Poor picture on new TV - do I need better SCART leads?

Marty999

We bought a new Sony Bravia last week to replace a 16-year old Panasonic CRT model which was playing up. We are very pleased with the Sony except the picture is not quite as good as we expected.

When using the in-built digital Freeview tuner, the picture is very good. When viewing Sky via a SCART lead the picture is pretty good. But we also have a HDD/DVD recorder connected to the other SCART output on the Sky box (not Sky +) , and this feeds back to the TV to the second SCART socket, and the picture from this is only just about acceptable. I have checked the cables are securely fitted and have swapped them around but it has not helped.

I heard from a friend that the quality of these cables can make a big difference, and our SCART leads are only freebies that came with various DVD players over the years. Is it worth me investing in better SCART leads, which sort should I get and how much should I spend?

Your thoughts will be appreciated please.

Garz

Hi Marty, could you try distancing devices to test whether any interference from another is causing the problem? I suppose you could buy a branded make of scart lead via process of elimination.

totalsolutions

You may need to adjust the Sky picture properties to output RGB and select GRB on th new TV as an input. Scart carries multi video source's and you get inferior image if set to PAL. Also check out the settings on the DVD player. Check that out first then replace a lead

OK_Sauce

Plug Sky box (with RGB enabled) Scart labelled 'TV out' to DVD Scart input (enable RGB on input). Plug Scart output from DVD recorder to AV1 input of TV. Enable RGB input/output on both. If you use the 'VCR' output on your Sky box , the only signal type possible is 'composite out', which is the poorest quality signal. It was primarily designed for VCRs which don't use RGB. You can then view Sky through the DVD recorder. If the DVD rec is switched off, the signal should pass through with no problem.

Marty999

Thanks folks for your replies and suggestions. I tried all the combinations and unfortunately nothing helped, but I now think I have discovered the reason for the poor picture - it's the HDD/DVD recorder itself. It's a LiteOn machine, and it was brilliant with my old TV, but it is an old model and is simply not compatible with the 16:9 output ratio.

LiteOn have a very good support team, I spoke to two different technicians today and they both told me the same thing. Even though there is an option on the LiteOn menu for 16:9 video output, my model of machine is simply not capable of doing it. So it is recording at 4:3 ratio and then when I manually select 16:9 on the TV (which I have to do every time), I think it must be stretching the picture, resulting in the inferior grainy/fuzzy picture quality. I think I will have to get a more modern HDD/DVD recorder...

Poppycat

Yes the Liteon are bad they record in 4.3 well actually it displays in 4.3 but if you burn a recording and edit manually the ifo file if my memory serves me right, you get the correct aspect ration. I have done this as it does work. I cant remember the exact instructions now I had them on a txt file but I got rid of the Liteon because of the problems with the ejecting the dvd tray and the annoying 4.3 recordings. I wouldn't touch Liteons anymore after that

I had the Liteon 5006 model. I found there support team rubbish in fcat they never answered my emails about this problem

Here you go about the 16.9 ratio

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=6539202

Marty999

I think I have managed to sort this out now. I have set the screen resolution to 'Smart' and it stays like this when turning the DVD recorder on, unlike any other settings. And I have now set the HDD recording quality right up to the maximum and this helps too. I think the mide range setting I had was OK on my old TV but when viewing on the larger screen it shows up its quality faults.