Preparation for arrival of new TV

[auldyin]

I have V+, DVD recorder (2 Scarts) and am about to install a new TV.
Before starting, to get totally confused abot connections, can someone point me in the direction of "trouble free setup"

TV has 2x HDMI connectors AND 2x Scarts
V+ has HDMI and Scart
DVD Recorder has 2x Scarts.

I don't have a scooby doo about how to set this up and any help would be welcome.

Cheers

[MovedGoalPosts]

V+ HDMI > TV HDMI
V+ Scart (archive) > DVD scart input
DVD scart output > TV scart in
V+ Scart standard > TV scart input

The V+ standard scart will not operate if you have the HDMI output of the V+ working, but it's a useful connection for troubleshooting.

[auldyin]

Many thanks Rob

Cheers

[FairyFairy]

Last week it took us two days to get fully sorted - but we did get there and that nightmare is fading!!!

Stay on here asking questions and there will be someone around to help. I got tremendous help here!

There is also a connection help page on Virgin which could be helpful to have printed out as well.

(found it for you)

http://www.virginmedia.com/help/tv/h...ction-help.php

Good luck - you'll do it

[grabbi]

Im never happy with my setup. I change it every few months! lol.

Although, I bought a PC Cable for my 360 to free up the RGB ports!

[jem]

With something like this, I always think a 'divide and conquer' approach is best. Break it down into a number of stages, working out first what needs to be done.

Firstly we need to get the picture from the V+ box to the TV. HDMI is the way to go, so connect the HDMI out from the V+ into one of the TV's HDMI sockets. Now there is a bit of a problem here in that the V+ box will need to be told to use the HDMI output rather than SCART but unfortunately you won't be able to see the display to switch it. Your best bet is to (temporarily) connect a SCART cable from the V+ box (top SCART socket I think without checking but I'm sure someone else will correct me if I've gotten it wrong), switch the TV to this SCART input, switch the V+ box over to HDMI output (this should disable the SCART output), switch the TV to the HDMI feed, check you can see the picture OK and if so you can then remove the SCART cable.

Secondly you will want to see DVDs so connect a SCART cable from the output socket on your DVD recorder to one SCART input on the TV. Switch to this input and test playback. Just to add to the confusion, there are two 'flavours' of SCART which are RGB and composite. RGB will give the best picture if both the DVD recorder and the TV support it. Often one TV SCART input is RGB enabled and the other isn't so you'll need to check the manual for this and also the manual for the DVD recorder to see if it supports RGB output.

Lastly you will probably want at some point to archive recordings from the V+ box onto the DVD recorder. I've only done this twice in the year or so that I've had the V+ but its a useful feature.
This only works via SCART so connect another SCART cable from the V+ socket (I think its labeled VCR and is the bottom of the two sockets) to the input SCART socket on the DVD recorder. You can then use the archive facility on the V+ to copy programmes onto DVD. Lots of people seem to have trouble with this but its always worked for me first time. Just be sure that you have plugged into the correct SCART on the V+.

My final bit of advice is that when you get the TV and start to connect up, pull out ALL of the existing cables and start from scratch. Doing it bit by bit and testing each stage is generally the best and most trouble-free method of getting everything working.

[auldyin]

Its just as well I posed the question!!!!!
TV arrives on Saturday and I will let you know how I got on.

Cheers

[auldyin]

It seems that there is a football match on in Glasgow on Saturday..........something to do with the "old firm" I believe!!!

As a quick fix, will a scart from the new telly to the V+ box do the job and are there any pitfalls to be avoided?

Cheers

[FairyFairy]

You will get a picture but it won't be as good as the HDMI lead!

Don't forget to change the source over (I think its called from memory) You need to tell the tv to view from HDMI - that was our last hurdle!

[auldyin]

Nice new 37" Samsung arrived.
Installation a piece of cake thanks to all of you guys!!!!!!

Only problem is that the picture quality is poor with pixellation and fuzzy images especially witrh sport or "action scenes".

The battle now begins with Virgin and I can imagine it will be complicated because I recently had a cable pull.
What rights do I have? I'm paying them £85+ per month for what is a really substandard service (apart from the phone which is excellent) and don't really know where to go from here.

Cheers

[MovedGoalPosts]

Experiment with the output settings of the STB, and also the TV settings. The two could be fighting each other. 720p rather than 1080i might be better on the output, especially for faster moving images such as sports. If your TV has picture enhancement software, could this be overegging things by enhancing an already enhanced picture?

[auldyin]

Will try 720 (incidentally, V+ box only gives options for 1080 and 720 not 1080i etc).
Don't think there is any picture enhancement stuff but will check when I get home.

Cheers