Connecting TV to Sky Box. Scart or RCA?

jfm

jfm

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I need to connect the output from a Sky satellite box to the TV's "Aux-in". Normally I'd do this with a normal Scart lead, ie connect the output Scart on the back of the Sky box to the input Scart on the back of the TV. But I'd have to cut an awkward hole in the boat (yes, this is a boaty post) to fit the scart plug through, and if possible I'd like to avoid that cutting.

So, if i make the connection using yellow-red-white RCA leads, will I get any reduction in quality? The Yellow is composite video I think; is that worse than the video signal thru a scart lead?

What I'd like to do is connect one of these to the Scart output socket on back of Sky box
tb62.jpg


...and then connect the 3 RCA leads into the "Aux in" RCA sockets on the back of the TV, or alternatively connect them to the input Scart socket on back of TV using one of these...
l85ba.jpg


Comments/advice gratefully received, thanks
 
It will depend on the screen it's hooked up to.

Using the composite connection to my Sony Bravia 40", the menus look a little fuzzy round the edges. SCART gives you the option of RGB which is a bit sharper.

BUT why on earth are you messing about with SCART anyway?
An HDMI cable is quite petite: get a decent screen and a SKY HD Box.

dv.
 
Why not open up the SCART connector by removing the plastic housing and then heat shrinking the connector down falt against the cablelike Raymarine do with the Radar data cables, you should be able to pass through a hole only the height of the connector internals, then cut off heat shrink and click back into the plastic shroud.

If you are really stuck of space then open up the housing, even though I think SCART has 21 pins, you find only 5 or six are actually wired up and used the rest of the pins are redundant/never been adopted. You could then cut the connector off leavin enough tail on each connector so you can see the colour coding, pass the cable throug the hole and then re-solder?
 
Thanks

Ah, your HD thing might be the way to go. I don't really understnad TV connections so bear with me...

The TV is a 2008 Loewe Spheros 32 inch, with all sorts of fancy connections including digital
IMG_2040.jpg


The Sky box is a bog standard Sky box. Brand new one, with the curved front and blue-LED illuminated Sky logo in the mioddle of the front panel. Not Sky plus. It's connected to a Raymarine satdome. I dont have and don't want a Sky subscription, as I only want freesat and chouice of a few channels, nothing fancy.

I dont know what connections the Sky box has on the back, though I know it has a Scart. Are you saying it will have a digital output as well, which i can use instead of the scart, with good quality picture? In which case, great, thanks
 
Ah, thanks for the dismantle and squash it thru solution. That might work, will give it a try.

If not, cutting and re-soldering is my plan B. Quite happy to do that if necessary. Just trying to find out if there is a quick fix £20-at-maplin solution first! But I dont want to suffer a picture downgrade if that's what a yellow composite video lead will cause.
 
The yellow RCA is composhite and the weakest video signal but is also the one certain video connection for all appliances.
The S-Video is a superset of the composite and will be a better picture.
You really want the RGB in the scart plug or HDMI
However I think a standard Sky box will not have HDMI.
As you are only viewing 32" of sheer pleasure, on standard def broadcasts I would just go for the S-Video and audio.
Maybe I would be more picky if I had a larger screen.
 
Thanks. I'm sure the TV has every kind of input known to man (or woman). I've just looked at the manual and it is way too complex - it has a 160Gb built in hard drive recorder, plus satellite dish connections on the back, so I'm wondering it you even need a sky box or whether you connect the sat dish directly to the TV...

I dunno about the outputs on the skybox. This review, 3/4 way down says a sky box has optical digital out. Is that the same as HDMI out? I dont think it is. In which case I'll have to use good old fashioned Scart with RGB connections. Perhaps i should have bought a Sky+ box, doh. Are they same physical size? Can I get a Sky Plus box and fit it into the same cabinet cut out as currently used for my Sky box, without having to re-do the joinery?
 
Thnaks Morbieater

I think I might as well use the RGB quality, rahter than Composite or S, if I can. Yeah it's a small screen but on a boat you're quite close to it, so I'd like to avoid fuzzy edges if I can.

Does a Sky+ box have HDMI out? And is is same physical size as ordinary Sky box? If yes to both those questions I could just put a Sky+ in to replace the Sky box, and then use HDMI connection, right?
 
I am not that clever on Sky - have a look on the back of your Sky box and see if it has an HDMI connector. It will be labelled.
You need to look as Sky use different manufacturers and have different ports on the back.
HDMI is a video superset of DVI but also carries audio, and it looks similar to a USB slot - but isnt.
Your optical is just audio (no video) and will allow a digital spoof of surround sound.
So you dont need optical if you are going HDMI.
The SkyHD boxes I have seen with HDMI are larger than their predessors. I havent seen a SKY+ box with HDMI.
 
No problem, that's what the digital optical out is there for.
You can even get multichannel audio out of it, feeding a 5.1 receiver instead of just the TV speakers. The perfect match for u/w lights!... /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

PS: anyway, a quick google brought up this alternative to the previous SCART cable, just with also audio channels (though only L & R of course).
 
I see the adaptor you show has an S Video connection, if your TV has the same I would use that for the video rather than the composite, it should give a better picture. then just use a pair of audio leads from the adapator to the TV for sound.

Martyn
 
Just by coincidince my Sat TV contractor will be with me later today. He does a lot of digital homes type installations and he should have the answer - I'll get back to you later.
 
Here's another question.
Do you have any other TVs on board - I do - 7 in fact - if you count the Raymarine displays!!!
And yes - they are ALL fed from a Sky box.

My thoughts are this.
The main TV will probably be the best quality so feed it with the best signal you have but in your case you dont have an HD Sky box so any SCART type of interface will do. As for any other TVs on the boat, I chose to run some Cat 6 cables to each TV and then use a system based round this http://www.bluedelta.co.uk/index.html
The result is that the TVs in the cabins are not only fed from the Sky bos but you can also conrtol/switch channel etc from the comfort of the cabin. The system works very well.

BTW - I took it a stage further and had the Raymaring displays connected as well - even the ones on the flybridge - just walk round the boat with the Sky remote!!!
 
Thanks for all the replies. Head spinning slightly, cos all this fancy TV stuff doesn't really float my boat! I hate TV mostly. Jimg, yes, that link is the exact TV. Hurric, I really don't want all that functionaility - I have zero enthusiasm for it, especially TV on my dashboard, urgh!! The cabin TVs are all fed just by coax from a central distribtuion box and I'll connect the output from the Skybox to that, so folks can watch but not control Sky from the cabins (magic eye in master cabin maybe). In my exp, no-one watches TV in cabins anyway. They might watch a DVD (each cabin TV is a Lava with integrated DVD player) very occasionally, but mostly they're outside swimming and eating and any TV watching is done socially in the saloon :-)

Anyway, the spec sheet that jimg linked to says the main TV has 2x HDMI sockets, so my revised plan based on all the advice herein is (currently)

1. Chuck out the brand new Sky box and get a Sky+ box with HDMI out (hoping, tho need to check, Sky+ is same dimensions to fit the panel cut out)

2. Connect Sky+ HDMI-out to main TV HDMI-in. Connect Sky+ box coax-out to cabin TVs

3. Connect Bose home cinema DVD player HDMI-out to the other HDMI-in socket on the TV, so i can watch DVDs

4. Connect optical audio-out from the Sky+ box to optical audio-in on the Bose home cinema gizmo, so I have digital TV sound thru the Bose home-cinema speakers rather than thru the TV speakers (if I want, though I can still use the TV spakers instead)

5. Connect Raymarine SVGA (or is it VGA, I can't remeber)out to the TV SVGA-in, using the Raymarine cable for that purpose. So folks can watch the 3D plotter on the TV (which I quite like - growing to like Navionics Plat+ here!)

That's as complex as i want to get. Any major pitfalls? Does a Sky+ box work perfectly happily with just one sat cable plugged into it, not two? I dont want to record programs, I'm only proposing upgrade to Sky+ so as to get a HDMI output to feed pictures to the TV
 
Does Sky+ Box have HDMI (I know Sky HD box has) and Optical Audio outputs?

May not matter to you, but the picture ratio from the coax output will be 4/3 rather than widescreen 16/9 so if your cabin TV's are 16/9 you are going to get a cropped or stretched picture.

HDMI cables are notoriously fickle so if the cable routes are tricky to get to I would consider running a spare HDMI.

Does the BOSE cinema gizmo have HDMI in as well as out? If so you could route the skybox HDMI through the BOSE which would carry audio as well and no need to bother with optical cable.
 
Only the HD version of the SKY boxes have HDMI.

JFM I would look at a Freesat HD box as it is basically a non subscription version of a SKY box and will give you all the basic channels plus a quite a few that do not want!
 
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