help Sky and plasma not working

garyh3

Hi Just installed sky and Im having a problem getting to work on the plasma

The plasma is a sony pfm-42/v1e

It is a US plasma with these connections

SVID

When I connect through from Scart to SVID (convertor) I get BW/50 its in Black and white on the screen and have tried everything to get colour

DVI - No Connector on the SKY box for that


15 pin VGA RGB/YUV connector (RGB IN or Composite YUV)

What connector/connectors do I have to buy to get this working any help woul dbe appreciated

Thanks

Garyh3

formatman

does the PLASMA accept PAL signals ? or only NTSC

garyh3

both it has a lot of signal inputs

ntsc
ntsc4.43
pal
secam
pal-m
pal-n
pal60

I have tried them all

Im using Auto which automatically detects the sig.

regards

Garyh3

formatman

sounds like there scart is not a fully pinned scart , or the scart to s video converter is faulty , have you tested on another tv etc ?

I presume you have tried changing the output signal in the sky box menu ...?

garyh3

Thank you I now have it working through a different connector.

regards

Gary

garyh3

Can I get a better picture though...

I have Sky... connect though the DVDo iScan pro using Scart to Composite Video (520/576 Input RGB)

The iScan connects to the plasma (sony pfm-42v1) via the VGA cable

I have tried Scart to S-Video but it apprears BW/50 (black and white)

The IScan can do Composite Video, S-Video & Component Video. Can I get a better picture if I use on of the other iScan inputs.

If so what cable/cables do I need

Thanks

Garyh3

pH

The first problem here is that I'm not sure that s-video is sent over SCART on the digibox. Early digiboxes definitely did not, then some grundig boxes had a dedicated s-video connector, but again the SCART only has composite and RGB ( selectable from the picture settings menu).

As s-video has separate colour/brightness, a B/W picture is a classic symptom of connecting a composite feed to something expecting s-video.

Anyway, the best picture available from a digibox is RGB. This is similar to the standard PC VGA RGB (different sync) and sometimes depending on the screen a simple converter can be used.

However you can buy a more expensive RGB->Composite converter which will get the signal into your component inputs.

ZENER

garyh3 wrote:

Can I get a better picture though...

I have Sky... connect though the DVDo iScan pro using Scart to Composite Video (520/576 Input RGB)

The iScan connects to the plasma (sony pfm-42v1) via the VGA cable

I have tried Scart to S-Video but it apprears BW/50 (black and white)

The IScan can do Composite Video, S-Video & Component Video. Can I get a better picture if I use on of the other iScan inputs.

If so what cable/cables do I need

Thanks

Garyh3

A little confusing this but the iScan Pro has a composite and component inputs while the panel has no RGB input other than a VGA style connector.
I assume you also don't have the optional BKM-V11 unit installed so therefore you cannot input RGB that way either. Sounds like you're screwed then as the only inputs you can use are composite signals (s-video/Comp) with off the shelf cables.

The only other option is to make up some cable that will allow you to connect the RGB from the Sat box to the 15 Pin VGA connector which, according to the manual, appears to accept RGB/YUV on pins 1,2 and 3 and composite sync on pin 13. The RGB signals are self explanatory, the sync can be extracted by feeding the composite signal to pin 13 on the d-sub. The diagram shows this connector used to take a video feed from a video deck so I presume it can handle PAL frequencies (50Hz/15KHz).

Hope this helps !!

ZEN

garyh3

Hi all,

Is it worth the effort to screw around to try and get a better picture. What could I expect to get extra with the RGB picture. Right now the picture is ok...

I have tried several scart to S-video connector all with the same result so I presume its the digi box...

Should I just wait until Sky HD next year as I do have a DVI connection.

I saw on ebay that the BKM-V11 option is available for about 90 Dollars is it worth getting...?


thanks for your help

Garyh3

ZENER

There's a considerable difference between composite/s-video and a component signal such as YUV or RGB when displayed on such a large screen as many here will tell you.

Have a look where there are abrupt colour changes on a picture between contrasting colours such as red and blue or green and purple the edge is not sharp as it is with component systems. This is a consequence of the PAL encoding and the interference of the colour signal with the video frequencies.
A good example is say a football game where players in red kits are very difficult to distinguish when they are small on the screen because of the artifacts of the PAL encoding, on RGB it's much easier to make them out.

The add-on panel seems to be the answer here and for 90 quid does seem like a good investment and will allow you to get the best picture from your screen.

ZEN

garyh3

Thanks Zener

If I go to maplin and get these part will this work??

Scart-RGB

regards
Garyh3

The only other option is to make up some cable that will allow you to connect the RGB from the Sat box to the 15 Pin VGA connector which, according to the manual, appears to accept RGB/YUV on pins 1,2 and 3 and composite sync on pin 13. The RGB signals are self explanatory, the sync can be extracted by feeding the composite signal to pin 13 on the d-sub. The diagram shows this connector used to take a video feed from a video deck so I presume it can handle PAL frequencies (50Hz/15KHz).

ZENER

The parts will only cost a few euro and it's unlikely to damage the screen so why not.

Just be careful to follow the instructions and avoid shorts between connections especially the 15 pin d-sub.

Another option is to cut the video lead of an old VGA monitor, meter out the pins to the wires and just buy a full SCART plug from Maplins and solder to it.

ZEN

garyh3

Good thinking

I have both but my soldering is a bit rusty. Do I just need to pin out 1,2,3, & 13 only or should I pin out as per the diagram.

Function SCART male VGA male
Red 15 1
Green 11 2
Blue 7 3
Red return 13 6
Green return 9 7
Blue return 5 8
Composite sync return 17 10
Composite sync 20 13
Chassis ground 21 chassis


thanks

Garyh3

garyh3

Would any of these work as I dont trust myself or is there anywhere cheaper in Ireland to get the cable I want ?

Thanks again for teh help
GaryH3


option 4 Would any of these work

option 1

option 2

option 3

ZENER

I think Option 2 and 3 are similar cables although it's hard to tell without the actual pinouts.

Option 2 would be my personal favorite here as it shows the connections and they match exactly the diagram from earlier. So this is the one I'd pick.

Option 3 seems to suggest sync on green but I'm not 100% sure without pinouts.

ZEN

garyh3

Thanks ZENER I think for the price I will give it a go

Garyh3

pH

Given that the cable is going to be 45 (ex postage) would the iscan addon board not be a far better option? I presume that this cable will mean bypassing the iscan and using the scaler in the plasma, or does the Iscan itself have a VGA in connector?

garyh3

Hi PH

what is the iscan addon board ??

The iScan pro components:

Inputs
One composite (which I am using at the momment)
One S-Video (outputs BW/50)
One set of component (Y-Pr-Pb) Never tried to connect

Outputs
15-pin VGA (RGB/HV or Y-Pb-Pr) which is connected to me plasma

And Yes it gets rid of the IScan out of the picture. I just connect to the VGA 15pin Dsub on the back of the Plasma...

No VGA Input on the Pro... I think the Ultra has a lot of inputs but thats still a lot of cash to buy...

regards

Garyh3

ZENER

That lead is cheaper here !

ZEN

garyh3

True but it dosent show the pin-outs so I dont know if it would work.

Garyh3