Connecting old video to HD TV without Scart

fizzy

Wasn't sure exactly which forum to post in but would really appreciate some help.

I need to set up a new Samsung HD TV (model UE32H5500AKXXU see http://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-12-32H5500) for my mother.

This TV has only one scart, but she has an old basic pace UPC box and a vcr player which both have scart connections and no hd port. I've attached pictures of the back of both of these showing the connections on them - scart and not much else!

I want to avoid getting a new upc dvr box for the moment if possible, as my mum is elderly and getting used to the new tv will be hard enough on its own!

So I'll use the scart for the upc box and then I *think* my options for connecting the video are either:

1) get a scart to composite cable and hopefully that will fit into holes on the back of the samsung tv - will this work? will this be much lower quality than the old scart connection?

2) i can see that there is an unused scart connection on the back of both the vcr and upc box. is there a way of connecting the video up via scart through the upc box instead of directly to the tv??

3) our first thought was to buy a scart selector like http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/1078701/Trail/searchtext%3ESCART.htm but then I realised this probably wouldn't work because you couldn't be watching the upc box and recording something else from analogue at the same time because they share the same output?

I'm headwrecked by all this, so would really appreciate it if someone could confirm which approach should work.
Many thanks for your time.

ZENER

Option 1 will work. The quality of VHS is crap anyway so using composite won't make any difference. Besides, VCRs don't output RGB anyway so S-Video or Composite are the only options and I doubt your TV will have the S-Video input.

You could connect the Pace box through the VCR via the second SCART connection but that will just lead to confusion when trying to explain how to switch between the 2. I presume you don't need a recording facility on the VCR ? If you do please reply.

What is the make/model of the VCR by the way ?

Ken

fizzy

Many thanks for quick reply ken.

Video is an LG lv880. Not looking to record from upc box, just from analogue - if that us what you meant.

So do phono, rca and composite all mean the same thing when I'm looking for this cable?
Is this the right type? http://www.powercity.ie/?par=30-70-DV2401&brands=FLEMMING

ZENER

fizzy wrote: »

Many thanks for quick reply ken.

Video is an LG lv880. Not looking to record from upc box, just from analogue - if that us what you meant.

So do phono, rca and composite all mean the same thing when I'm looking for this cable?
Is this the right type? http://www.powercity.ie/?par=30-70-DV2401&brands=FLEMMING

Then the best thing is connect the UPC box into the DECODER input on the VCR and then from the VCR to the TV's SCART socket. This will allow you to record the output of the UPC box.

Here's a clip from the user manual to show how to connect it all up. You can ignore the antenna and the RF cables, just use the SCART. Make sure that you get Full SCART leads with all pins connected.



Ken

fizzy

Thanks so much for that helpful pic Ken.
Didn't know recording the upc box was possible! But I can't get my head round how you could record one channel while watching another?

My mum would be thrilled if I could just have the new tv work the same as old i.e. it shows upc digital by default, and then she has the upc analogue channels through the video and can record those when 2 programmes clash.
So hopefully this cable http://www.powercity.ie/?par=30-70-DV2401&brands=FLEMMING will do that?

ZENER

fizzy wrote: »

My mum would be thrilled if I could just have the new tv work the same as old i.e. it shows upc digital by default, and then she has the upc analogue channels through the video and can record those when 2 programmes clash.
So hopefully this cable http://www.powercity.ie/?par=30-70-DV2401&brands=FLEMMING will do that?

Depends on your area but if UPC do provide a digital and analogue signal where she is then this should be possible. Connect the UPC analogue signal from the RF OUT on the UPC box to the RF IN on the VCR and RF OUT on the VCR to the Antenna connection on the TV. You'll need to tune the VCR to all the channels.

Wouldn't it be a lot simpler to get UPC to provide you with a new digital box with a recording facility ?

Ken

fizzy

Thanks a lot for explaining Ken. She is in Dublin & her video is still recording UPC analogue fine. So I'm hoping that if I just keep the current wiring, replacing the scart from video to tv with the scart to composite cable to the new tv that it will just work as before. I hoped the channels would be stored in the video and would still work with the new TV without retuning?

I do hope to get my Mum a new UPC box in due course, but that would be a huge change for her. A further complication is the newer Horizon boxes - I don't have one of these, so won't be familiar with it when she has problems to help over the phone etc. Horizon gets very mixed reviews to say the least on the Talk to UPC board here, so I am not even keen to switch to Horizon yet myself!

I have the older Cisco DVR box and don't know if UPC still offer these, because they are pushing Horizon big time. I'd have put my Mum on my DVR type years ago, except that these boxes have quirks/bugs too & my current box is the only one to have lasted over a year. I've been through 5 UPC DVRs, losing all recordings & schedule several times, so this unreliability put me off converting my mum to it. My current box seems more stable though, so I will certainly be looking into whether UPC will give my Mum one of those (and hopefully let her keep the old pace box just in case) once she is used to the new TV & up for learning the ropes of the DVR.

Thanks again for all your time on this - much appreciated.