SKY TV (UK) Question

[jeffcora]

Graves,

Reading your posts it looks like you are going to buy a long s-video lead to get the picture from SKY into your PVR. I suspect this won't work. The standard UK SKY digiboxes don't (didn't) output S-Video, only composite video via the SCART (along with the audio), or RGB via the scart depending upon your settings in the SKY menus. A scart to S-VIDEO adpater won't make the picture out of the digibox S-VIDEO, so the picture will come out in mono.

I believe you will need a scart to composite/audio adapter for the back of your sky box, then run the composite lead + audio into your PVR350. An adapter like http://www.keene.co.uk/cgi-bin/bigcodesearch.pl?KA127SG is the most flexible, then connect the separate composite lead + audio to the PVR350. I recently upgraded to SKY+ which has an S-VIDEO output and is noticeably better in quality when running S-VIDEO into the PVR350, rather than a composite connection. Before that I used the adapter method above for over a year.

If you are going to use the output from the PVR, then run S-Video + audio from the PVR350 back into your TV. However I've recently stopped using the output from the PVR and reverted back to the output from the PC card, which is just as good depending on your video card. I found the output from the PVR350 too restrictive (in terms of formats etc) and I suspect you will too over time. You maybe better off concentrating on getting a good picture from your graphics card into your TV, than using the output from the 350.

Hope this helps, Rob

[Graves]

Rob,

Thanks for your detailed reply. I'd actually been wondering if I need the S-video cable as well as the composite cable. So I'll try with just the later this weekend.

I'm not currently planing to pipe the output back to my tv for now as I have a flat panel lcd monitor/tv combination.

In the future, I do plan to upgrade to SKY+ so I'll revert to s-video then if it's like you say, i.e., better picture quality.

Graves.

[Akira]

My Grundig skybox has an s-video output(which I can use to connect to tv instead of scart) ...does this mean I can connect it by an s-video cable to a tuner card and it will work or I will run into complications?

[Akira]

anyone knows please as I have to order the new hardware soon.Thanks

[bluesxman]

Well if your Sky Box supports s-video out, and your capture card supports s-video in, I can't see there would be a problem. The issue above relates to the fact the most (or older) Sky boxes do not support s-video out, so using a scart to s-video converter results in a b&w picture.

[Akira]

ah ok thanks ...but my digibox is about 3 years old so I cant understand why other digiboxes dont have svideo out

[bluesxman]

Taken from www.satcure.co.uk:

The manufacturers simply followed the specifications laid down by BskyB. Obviously price was a major consideration so the basic Digibox doesn't have any more hardware than it actually needs.

Early Digiboxes have no S-Video output but later Grundig models with /2 and /3 suffix have an S-Video socket, as does the Pace Sky-Plus Digibox.

[Akira]

Youre great man .THX that settled my crazy brain