I'm deciding what plasma to buy atm - my first large screen, replacing a cheap 28" CRT. I've pretty much settled on buying from NexNix & will probably go with the Pioneer PDP433MXE. It'll be used with a few RGB sources such as terrestrial freeview box, dvd player & games consoles, as well as with a PC. I'm unsure as to what I need to best connect this lot up. I figure the Dsub15 will offer a simple connection to the PC (until I investigate DVI - I don't know anything about it atm). I'll leave the svideo & composite as last resorts for other devices. That leaves the 5 BNCs. Given I have nothing that outputs YUV & so conversion of one form or another will be needed, I assume it will be best to convert from RGB to VGA (ie to RGB, HD, VD using the BNC inputs). Can I use JS Tech's RGB2VGA convertor with the PDP433MXE to achieve this (with a VGA to 5BNC lead)? I think I understand the only possible problem is that some displays can't take a VGA input at the low horizontal frequency of around 15KHz which this will produce. Any advice? If this can't be done, what are my alternatives, if any? Lastly, I need to be able to switch between 6 RGB scart sources. Can anyone recommend a switcher which will offer the least signal degradation? Currently I have two cheap manual switches, from Argos, daisy-chained; I imagine I won't get away with this with a decent plasma as the display device. Thanks.
mroz The JS Technology converters are a good match with the MXE Displays. We pretty much supply at least one JS Tech RGB converter with every MXE we've supplied. As you say the RGB2VGA plus a decent quality HD15>5BNC cabel wil work well for you. Not too many decent quality six input RGB SCART switchers around - the closest is probably the B-Tech Quintro; though it only has five inputs and whilst good value is not an absolutely clean switch. If you could daisy chain a couple of your RGB sources (many of them have this function) you could use one of the Zektor HDS4 switchers we import from the US. See http://www.zektor.com The HDS4 can switch up to four devices (or more if you daisy chain the RGB devices) with no signal loss. You'll need a SCART>4RCA cable wired for RGB+Composite for each of the four devices connected to the HDS4 and one 4RCA>SCART between the Zektor HDS4 and the RGB2VGA converter. Best regards Joe
Thanks for the reply I think I could live with only 4 RGB sources. The HDS4 does indeed look very nice. How much do you sell them for? Any chance you could email me a quote for the unit plus the five cables required (& if it's not too cheeky to ask, a quote for a 2m hd15>hd15 cable and a 1 or 2m hd15>5bnc, purchased at the same time). I'm already over budget, so I don't know if I can stretch to this now, but it seems well worth trying. I'll be buying in around a month, depending on how quickly my bank can clear a foreign cheque. Thanks again. BTW, my email address is m r o z a t u k g a t e w a y d o t n e t, with the obvious translation. This forum has been most valuable in helping me make my mind up about what to go for. My only remaining qualm concerns the pdp433mxe's black level, as I do sometimes watch films in a darkened room; still, I have a feeling I won't be too disappointed.
Yes, RGB to Plasma VGA unit with a VGA to five BNC leads works well. What are all your sources? It is possible to daisy chain some together, reducing the number of sources you'd need to switch. All the best, Dr John Sim.
Two or three games consoles, a low end dvd player, an ex-itv digital box & a PC tv-out. I don't think any can be daisy chained, however I can say good bye to the tv-out, as I'll have a direct vga connection for at least one PC; I can probably forget about the dvd player too, using most likely the PC in its stead. I'd quite like an HDS4 but at 250ukp don't think I can pick one up at the same time as the screen, so that might have to wait, especially as I want to build a HTPC. I have a few that could do the job, but none built to be particularly quiet. Do you have any strong views on the quality & price range of cables one should use for interconnects, such as with your convertor or this switch? Thanks