Video Switching through Yamaha RX-V540RDS

[ChickenDevil]

I'm new at all this so please bear with me, and also apologies in advance for the length of this post.

I'm trying to connect up my system with all audio and video going through my receiver/amp and have a couple of questions.

My setup is as follows:

TV: Philips 28pw6506 - 2 X SCART CONNECTIONS (1 X RGB 1 X S-VIDEO ENABLED, analogue audio O/P)

AMP: Yamaha RX-V540RDS - S-VIDEO, COMPOSITE AND COMPONENT, VIDEO INPUTS / OUTPUTS. DIGITAL / ANALOGUE AUDIO INPUTS / OUTPUTS.

DVD: Yamaha DVD-S540 - 1 x SCART, s-video, Composite, Component Video, Digital / Analogue Audio

VCR: Philips VR730/07 - 2 X SCARTS (AV1 & DECODER), Composite, Analogue Audio Outputs.

SKY+ TO FOLLOW.

My first question: Am I right in assuming that if I connect my amp to my TV with an s-video connection, that the TV won't auto sense an input and therefore change to the correct AV connection when the amp is turned on? I originally assumed that if for instance I had the TV on say BBC1, that when I turned on the amp & DVD player that the tv would sense this and automatically switch to the AV input, however, when this didn't happen, I worked out that there is no 'switching' connection on an s-video plug.
Does this mean I will need to manually change the TV to the correct AV input? (I know this isn't such a big deal, but I just want to confirm this).

My second question: I'm having problems getting my VCR working through the amp. I have tried connecting with SCART to s-video + phono leads (switchable for signal direction), but I'm confused on how to connect. The amp has a VCR In and a VCR out audio and video, however, with regards to the VCR, is 1 scart connection an input & 1 an output? one is labelled AV1 which I assume goes to the amp I/P, and one is labelled decoder, is this an I/P with respect to the VCR?
Also, do I still need to connect the composite cable (RF out) from the VCR to the TV even when it is connected via the scart? I assumed the scart connection would carry all the video, however the manual says that you still need to connect the RF out to the aerial socket on the tv even when a scart is connected.

I hope I've explained this clearly, thanks in advance!

 

[Ian J]

The TV won't autosense any signal that doesn't come via scart as it is one of the pins that is responsible for the autosensing.

Be careful before routing all of your video signals via the amp as many have the composite and s-video on different circuits and can't cope with RGB at all.

 

[ChickenDevil]

Thanks Ian J, once I'd thought about it, I assumed that was the case.
The amp I have can output on both s-video and composite at the same time if you enable conversion in the menu's.

Can you tell me what the advantages of putting your video through the amp are?

I also assumed that the amp would auto sense the input and switch to the correct audio / video input, however, I've found I still need to select the device on the amp. Am I doing something wrong? I've only had the amp a few days.

Did you know the answer to the VCR question?

 

[Ian J]

Originally posted by ChickenDevil
Can you tell me what the advantages of putting your video through the amp are?

The routing of video through the AV amp is primarily for the American market where they don't have the convenience of scart. The main use for video routing in this country is when using a projector which is frequently mounted several metres away from the amp and it is convenient and cheaper to have one cable running to it rather than several.

Your DVD player and Sky Plus box will both output RGB video signals which are normally superior to s-video and always far better than plain composite and it is for this reason that the best way to connect them is directly to the TV although you may need a scart switcher to connect them both to the one RGB socket.

The alternative is to output s-video from the DVD player into the AV amp and connect the composite video output from the Sky Plus box to the amp also and up convert that to s-video although I seem to think that you are merely using the facility as it is there and forgoing the optimum picture quality as a result.

I haven't read the connection manual for you amp and doubt whether a scart to s-vido lead into the amp will work as the VCR isn't outputting an s-video signal. I guess that you would have to use a scart to three phono and connect the video phono to a composite video input on the amp which would need to be converted within the amp and output as s-video