Older (pre HD) Sky box and ghosting on HDTV

ifconfig

I recently upgraded to a 40 inch Samsung HDTV (full HD).
Our Sky+ box is really old (2007) and it has no HDMI output - it is the pre-HD model.
I am feeding the signal to the new TV via Scart out on Sky end and the RCA yellow/white/red AV connectors via AV inputs on the new TV.
I am seeing lots of what might be described as ghosting.
Very noticeable with female hair and the scrolling credits at the end of a TV programme or movie.
Feeding the new TV with HDMI->HDMI from our DVD player (not bluray) there is no such ghosting.
Is this down to poor shielding of the SCART->AV cable
There are some speakers (a subwoofer not far from the Sky box) and I read that they can affect analogue signal.

I am planning to see if I can get a new contract with Sky (out of contract for ages) and get a Sky+ HD box which will at least mean HDMI connections and no signal interference, etc.

Any pointers on this ?
Maybe there is something else at play with these moving picture artefacts ??

Vic_08

ifconfig wrote: »

I recently upgraded to a 40 inch Samsung HDTV (full HD).
Our Sky+ box is really old (2007) and it has no HDMI output - it is the pre-HD model.
I am feeding the signal to the new TV via Scart out on Sky end and the RCA yellow/white/red AV connectors via AV inputs on the new TV.
I am seeing lots of what might be described as ghosting.
Very noticeable with female hair and the scrolling credits at the end of a TV programme or movie.
Feeding the new TV with HDMI->HDMI from our DVD player (not bluray) there is no such ghosting.
Is this down to poor shielding of the SCART->AV cable
There are some speakers (a subwoofer not far from the Sky box) and I read that they can affect analogue signal.

I am planning to see if I can get a new contract with Sky (out of contract for ages) and get a Sky+ HD box which will at least mean HDMI connections and no signal interference, etc.

Any pointers on this ?
Maybe there is something else at play with these moving picture artefacts ??

Ghosting is a term for a specific type of picture interference present on analogue tv broadcasts, not something you are likely to have with digital.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghosting_(television)

What you are probably describing is digital compression artifacts which can produce a very ugly distortion particularly noticeable on large sreen TVs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compression_artifact

Your setup has no effect on this and by the sound of it is the best you will get with that equipment.

The artifacts are present in the broadcast images, SD tv is broadcast using the old MPEG-2 format which gives a very poor picture particularly at the low bitrates broadcasters use to stuff more channels into a fixed bandwith.

There is nothing you can do will change that except switching to a HD source although even with a sky (or other) HD box you will get the same picture quality on any SD channels you watch.

Sky+ HD boxes can be got cheaply (c€20-30) on the likes of donedeal adverts.ie, you can get sky to pair your card to a new box bought this way. Othewise contact them and see what deals they will do, it has been reported that they are only offering sky Q now.

Thurston?

Vic_08 wrote: »

Ghosting is a term for a specific type of picture interference present on analogue tv broadcasts, not something you are likely to have with digital.

The signal from the SCART output is analogue, & ghosting isn't limited to TV received off-air.

OP, have you tried a different cable, or even just make sure the relevant connections are tight?

ifconfig

ifconfig wrote: »

I recently upgraded to a 40 inch Samsung HDTV (full HD).
Our Sky+ box is really old (2007) and it has no HDMI output - it is the pre-HD model.
I am feeding the signal to the new TV via Scart out on Sky end and the RCA yellow/white/red AV connectors via AV inputs on the new TV.
I am seeing lots of what might be described as ghosting.
Very noticeable with female hair and the scrolling credits at the end of a TV programme or movie.
Feeding the new TV with HDMI->HDMI from our DVD player (not bluray) there is no such ghosting.
Is this down to poor shielding of the SCART->AV cable
There are some speakers (a subwoofer not far from the Sky box) and I read that they can affect analogue signal.

I am planning to see if I can get a new contract with Sky (out of contract for ages) and get a Sky+ HD box which will at least mean HDMI connections and no signal interference, etc.

Any pointers on this ?
Maybe there is something else at play with these moving picture artefacts ??

The bolded bit is a big part of the problem. You're feeding composite video into the TV and this produces a lot of dot crawl artifacts. I assume the TV doesn't have a SCART input? If it does, using a fully wired SCART cable and enabling RGB in the video output settings on the Sky box should help a lot.

Goreme

Hopefully this is the correct tread for this, sorry if it isn't. I saw an offer for a Telly a Sony KDL48WD653BU, on line from a new seller on Amazon, based in England. Its 307 pounds, normally 439 pounds, and its 569 euro here in Ireland. The seller says its new, in the box unopened and will have the manufacturer's warrenty. He says its from Liquidation stock. I won't have saorview, but that wouldn't worry me as I don't need it. What does anyone think of this deal. Its a new seller, so no history... that's the thing?