For Xmas the wife bought both of us !! The following kit..all of it Panasonic...

TV... TX-36PD30
Home cinema system....SC-HT900
S-Video recorder.... NV-SV120EB
and.....Sky Plus Box ( Which as been installed !! )

She came home with one component video cable
one optical sound cable
Several scart cables

Now guy's how do I not only connect all this up... but what should I do to ensure I have optimum setup with regard to pictures and sound through all connected units. ??
Oh and do I need to get any more cables !!

All or any help much appreciated...can't afford to get an engineer out now after all this expense..must be able to do it my self !!

[fatbob]

Hi Bilbo,

I don't own any Panasonic gear, so there could be further advice from people who are familiar with your setup, and can give better advice than me, but I'll do my best.

Connect the component outputs of the dvd player to the component inputs on the tv. Your dvd player and tv are both compatable with progressive signals, so make sure that the progressive option is enabled in the dvd players setup menu. As far as I'm aware, the dvd player only outputs NTSC progressive, so region 2 dvds will not benefit from this option. They can still be watched from the component outputs, but only through interlaced component, not progressive component.

Connect the RGB compatible scart output of the sky+ box to an RGB scart socket on the PD30, and make sure that the sky+ box has been set up to output RGB. Also make sure that the sky+ has been set up to display a 16:9 image (not 4:3).

Connect the non RGB scart socket of the sky+ box to the input scart of the video recorder, and connect the output scart of the video to a free scart input on the PD30. In this way, should you want to tranfer recordings from the sky+ box to VHS, then you should be able to do so. Also, plug the ariel lead into the video recorder, and the RF output of the video into the tv.

All the sound decoding is built into the HT900, so you won't need the optical lead. This lead would only be needed if you were connecting your dvd source to a seperate amplifier/receiver.

I realise this probably sounds a bit confusing (I'm confused ) so if you have any more questions, I'll try to answer them.

Cheers.

fatbob,
Many thanks for the help, I'll give this a go. Can you tell me which scart sockets on the tv are rgb and which are not..at the moment I'm looking at four scart sockets and the component video sockets. The wife tells me that the salesman told her the optical cable was to connect the sky + box to the sound system ??
Regards
Bilbo

[fatbob]

Hi Bilbo,

You're right about the optical link up between the sky+ box and the HT900. I'd overlooked the fact that 5.1 sound is available from Sky+.

I have a Panasonic catalogue, and according to that the scart inputs of the PD30 are as follows:

A/V 1 ......... RGB in.
A/V 2.......... S-VIDEO in.
A/V 4.......... S-VIDEO/RGB in.
A/V 5.......... A/V in/OUT

I would connect the Sky+ box to scart 1. You can confirm if you're digibox is connected through RGB by entering it's "picture settings" menu and flicking between the RGB and PAL settings. If you're connected to the RGB scart, you will notice the picture looks far better in the RGB setting.

Cheers.

Fatbob,
Again many thanks for the guidance, I'm attempting to put it al together now !! damm that TV is heavy !!!
Bilbo

Originally posted by fatbob
Hi Bilbo,

You're right about the optical link up between the sky+ box and the HT900. I'd overlooked the fact that 5.1 sound is available from Sky+.

BE aware that the optical in on the HT900 does NOT accept DTS

[mansell]

that should not be a problem as I don't think SKY output DTS