Sky + What type of scart lead to connect to an LCD TV

aliEnRIK

NickMidgley wrote: »

But as sources go, Sky boxes aren't all that great...

This IS true. I personally dont have one.
BUT
My father does. He was using an Ixos (about 40 quid) and as mentioned earlier, changed to a Russ Andrews (About 120 quid). At times it looks awesome ~ so NORMAL sky is pretty good (bearing in mind its still down to how well it receives the signal to begin with)

donnajunkie

the only thing i know about scarts is to make sure it has a full set of pins in each end(20 i think). i think some scarts cables only have a few which may mean a poorer picture.

cosmicveg

scoobysi wrote: »

Nice attitude. Whatever rocks your boat, £30 on a scart for an SD transmission via Sky seems way over the top to me especially as no one has even metioned tuning the TV properly,.

Dont wanna flame but scart doesnt require tuning.

Yes the cost of a scart lead is proportional to its quality but you can easily spend too much on one. As a TV repairer I have seen all too many customers complain about poor picture or hearing sound from other channels in the background only to see the pathetic excuses for scart leads they are using.
I say to customers as a general rule if you are paying between £10 and £20 from a reputable shop then you will be fine.
Make sure the cable has all the pins at both ends and that it is the fattest cable behind the TV and definitely DO NOT use a scart switch box unless you absolutely have to.

At the same time DO NOT spend ridiculous sums of money on gold leads, these are for people who dont actually watch programs, they watch TV, their own tv to be precise, with a magnifying glass from 2 inches away.

Marty_J

cosmicveg wrote: »

Dont wanna flame but scart doesnt require tuning.

I think he perhaps meant "calibrating" rather than "tuning".

OK_Sauce

cosmicveg wrote: »

Make sure the cable has all the pins at both ends and that it is the fattest cable behind the TV and definitely DO NOT use a scart switch box unless you absolutely have to.

aliEnRIK wrote: »

Cheers sauce

Im sure you know this like ~ but scart 'switch boxes' are never a good thing!

I agree about the scart switch boxes, I have two. They have given me no end of trouble. Finally got them to work without interference BUT it took absolutely ages to get it right. Avoid if possible!

gnatschuffed

Decent SCART cables CAN make a difference. The freebie black plastic cables can also make a huge difference in that they can seriously degrade your picture due to poor shielding and in some cases fall part which could potentially damage your equipment.

There is no need to go overboard on cables inc. SCART. In my experience, Thor (£17) (as previously) mentioned, Vivanco Prowire and Philex both costing around £12-13 are more than adequate. I have them in my own setup and can vouch for the quality and VFM. I also have QED and Ixos and are a poorer fit than some of the cheaper cables.

scoobysi

aliEnRIK wrote: »

who attacked WHO first?? :eek:

IMHO, you did.

@Marty J, you are correct, I meant calibrating, thanks.

superscaper

Decent scart leads do make a difference. But within reason, a £10 scart is probably about all you need. A real cheapo scart will look worse and suffer interference but you can get a really good gold plated (assuming sockets are gold plated) scart for a tenner and you wouldn't get any improvement spending more than that (unless you spent the tenner on the wrong lead of course ).

aliEnRIK

scoobysi wrote: »

IMHO, you did.

@Marty J, you are correct, I meant calibrating, thanks.

espresso wrote: »

No, only aliens can see any difference!

:rotfl:

scoobysi wrote: »

This is a money saving site and people are telling you to spend £30 on a scart lead, they must be bonkers:rotfl:

So....your saying......NEITHER of you were laughing at me? :rolleyes:

Also the poster said a new 42" tv. It could have been ANY make or model and as ive already explained, theres quite a few variables but on the whole a 30 quid lead (Or 15 ish off ebay) will destroy a freebie lead (And id happily pay the 30 quid if thats all I could buy them for). And even a 125 quid one is a step up. You get wat you pay for and you WILL end up with egg on your face when you dont REALLY know what your talking about.............
ALso, calibrating is a MUST for setting up tvs, but that WASNT the question.

Coveredinbees!!!!

If the picture is ok with a pound shop scart all well and good but on my old telly I used to get ghosting with cheap scarts which was fixed using an oxygen free cabled scart lead. As it's an analogue cable signal degradation will be apparent on picture quality, particularly with longer cables. HDMI cables on the other hand carry digital signals so spending on fancy cables will probably be a waste of money.