Page 1 of How to hook up the DVD

Wires freakin` every where.

I have a TV, Video, DVD, Amp and Sky digibox- how do I hook all these up using scart
I have two sockets in the TV and DVD player, one in the digibox and video...Then I need to hook up audio cables as well is this right.... Is there an obvious way.. Cause I aint got a scooby doo..

Any help appreciated.

Joe.

The general consensus is this :

SCART from DVD to TV AV1 (or whichever of the two sockets is RGB enabled : you then want to tell your DVD to bang out an RGB signal thru that SCART)

SCART from SKY (VCR out) to VCR AV1 or AV2 (makes no difference)

SCART from SKY (TV out) to TV AV2 (I know SKY can output RGB too, but your DVD picture will be so much better than a SKY RGB picture)

(Incidentally, should your DVD be macrovision-disabled you could also stick a SCART from DVD to VCR)

RF lead from SKY to VCR, and VCR to TV (for the analogue signal)

This means that when you press PLAY on your VCR it will switch the telly to AV2 automatically. It also means when you switch on your SKY it will switch the telly to AV2 automatically. And when you press POWER on your DVD player that should switch the TV to AV1 automatically.

You can also tape the old analogue broadcasts (that`ll include ITV with SKY then !!!), as well as tape direct from SKY (without your timer, unless your video has satellite control), and if you so desire DVD !

From SKY to AMP : decent pair of phono leads (i.e. phono-phono X 2)
From VCR to AMP : ditto
From DVD to AMP : depends on your amp - is it a Dolby Digital job ? If so hook up the two with either a coaxial or optical digital cable (£20 from Richer Sounds). If it isn`t then either phono-phono X 6 from your DVD player (if it has an on-board decoder) to your AMP (if it has six inputs!) or a decent pair of phono leads (i.e. phono-phono X 2)

Er...I think that`s it ? (you say your Sky digibox has only one SCART, but I think you`ll find it has two !)

This item was edited on Wednesday, 10th January 2001, 18:53

Just waht I needed - I haven`t checked my the back of my digi box so I presume your right. Do you know any site where I can get the info on RGB, AV1, what leads do what etc.....

Thanks again.

Joe

Yeah RGB relates to picture quality, and is generally regarded as the best that a DVD or digibox can kick out : it stands for Red, Green and Blue, and basically the signal separates out into these three colours on leaving the DVD or digibox, and arrives at the telly in this form. Result is brighter colour and reduced interference.

Other signal types are COMPONENT (The Top Dog, but only on projectors and high-end Toshiba tellies at the moment), S-VIDEO (which splits the signal into chrominance and luminance (colour and brightness), generally regarded as the second best picture from DVD and finally COMPOSITE (lowest quality), where the signal goes down one phono cable from the DVD player to (usually) the front of the telly (the little yellow socket most TVs have under the flap at the front is a composite connection : you also need to attach audio phono`s to get sound).

AV1 merely relates to the SCART socket on the back of an appliance. Thus a TV with two AV sockets will have AV1 and AV2. A Digibox will also have AV1 and AV2. VCRs and DVDs also have them - they all relate to SCARTs (it`s an acronym for a load of French words !) or Euroconnectors : SCART leads : that connect home cinema stuff together (VCRs, DVDs, TVs, Digiboxes) in a uniform way across Europe.

Have a looksee at the FAQs available on this site - they`re both very good.