AVR350 video connection question

richimlong

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Hi all,

I've got a video question that I hope you guys might be able to help me with :)

Firstly my kit:
Arcam AVR350
Arcam DV89
Sky+ / DVD recorder on same scart
Wii
Old CRT TV with just 2 scarts - one of which is RGB

At the moment I don't use the 350 for video at all. However I have more video devices than TV sockets and Im getting bored of going round the back to switch cables ;)

So my question is, how can I make best use of the 350 for video switching? Or should I go down a different route?

I made one attempt at this by very stupidly buying a component to scart switcher so I could take compoent from the amp to the TV, and I have since learnt that this is utterly useless to me - the TV simply doesn't support component! Now my concern is that if I use the avr350 to switch video I will be limited to composite or s-video and this won't be getting the best out of the dv89 or sky+ (compared to RGB). Im also worried that passing the video will have a detrimental effect on the sound from the avr350, so ultimately I'd be getting the worst of all worlds...

So...are my fears justified, and how would you guys go about connecting in my situation? I should also add that I will, in about the next 6 months, upgrade the tv, so I don't want to spend a lot of money on cables that will soon become obsolete. Unfortunately, for a variety on reasons, upgrading TV now isn't really an option :(

Thanks in advance,
Rich
 
Hi Richimlong,
If I was in your situation, I'd get a Scart switch-box to save me unplugging and changing cables in the TV etc.
I'd keep using the connections I have now (albeit with the Scart switcher in the loop), and when I got a new TV that supports component, I'd plug all video sources into the AVR by component lead, and have one component lead coming out from the AVR to the TV for video purposes.

I'd have the Wii connected still by Red & White Phono (unless it does support something else like an optical connection (I don't think it does) and linked to the
respective component input.

I'd have the 5.1 Analogue outs from the DV89 running into the Multi-channel in so I could listen to Multichannel music (don't worry about this connection if you don't listen to DVD-Audio etc.

For DVD, I'd run a Coax from the DVD player into the AVR and link that to the component DVD signal etc. I'd connect up the cable/sky box via component and optical to the AVR as well.

For now, I'd suggest using a scart switcher and carry on using RGB Scart til your TV upgrade.

Dan.
 
Thanks for the reply Dan. The scart switcher is good advice, and thats the route that I'll probably end up taking.

However I have done some more reading, and Im still slightly confused. As I understand it, the analogue video mode of the AVR350 (along with other arcam receivers, no doubt) work in either RGB mode or YUV mode. Therefore it seems logical to me that while the TV won't be able to understand anything transmit in YUV, it should be able to understand component output in RGB - which the AVR350 should be able to output with the correct sync dataline, according to the manual.

Now the widget that I bought is as follows:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=47318&doy=23m4

According to the packaging and the website its bidirectional, so why can't I take the RGB component output connections from the AVR350, along with the sync dataline (for which there is an input on the adaptor), and plug it into the RGB enabled scart socket on my TV? I've tried it and it just doesn't seem to work :(

Can anyone please explain what I'm doing wrong, and whether or not its possible to connect the RGB component output of the AVR350 to the RGB enabled scart input on my TV?

Rich
 
I don't have access to my AVR300 manual (suspect the 350 works the same) at the moment as my whole system is packed away while I'm having some work done on the floors but I have a SCART connected TV as well and I know that when you choose to use RCA, your DVD source needs to be set to output RCA as well. This I've done in the menu for my DV78 and perhaps the DV89 is the same. I also had to have a special cable made up in accordance the connections listed at the back of the manual. This replaced a simple SCART to SCART 78 to TV cable. YUV all through is so much simpler.
 
Thanks for the reply Dan. The scart switcher is good advice, and thats the route that I'll probably end up taking.

However I have done some more reading, and Im still slightly confused. As I understand it, the analogue video mode of the AVR350 (along with other arcam receivers, no doubt) work in either RGB mode or YUV mode. Therefore it seems logical to me that while the TV won't be able to understand anything transmit in YUV, it should be able to understand component output in RGB - which the AVR350 should be able to output with the correct sync dataline, according to the manual.

Now the widget that I bought is as follows:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=47318&doy=23m4

According to the packaging and the website its bidirectional, so why can't I take the RGB component output connections from the AVR350, along with the sync dataline (for which there is an input on the adaptor), and plug it into the RGB enabled scart socket on my TV? I've tried it and it just doesn't seem to work :(

Can anyone please explain what I'm doing wrong, and whether or not its possible to connect the RGB component output of the AVR350 to the RGB enabled scart input on my TV?

Rich

Rich, will try and get you some of those answers soon. Snowed under at the moment.:eek:

Dan.
 
I've had a look at your question and to be honest I'm not sure myself. I can tell you taht 'Kiss Technology' do a cheap scart to component cable that may be compatible at only £10. It should be amongst the accessories on their site.

Only thing I can suggest really is to try one of those, or bump the thread occasionally and maybe one of the resident experts here can provide the answer you need.

Best of luck.

Dan.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

Its encouraging that someone has achieved what I was trying to achieve, thanks lpm. I have actually posted this in the DVD forum, and got some useful replies and it seems I should be able to do what I am trying to do.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=513810

The frustrating thing is that I think I should have everything I need to make this work. I have four component cables, and a scart adaptor with 4 inputs for R, G, B and sync. It also claims to be bidirectional, so all my logic tells me it should work!

The dv89 manual says:

RGB output is available on both the SCART and Component/
RGB sockets and offers picture quality equal to component
video.
Use appropriate cables to connect either the SCART connector
or RGB phonos to the TV. Note that if you are using RGB output
via phono connectors, you will also need to use COMPOSITE as
a sync signal.

Which implies it outputs both signals at the same time. And there is no option in the video menu to output just RCA.

But unfortunately for whatever reason I just cannot make it work. Thanks Dan for the info on Kiss technology, Ill look this up....

If I have any more luck, then I will let you know. :)

Thanks
Rich
 
Hi,

If you are trying to switch SCART RGB signals through an AVR you need to make up a special cable. (or buy it from QED its called an AV8 cable by them as we first defined it for the AV8).

The reason for this is the RGB + Sync to the AVR is OK but from the AVR to your TV if you just have RGB + Sync cables then you don't have the SCART control signals. You need these to tell your TV to select the right input (which you may be able to do manualy) without the CVBS status signal your TV may not display a picture. Also you need to tell the TV the signal is in RGB and not just composite. Without the RGB status signal your TV will only show you the composite version (which is also on the sync).

The pin out for the cable is given in the manual however its pretty difficult to follow and you would need to be very good with a soldering iron to make this cable up yourself.

Regards,
Andrew
 
Thanks alot for the info Andy,

I was hoping this would be simple, but unfortunately not! I think my other issue is the rgb scart adapter I bought has no way of choosing 'in / out'. I guessing this is necessary because the scart interface has a composite video in pin as well as a composite video out pin, and without this switch the adaptor must surely be hard wired?

Im tempted to try this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/OEHLBACH-XXL-Adaptor-RGB+Sync-Bi-direc/dp/B000FS9ALW

But from what Andy says it still probably won't work properly, so saving me £20 :)

This will go into the pot entitled 'My next arcam purchase'. ;)

Rich
 
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