Hey guys,

I have just got my first ever home cinema for my birthday, its the Hitachi HTD-K150, a few of you probably think its pap but hey, im chuffed!!! hehe at the moment I actually have no DVD's but will get about 3 tommorow.
Anyway onto my problem, when I installed it I noticed it came witht and RGB Scart lead (Im in the UK) instead of the composite leads which it states are supplied in the manual. We got this of a friend who owns a small chain of stores for £250 (which looking in the previous Argos issue it is advertised for £449.99!!!).
He told us they originally got it out to put it up as a display but found they already had one so immediately put it back in the box.
Anyway, if the player is on (the Hitachi splash screen or showing a DVD) all of the normal television channels have this splash screen but constantly changing colours, tiled and scrolling across the screen. Now most of you are p[robably thinking well just turn the player off, but, if I am watching a DVD and want to pause it to quickly watch something on TV then I have to turn it off. If I look on one of the normal channels whilst the player is on you can still here the channels sound coming through. So basically I want to know if theres anyway to solve it or if I wil have to ring them up and ask about the composite leads (I'd like to keep the Scart as it is better quality).
Thanks for your help guys


edit: I have just found that if I switch the remote to AUX 1 or 2 put the player on standby and then turn it on again in AUX mode I can see the TV, however, If I switch it to DVD mode it comes up with the splash screen or if I turn it to AUX mode from DVD the screen goes black but I can here the TV. So it doesnt solve my problem but just a bit more info...

[magking]

What TV do you have?
I dont know this system, but it could also be your TV that are faulty.
Sorry that i cant help you, but if you give all the details i'm sure somebody will find the problem for you.

Its a BUSH 28" 2874NTX Nothing fancy but it does the job, a little question about the TV, although it is supposed to be 4:3 it seems more like a widescreen TV e.g 5:2 if ya get my drift

[magking]

Widescreen is 16:9. I dont know your TV either.
I have a friend that had some problems connecting his DVD to his TV. Then we tried with my DVD palyer to check if it was his DVD player. It turned out his scart socket on the TV is the problem.
Try another DVD player on your TV. If that works fine, then the problem is in the player.

[Ricky27]

I'm afraid that with some of these budget TV'S if you use RGB it just takes over all the channels for some reason.
I used to own a Goodmans TV which did exactly this,if i had any device attached via RGB and it was switched on then i couldnt watch anything else,its something to do with there being no RGB blanking on the tv scart.
Try using S-Video instead

[snyphr]

Some tv manufacturer cut corners or use cheaper components to ensures that the retail price is lower than the equivalent major brand.

When they cut corners you, the consumer, end up living with such "charecterisitics". Hey you saved the money didn't you?

On many cheaper tv's whilst using any av source (vcr, playstation, etc) on the scart socket if you try to watch terestrial channels you'll notice that they all get scrambled. Switch the av source off and hey presto everything back to normal. It's what they refere to as a "characteristic".

my advice buy a new tv or don't try to watch the tele whilst the dvd players still on. I did the later for many years

Hmm well thanks for clearing up what the problem was although I am annoyed you don't even mention what I origanlly stated, as I said I will just go back to the shops and get the standard composite cables that were supposed to come with it, Im not going to a buy a new TV as this one is only a few months old. I am 17 and don't have the luxury to waste money at the drop of a hat. Just so your aware my TV doesnt have S-Video or S-VHS very few UK TV's do.
Also I have used the composite leads which come with my GameCube so I know they work alright. Does anyone know how to connect my GC to the DVD as it has no video inputs (erm composite video inputs) and the only way I can get it to work is to plug the 2 Stereo cables into it and then plug the video in lead into the TV. This works but it involves setting the DVD to AUX 1 or 2 putting it on standby then turning it on again which is odd to say the least :D
Thanks for your help anyway, but I think you should be wary of jumping the gun very quickly.

[Ricky27]

Not sure if you appreciate the help here but im gouing to try again anyway!
Most tv's do indeed have s-video,normally on one of the scarts,and aslong as you dont use RGB the scart connection shouldnt interfere with your normal tv picture,just get a cable which uses normal composite and you should be ok or indeed s-video,fully wired scarts can be had for as little as £2.

Quite a lot of TVs thesedays have an S-Video connection... And if your TV has two scart sockets then its almost guaranteed that AV2 will support the S-Video signal.

As for jumping the gun RichGC I don't think he has, since this is a common practise with these TVs sadly.

My personal advice would be to invest in a scartbox. That way you can split an RGB signal (into your TV) into three - Gamecube, DVD player, Sky Digital/something else. You can find a decent one for about a tenner in Argos, page 684. Its the one without the scartlead already connected.

Also with this scartbox, you can connect the audio phono out (from the scartbox) to your receiver (TV-in) and hey presto! You will have all the audio through your receiver and can crank up the volume ^_^

Also if I may add... Buy an fully wired RGB Scartcable for your Gamecube and don't use the composite wires provided... You'll see a massive increase in picture quality.