flat-OFC-HQ-Lead-1-5m-GOLD_W0QQitemZ120429377521QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL?hash=item1c0a2677f1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50


I have a 40 inch Samsung with one of these scarts and its been properly calibrated and UPC digital looks perfect on it,obviously its not hd but its a hell of a lot better than some peoples have seen and isnt pixelated at all.

The best money you could ever spend is on good quality cables,with hdmi it doesnt matter what cable you buy because its digital but the scart cable does.

watty

Though gold can be a disadvantage.

Also some LCD sets have very poor Analogue in.

Kintarō Hattori

I have a 32" 720p Panasonic myself and am using UPC digital television and I'm delighted with the quality of the picture. I was worried moving from a CRT to an LCD that the picture would be pixelated (hence much moaning from the missus) but no it looks excellent.

I'm had been using a Techlink scart cable but am currently using the cheapo cable that came with the DVR box.

zilog_jones

As long as the SCART cable has all the wires and is well screened (i.e. all the important wires are co-axial and not thin crap) it is good enough, and you can get that for under €20 easily. Spending any more for a 1.5m cable is madness - the likes of Monster cables are pure marketing bollocks.

I'm not sure about those ribbon cables like Corbin Great Hedgehog linked to either - I've heard bad things about them though I don't know about those particular cables. And as watty said, gold-plated connectors can be bad as they can cause corrosion if connected with zinc-plated connectors (i.e. the non-gold ones). I think it's more marketing bollocks anyway - I've never seen broadcast grade equipment with gold-plated connectors so why do us lowly consumers need them?

A hdmi connection will make absolutely no difference to the picture even if the upc box had one,if anything it shows up imperfections even worse than a scart cable.

With a SCART connection for such an application, you're relying on the DAC (digital -> analogue converter) in the UPC box and the ADC (analogue -> digital) in the TV to both reproduce the picture which is definately going to result in some loss, especially with a budget TV like the OP's. I'd prefer to have the original imperfections of low bitrate MPEG2 video rather than the blurring added by needless conversions. Also, if UPC ever make an HD STB it will hopefully have a half-decent upscaler.

BostonB

Personally I found a big difference in quality in the one expensive Scart cable I have vs all the other ones I have. Where can I get decent scart cables for €20? Preferable short ones, as they only need to connect devices together, so 0.5m would be more than long enough. Ditto the coax cable from the UPC point.

zilog_jones

zilog_jones wrote: »

As long as the SCART cable has all the wires and is well screened (i.e. all the important wires are co-axial and not thin crap) it is good enough, and you can get that for under €20 easily. Spending any more for a 1.5m cable is madness - the likes of Monster cables are pure marketing bollocks.

I'm not sure about those ribbon cables like Corbin Great Hedgehog linked to either - I've heard bad things about them though I don't know about those particular cables. And as watty said, gold-plated connectors can be bad as they can cause corrosion if connected with zinc-plated connectors (i.e. the non-gold ones). I think it's more marketing bollocks anyway - I've never seen broadcast grade equipment with gold-plated connectors so why do us lowly consumers need them?


With a SCART connection for such an application, you're relying on the DAC (digital -> analogue converter) in the UPC box and the ADC (analogue -> digital) in the TV to both reproduce the picture which is definately going to result in some loss, especially with a budget TV like the OP's. I'd prefer to have the original imperfections of low bitrate MPEG2 video rather than the blurring added by needless conversions. Also, if UPC ever make an HD STB it will hopefully have a half-decent upscaler.

I know what you mean but I honestly think a good scart could make the world of difference.I only recomended that scart because its the one I use but I paid alot more than that price for it :mad:

I think alot of people who complain about poor picture quality on ntl boxes are using 2 euro scart cables from power city,a better cable will definitely improve the picture but as you say the tv is a budget tv so it will never be as good as it could.

Im not recomending the cable because its gold plated but the actual wire used in construction would be good quality and would be better shielded which would improve the picture,as you say I doubt the gold plated connectors make much difference.

zilog_jones

Yeah gold plated connectors are pretty much unavoidable when you go over a tenner. I don't know why they bother TBH.

I got some good enough cables at Argos for around €15 before. Lidl and Aldi occasionally have them too. Even the one Chorus gave us a couple of years ago was fine. Crap SCART cables are quite obvious when you compare the thickness of the cable to others. RGB SCART cables for games consoles are the worst - usually terrible thin cable with no shielding at all, and connectors filled with glue to keep them together. I ended up making my own (I'm sure as hell not paying €40 for the official Sony one!)

zilog_jones

zilog_jones wrote: »

And as watty said, gold-plated connectors can be bad as they can cause corrosion if connected with zinc-plated connectors (i.e. the non-gold ones). I think it's more marketing bollocks anyway - I've never seen broadcast grade equipment with gold-plated connectors so why do us lowly consumers need them?

I noticed this with a gold plated cable I have. I think the gold was reacting with the zinc connector inside the television, the SCART plug has lots of blotches on it.

watty

Gold can ONLY be used with gold. Any dampness and any other metal is attacked by the electro potential. Usually the Gold is also too soft and thin to last with repeated use.

The best solution is Nickle over Brass, followed by tin over copper or steel. I don't think zinc is used. Professional RF connectors use silver as it's better conductivity.

Gold is poorer conductivity than copper or silver! It doesn't corrode and looks pretty. That's the only advantage of Gold.
Disadvantages of Gold:
* Expense
* Can only be used with Gold
* Attacks other metals
* Nickle layer often needed to plate copper or brass
* not the best conductor
* Wears off easily

For connections made "once" or very occasionally, tin to tin can work just as well as the tin "flows" under pressure and makes a gas tight joint. For more often changed internal connections or lower connector pressure, higer precison, gold to gold is OK (memory module). With a £60,000 piece of test gear I used all the seldom changed internal plugs & sockets where gold to gold and pcb sockets/fingers gold to gold. But EVERY external connector was nickle plated.

zilog_jones

Oh yeah I meant nickel, not zinc.

Boardstiff

whats best for connecting a new upc box to a new samsung series 5 40" lcd, a quality scart or a quality component cable ?

(recommend one brand/model if possible.)

thanks:)

Boardstiff

....also does anyone know if the new upc box has got a hdmi out ? or optical out ?

(its for a mate, and i cant find a upc manual online)

zilog_jones

The DVR has co-ax digital audio output, no optical or HDMI.

Boardstiff: It doesn't have "component" (YPbPr) outputs either. Only RGB or composite over SCART.

watty

There is no real difference. RGB (SCART) is origination in France and a European thing, Component is American. They don't have RGB-SCART. With equivalent quality of electronics, cables and connectors they give identical quality.

Japan and the US needed Progressive (we don't) because of the 3:2 24fps to 30 fps pull down artifact issue, so component was used for that. They (esp Japan) introduced HD before HDMI existed so some old designs use Component for HD and some modern sets also kept the interface. HD content mostly has HDCP now which doesn't work on Component. So Component is now obsolete and should never be on your feature list.
SD TV = SCART/RGB is best, S-video 2nd best, composite RCA or SCART is 3rd and RF is worst.

HDTV: Only HDMI makes sense. Using VGA, displayport or DVI is stupid and creates problems.


Coaxial digital and optical digital are identical. You can get a low cost adapter. Coax Digital will even work with a screened audio cable. Again the optical version is slight advantage with two pin only mains gear. If you get a slight buzz on Home theater amp when connecting to UPC cable box, then isolate the UPC wall socket with what is called a "braid breaking" coax filter. Some UPC outlets have a high level of induced mains voltage.