TV Link vs Wireless TV senders

C

Carl G

Guest
Hi,

3 questions

1) Is there any noticable difference in picture quality between scart based wireless TV senders and the coaxial based Sky TV link method? I'm looking to distribute my new Sky+ to an LCD in the bedroom and one in the kitchen. (There'll only ever be a maximum of one wall between the Sky+ box and the receiver.
My experience has always told me that Scart is better than an RF one but I would be using double shielded coaxial cable round the side of the house. I'm only interested in distributing Sky by the way, not DVD etc.

2) What are the best versions of the wireless and wired TV senders? I've heard that the Philips one and the DIGIlink ones respectively are the best. Also heard the Global's TV link has problems, the DIGIlink is the best and the SLXlink is a bit cheapo.

3) Using a TV link method, to amplify the signal out to two ports, is there any difference in using a separate power supply to using the Sky boxes one?

Thanks

Carl
 
Picture quality aside, one of the major differences is when you redistribute an RF signal you will lose any stereo information and therefore only get mono sound. Many wireless AV senders can distribute stereo sound.
 
I use wireless senders to distribute Comp video and stereo audio from my cable box,

Be aware that as soon as any walls come into the equation, the signal degrades noticably.
 
I use AEI's Digisender to send Sky (from our lounge) to our Hitachi 32PD3000 (in our bedroom). The picture and sound is perfect. We ocasionally get interferance from our WI Fi set up, but this is usually solved by moving the router or the digisender unit slightly.

You can pick up a variety of digisenders from Argos.

Big Al
 
Sorry to bump this - it seemed appropriate. I use a One For All sender that allows RGB from Sky+ to be passed through the sender unit to my screen downstairs. However this does seem to degrade slightly the picture on my downstairs screen.

I can't use the video scart on the Sky+ box to the sender as I understand that this is disabled when the box is set to output RGB.

The sender works well for the TV upstairs and quality is good with good remote signal sending. Have I missed a solution other than going for a wired TV Link (with mono sound :( ) that won't degrade my picture quality on my main downstairs screen?
 
The digisender is connected to skys TV out scart, as a break out / adaptor, with the normal scart going to the Plasma downstairs.

As a result of this I get RGB upstais & widescreen switching.

Is it possible to set up your One for All sender in a similair way?

Big Al
 
Big Al - how do you mean its connected 'as a break out/adaptor'? Going back to my gcse physics days ( :D ) would this be comparable to connecting them in 'parallel' rather than how I am currently doing it in 'series'? If so what do you use to do this? Some sort of scart splitter? Again my worry would be any loss of pic quality......
 
D J Fryer

Probally didnot explain my self correctly - so here goes.

It is an adadptor, kind of like a scart coupler, with a wire for the digisender hardwired into it. So, you plug digisender adaptor into TV output of scart and this leaves a female coupling for your scart to TV to go into.

As stated picture quality is supurb, RGB out put and widescreen switching on Hitachi 42 PD3000 downstairs & Hitachi 32PD3000 upstairs.

Big Al
 
Al, have you seen my other threads about the problems I am having with my Digisender? I'm getting all sorts of crosstalk between the picture and the sound, especially on the Sky menu. I take it this is not happening to you at all?
 
Darren

I do not experience the problem you have described.

However, I had to make quite a few positioning adjustments to the transmitter and receiver before I got the best results.

Also make sure that the scarts at boyh ends of the chain are securly plugged in.

Hope this helps

Big Al
 
My sender looks watchable through 2 walls and at about 60 foot to the end of the garden, but this is only with very particular placement
 
Well this weekend I bought another Digisender and tried that with the same resukts, so its not a duff sender. I even took the thing apart and unplugged the stock SCART lead from the PCB and made up a new lead using high quality coax and gold plated phono plugs. No difference.

The crosstalk appears to be happening inside the guts of the transmitter or reciever. It doesn't seem to be anything to do with the cabling or position or the input signal.

Going to exchange my second AEI Digisender for a Phiips one at Argos tomorrow and see if that does any better. No reply from AE to my e-mail or my post on their support forum.

Very dissappointed in the product. :(
 
OK. Update (after a nice cup of tea and a sit down).

Actually, I do like the Digisender. If I remove the video signal the sound quality is great (I have it feeding into an AEGO2 2.1 system). If I ignore the sound issues, then the picture quality is great (if a little bit contrast-y). Clearly it is cabalbe of working well, but its only whren I try to combine picture and sound that I get problems.

AEI managed to raise my bloodpressure at the weekend because all three of their websites went down. I just rang them up and after letting the phone ring off the hook long enough to convice me that they had gone out of business, someone finally answered. He was very helpful and told me that people had complained of this before but it could always be solved by flicking the "contrast" switch on the Digiconnector. This actually has bugger all to do with contrast. It actually switches in and out a 75ohm impedance matching resistor between the video out and video ground lines in the SCART lead. Changing the switch over DOES alter the contrast, but only as a side effect.

The thing is, the picture is still very contrast-y. Could this be an impedance matching issue? Unlikely because so far I've tried it connected to three different pieces of equipment and they all behave the same. Currently it is connected to my Denon amp via my upgraded cable (which include a 75ohm resistor). I find it difficult to believe that a decent peice of equipment would not have a properly matched output.

Tonight I'm going to try both transmitter and reciever in the same room together with bugger all in between just in case something is causing interference. Failing that I'll have to send it back to AEI for another replacement and get them to check it out.

ANY ideas anyone???
:lease:
 
All I can say Darren is do not replace it with the Philips - they are nowhere near as reliable when it comes to transmitting the remote signals and placement is so tricky that you will end up more frustrated than with the AEI. I am using a One For All (1720??? I think) and it is very good other than it looks terrible :D
 
Cheers for that DJ. I'll have a look at what else Argos can offer.

If it's not a Digisender issue, then it must be fixable (unless there's something wacky about my AV setup that only a few other people sufer from). I'd like to think that if I keep plugging away at it I'll find the problem...
 
Darren

How have you got the digisender connected?

Ie Sky TV out ( & Digiconnector) > ?

Digisender receiver > ?

I only ask as your reply suggest that you dont have the receiver directly connected to a display?

If this is the case, try connecting directly and see if that makes a difference.

Regards

Big Al
 
Al, Hi.

You are right. At the moment I don't have the Digisender connected as AEI intended, but I have been around this loop. As far as connections are concerned, so far I have tried:

Digisender 1:
Direct connection to Sky box, no though signal, contrast switch in both positions.
Direct conection to Sky box with through signal, contrast switch in both positions.
Direct connection to DVD player with no through signal, contrast switch in either position.
Connection to Denon AVR via SCART to 3c phono adapter, no through signal, contrast switch in either position.
Connection to Denon AVR via bespoke cable (screened cable, phono plugs, impedance matching resistor).
Connection to Denon AVR via bespoke cable - audio only.

Digisender 2:
Connection to Denon AVR via SCART to 3c phono adapter, no through signal, contrast switch in either position.

And on the recieving end:

Reciever 1:
Video and audio to LCD TV via phono to phono lead (video), phono to 3.5mm jack (sound).
As above plus audio out from TV via headphone socket into AEGO2 sound system via 3.5mm jack to 2x phono lead.
Audio only.
Video and audio to LCD TV via phono to phono lead (video), phono to 3.5mm jack (sound) - sender and reciever in the same room.
Audio to aux in on JVC CDplayer via phono to 3.5mm jack lead.

Reciever 2:
Video and audio to LCD TV via phono to phono lead (video), phono to 3.5mm jack (sound).
As above plus audio out from TV via headphone socket into AEGO2 sound system via 3.5mm jack to 2x phono lead.

...plus probably a few others that I've forgotten. None of the above combinations sound ANY difference, except the one where the video signal is removed at the transmitter end.

Unless one of my cables is duff (and I made most of them myself so I'm pretty sure they are OK), then I reckon that the above eliminates just about all the components - including the Digisender, unless by some hillarious coincidence I have bought two duffers 8 months apart.

So I'm reluctantly forced to accept that the crosstalk could be in the input signal, BUT the Digisender is seeing the same signal as my amp / main sound system and this does NOT exhibit the hum.

So, all my kit works, the input signal is fine, and yet the Digisender is picking up crosstalk from somewhere.

Oh - one more thing. When the interefrence is present, it comes much more down the right channel than the left, but it is present on both channels.
 
Well, last night I swapped Digisender 2 for the Thompson model, and guess what?

It works.

Not only does it work, but it works a treat. Sound quality is much better, but there is still a hint (and I do mean a hint) of crosstalk on high-contrast scenes, but I can whack my AEGO 2 up full before it becomes intrusive. Basically, now I can have my AEGO 2 set to almost maxiumum and control the volume via the audio throughput on the LCD. Magic! Oh, it is physically smaller, so I can package it out of the way in one of the side alcoves on my AV stand (wireless keyboard transmitter is on the other side), plus the picture is much more stable and it doesn't pick up any intereference from my microwave. No messing around with "contrast" settings either.

I reckon, therefore, that these babies are ultra-sensitive to combinations of kit and house layout. There must be something about my setup / installation that the AEI Digisender simply couldn't cope with.

If anyone considering getting one is reading this, I'd say ignore anyone saying "AEI is crap" "Thompson is great" and just buy one from Argos and try it. If it doesn't work for you then take it back and try another.


So...who wants to buy a slightly dodgy AEI Digisender then? :D
 
Glad you got it sorted - its amazing how something that should be so simple has no apparent solution when it doesn't work as it should.
 
I am looking at purchasing video senders to watch Sky+ in my bedroom upstairs but i am concerned of the setup. I already use the tv out on my sky+ box to connect direct to Tv downstairs with RGB output. This leaves me the second composite scart (in/out) on Sky+ box or RF out. Will either or both work and which would be best. I am looking at purchasing the Thomson ones from Argos like Darren.

Thanks

Wolfy!!!!
 
Both the Thompson and AEI senders have connections for composite video. AEI sell an add-on that allows you to connect an RF input.

I would use (am using) the composite connection straight into the sender.
 
Wolfy

Why not try the digisender as it enables you to connect to the TV out scart and still allow connection directly to your TV. See my previous post for more details.

Regards

Big Al
 
Thanks to you both, i still a bit unsure as to whether my sky+ box will out put from both scarts at the same time. Can anyone confirm?


Thanks

Wolfy!!1
 
Can anyone help me with this one:

I've got a 15" Bush LCD and I'm trying to get SKY thru a philips receiver. I have 2 other tv's off the sender and they work fine.

Problem is the LCD will not pick up the broadcast. It' on the VID channel (as the manual advises). I've even plugged it directly into the sky box and get a clear picture. Does anyone know of any similar problems and how to solve it?

The sender is a vl1200 unit

PS Hello everyone!!!
 
Is the digisender connected by scart? If so you probally need to choose an AV input rather than a numbered input
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom