Scaling up Sky/Ntl box Picture Quality

thevolt5 · 27-06-2006, 8:49 AM

Im completly new to video scalers and be kind as having a old school CRT ,,But Just got myself a new LCD tv Toshiba 32WLT66 and its great but there is a noticiable difference when watching TV from a standard Sky/Ntl cable box that just uses RGB/Scart and outputing a RGB signal compared to hucking up to my old CRT Tv which did look amazing ,,Is there a way to Scaling up Sky/Ntl box Picture Quality to produce the best possible pic other then installing the new HD Sky that evey one talking about.thanks.

Similar prob with the DVD player Pioneer DV-585A ,,,as for connectivy I am using the component progressive scan settings, direct to LCD. Dosent look as great as playing from PC is there a upscaling processor equipment to match the dpi/Res.

Nice to all so be able to use dvd player all so as PC.

thanks

Andy98765 · 27-06-2006, 9:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thevolt5

Just got myself a new LCD tv Toshiba 32WLT66 and its great but there is a noticiable difference when watching TV from a standard Sky/Ntl cable box that just uses RGB/Scart and outputing a RGB signal compared to hucking up to my old CRT Tv which did look amazing ,,Is there a way to Scaling up Sky/Ntl box Picture Quality to produce the best possible pic other then installing the new HD Sky that evey one talking about.thanks.

Similar prob with the DVD player Pioneer DV-585A ,,,as for connectivy I am using the component progressive scan settings, direct to LCD. Dosent look as great as playing from PC is there a upscaling processor equipment to match the dpi/Res.

Nice to all so be able to use dvd player all so as PC.

thanks

As far as DVD is concerned you have an excellent player, now I connect with an old Cyberhome DVD player (waiting for HD DVD) using component and attain a great picture on a 37WLT58, and also for now I use Sky+ via an aerial lead (waiting for SKY HD) and again not a bad picture. I use throughout my system only quality leads (QED/profigold etc), is this your case? Also on the SKY box make sure it is set to 16:9 not 4:3 and RGB not PAL, as these are the default settings assume a connection to a very cheap and limited CRT TV.

creative-av · 27-06-2006, 9:09 AM

Adding a scaler into your system will allow you to upscale the image and get a native resolution on the the panel(apologies but I don't know the specs of your panel so can't confirm the native res at the moment).

Have a look at this thread: Do I need a scaler? It details someone in a similare position. The Lumagen scaler range start at £825 SRP to £1599 SRP.

Thanks,

Steve

thevolt5 · 27-06-2006, 9:13 AM

All of my cable and connections are top modules QED or IXOS ,,its just I rather see if I could push it to its best quality other the getting HD at the moment,,ive heard the QED Scart RGB to Component Video Adaptor might do the job but whats the next best thing to this any suggestions that would help the Sky/Ntl picture.

http://www.futureshop.co.uk/qed-scar...tor-p-399.html

thevolt5 · 27-06-2006, 9:18 AM

Considering im using the QED cable component progressive scan settings for my Pioneer DVD Player to the LCD what sort of benift Dpi am I getting over using RGB scart.?

I know that I am able to set the dpi 1080i on my PC graphics card nvidia 7900 GT this may be why im noticing such a difference between the Pionner DVD and the DVI/HDMI PC ?

thevolt5 · 27-06-2006, 9:23 AM

as said im new to this so bare with me I never realized that the Lumagen scaler was so expensive is the £800 figure the lowest sort of price for video scalers any alternatives ,,must put the QED Scart RGB to Component Video to shame.

Andy98765 · 27-06-2006, 11:39 AM

At the end of the day both SKY and your DVD are low definition and no matter what you do you cannot get away from that fact even if you upscale all you are doing is buying a clever piece of electronics that takes what it is given (low quality) and tries its best to improve on that. I would say you have the everything right at the moment the only comment I would make and this an observation, in our house we have a standard SKY box for my lads and SKY+ in the front room and by far the SKY+ box gives a better picture although they are both set the same.
Maybe worth noting Richer Sounds are selling the Toshiba SD360 HDMI DVD player for £59.99, a lot cheaper than £800. http://www.richersounds.co.uk/showpr...=TOSH-SD360-R2

creative-av · 27-06-2006, 12:03 PM

thevolt5,

If you have a decent PC setup then you are probably best going the HTPC route. It might not cost you much more money and you can download the necessary scaling and calibration software from the web.

Steve

thevolt5 · 27-06-2006, 12:32 PM

Yes it seems to be a expensive fix to upscale somthing that is all ready sort of low deff,,,Thanks for the help every one I liked the sound of the HDMI DVD player never thought of this what sort of quality will i be gaining from my component progressive scan all ready.

Thanks for your post "creative-av" yeah i dont have a to bad pc at all with decent sound card processor and graphics to boot ,,but whats HTPC route ,,newbie dont forget.

cool thing is that im happy that my Graphics card outputs the 1080i perfect but aint got that well trained eye.

Any one else own a Nvidia 7900 GT ,and what settings they using considering its a 32" LCD.

creative-av · 27-06-2006, 12:37 PM

Soory mate, HTPC - Home Theatre PC. Have a look in this forum: http://www.avforums.com/forums/a/

If you are happy to tweak the pc and setup the software I would say it is the way to go.

RE HDMI player - remember that going digital is not always best. A well implemented Component conneciton can be better than a cheap HDMI one.

Steve

thevolt5 · 27-06-2006, 2:15 PM

Understood I look into it thanks for the help.

thevolt5 · 27-06-2006, 2:21 PM

Next thing on the list is a decent Component Video Switch box as I have the below and the Toshiba only has 1 Component input.?

XBOX 360 - Component HD (YUV / YPrPb)
PS2 - Component (YUV / YPrPb)
DVD Player Pioneer - Component (YUV / YPrPb)
Sky + - Component (YUV / YPrPb)

Thats 4 way needed but the best I could find was a 3 Way B-Tech BT947 any suggestions to sort this probleme out any other that better this module on the market.?

Andy98765 · 27-06-2006, 3:19 PM

Not too sure, but I believe that Sky does not output component, I could be wrong though.

creative-av · 27-06-2006, 4:55 PM

Correct Andy. You will need a RGB-Component conversion box(JS Tech are very good).

Steve

thevolt5 · 27-06-2006, 5:29 PM

Yeah I was going to purchase the QED Scart RGB to Component Video Adaptor first then see how that goes so still leaves me with a 4 way needed as the B-Tech BT947 is only 3 way ?

Andy98765 · 27-06-2006, 10:09 PM

thevolt5,

I really feel you are going to spend a lot of money on stuff that you will eventually throw away.

With the inputs you have at the moment I would use the following
XBOX 360 - VGA
PS2 - SCART
DVD Player Pioneer - Component (YUV / YPrPb)
Sky + - SCART

You really seem to be getting hung up on Component, yes a great connection type, but hey, PS2 nearly dead PS3 around the corner (HDMI), SKY+ dead SKY HD here HDMI, DVD (SD) nearly dead, DVD HD later this year (component/HDMI). With all that money you are going to spend on switches and adapters which will not improve your viewing it would pay for a years sub to SKYHD today.

thevolt5 · 28-06-2006, 2:51 PM

How does the XBOX 360 - VGA look over the XBOX 360 Component cable ?