newbie asking how to connect AV system

nemrtvy

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Hello,

I have recently bought few bargains to create my own AV system. These are the things I bought:

Yamaha RX-620rds (£50)
Rotel RA 921 + Mourdaunt Short MS20i (£50) (I will sell Rotel or keep it in another room)
Samsung HD870 DVD player (£48)

I also have:

Wharfedale Freeview box
Ps2

I dont have any cables other than SCART cables for DVD player and Freeview box yet. And that is the problem I have.

Yamaha RX-620rds AV amp has 2x component input, 1x component output, 6x composite inputs, 1x composite out, 6x s-video input, 1x s-video output and plenty of audio inputs/outputs (not relevant now). Also I have 32' CRT Panasonic TV so no need to digital video outputs.

Since I dont have any cables yet and DVD, PS2, Freeview all have scart video output I am not sure whether I should be

1. connecting scart video outputs directly to TV

DVD player scart to FREEVIEW scart input, then Freeview SCART output to TV
PS2 console to TV

and connect all audio outputs to amp

2. connecting scart video outputs to amps component input (dvd to freeview and freeview to amp, ps2 to second component input)

DVD player scart to amps component input
Freeview scart to amps component input
amp component output to TV scart
PS2 console to amps svideo (possibly)

and connect all audio outputs to amp

Do I lose some quality if I use SCART - component cable? Should I be connecting video directly from DVD/ps2/freeview to TV using SCART - SCART cable and use amp only for audio connections ?

Please help me as I cant decide whether to buy just audio cable to connect devices with amp or to invest quite heavily (considering the price of my devices) to scart - component cables (need 3?)

Thank you.

Fero
 
My Pana CRT TV has 2x SCART input and 2x composite input with audio. Sorry I forgot to mention this.

Also can I connect amp with for example S-VIDEO and output it through Component output? Or do I have to use same connections to get it working?
 
Just connect the SCARTs to your TV and the audio to your amp.
The only difference is that you may have to select the appropriate input on your TV (although being SCART it will probably do it automatically) as well as the audio input on the amp to see and hear each device. If they were wired through the amp, it would do it.
Even if you buy SCART to Component cables they probably won't work. It depends on whether your device can output component via SCART (unlikely) if not the cables will be useless. What you'd need is RGB to component converter(s) which would be even more expensive and maybe degrade the picture quality during the conversion.
 
Just connect the SCARTs to your TV and the audio to your amp.
The only difference is that you may have to select the appropriate input on your TV (although being SCART it will probably do it automatically).
Even if you buy SCART to Component cables they probably won't work. It depends on whether your device can output component via SCART (unlikely) if not the cables will be useless. What you'd need is RGB to component converter(s) which would be even more expensive and maybe degrade the picture quality during the conversion.

Fantastic, thank you for your reply.

So that would mean that I have to use 2 different remotes, one for switching the TV inputs and then amps remote for switching audio inputs. Is this correct ?
 
Fantastic, thank you for your reply.

So that would mean that I have to use 2 different remotes, one for switching the TV inputs and then amps remote for switching audio inputs. Is this correct ?
Potentially yes, but if they're wired via SCART devices often have the ability to switch the TV to the correct input when they're turned on anyway.
Best solution would be to invest in a universal remote, then you could get rid of all your others and use it for everything. The Harmony 525 is by far the best I've come across for the price - about £43 on Amazon.
 
Potentially yes, but if they're wired via SCART devices often have the ability to switch the TV to the correct input when they're turned on anyway.
Best solution would be to invest in a universal remote, then you could get rid of all your others and use it for everything. The Harmony 525 is by far the best I've come across for the price - about £43 on Amazon.

So would this remote "know" all the functions of Yamaha amp, Samsung DVD and Pana CRT TV ? Or how does it work? Sorry to be pain, this is my first setup so trying not to make any mistakes.
 
The Harmony remote is set up by connecting it to a PC with an internet connection.
You tell it what kit you've got and it downloads all the codes and sets it up for you. If it can't find the codes, it can learn them from your existing remote.
It's what's called 'activity' based so you'll end up with several buttons for several activities such as 'Watch TV' and 'Watch DVD'.
If you press the 'Watch TV' button it will turn on your TV, your Receiver and your Freeview box, select the correct input for the freeview on the TV, and the correct input on the receiver. The volume buttons on the remote will then adjust the volume on the receiver and the channel buttons will work the freeview.
In practice it can take a bit of tweaking to get it working exactly as you want but I've found it pretty simple. If you do have difficulty Logitech has an excellent free help service. Once it's set up it's a doddle to use - even my technophobe wife thinks it's great.
It's one of those things that makes you wonder how you ever managed without it.
 
It´s nice to see somebody working with a small budget. It just shows that you don´t necessarily need to spend thousands on the very latest gear to enjoy home cinema.:clap:
 
It´s nice to see somebody working with a small budget. It just shows that you don´t necessarily need to spend thousands on the very latest gear to enjoy home cinema.:clap:

It's combination of finding good equipment (at least I think it's good) for small money. It took me almost 2 months to get things I wanted but I am very happy with result. I enjoy it, also I am not ready to splash big for my first system and I do have small flat as well. Thank you for you encouraging words.
 
The Harmony remote is set up by connecting it to a PC with an internet connection.
You tell it what kit you've got and it downloads all the codes and sets it up for you. If it can't find the codes, it can learn them from your existing remote.
It's what's called 'activity' based so you'll end up with several buttons for several activities such as 'Watch TV' and 'Watch DVD'.
If you press the 'Watch TV' button it will turn on your TV, your Receiver and your Freeview box, select the correct input for the freeview on the TV, and the correct input on the receiver. The volume buttons on the remote will then adjust the volume on the receiver and the channel buttons will work the freeview.
In practice it can take a bit of tweaking to get it working exactly as you want but I've found it pretty simple. If you do have difficulty Logitech has an excellent free help service. Once it's set up it's a doddle to use - even my technophobe wife thinks it's great.
It's one of those things that makes you wonder how you ever managed without it.

it is quite expensive for remote but it seems it could solve my problem with too many remotes. And my wife is important as well, if she can use it than great!
 
it is quite expensive for remote but it seems it could solve my problem with too many remotes. And my wife is important as well, if she can use it than great!
It may seem expensive, but for a universal remote with the capabilities this has it's dirt cheap.
You could easily pay 2, 3 or more times this price and not improve on it's functionality.
 

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