Sky and RGB

Simon

Simon

Simon

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In the system settings on my sky box there is a setting to go from PAL to RGB. Can't really tell the difference but RGB looks better on the menu.

This is on a Tosh 32WLT66 using a normal cheapo scart lead.

What is the difference between RBG and PAL, why does this setting exist? Can i get a better cable?

Cheers
 
Simon said:
In the system settings on my sky box there is a setting to go from PAL to RGB. Can't really tell the difference but RGB looks better on the menu.

This is on a Tosh 32WLT66 using a normal cheapo scart lead.

What is the difference between RBG and PAL, why does this setting exist? Can i get a better cable?

Cheers
Click to expand...
Personally I think it's a good idea to buy a good RGB scart cable. I've got a QED one that cost about £50 and it does improve picture quality (over a cheapo cable) when connected to your TV's RGB scart connector.
 
Technically its Composite Video V RGB, but I guess they couldnt fit Composite in the space on the menu.

RGB is sent down 3 separate wires, and is very similar to the output from a computer to a VGA monitor, infact its even possible to get most VGA cards to output a SCART RGB compliant signal with a bit of cleverness.

Composite sqeezes both colour, and luminance (black and white version), into a single combined signal down a single wire. This is a lot less accurate which is why the menu's instantly look better in RGB. The colours of the broadcast TV picture are also improved, but its more obvious in the menus as there are many hard transisions of colour there.

The option is there because not all TV's support RGB on any/all of their scart sockets. My old TV only supported RGB on scart 1, and I used that for my RGB compatible DVD player, so I had to use the PAL setting for SKY. My new TV supports RGB on several scarts inputs, so now I can use RGB on both DVD and SKY.

Only fully wired scart cables support RGB, so your cheapo isnt actually the 'bottom of the range' as you clearly have a fully wired scart. However you can still get some further improvement with a better quality cable.
 
Nice, so regardless of cable, RGB will give a better signal in theory.

Don't know if I could justify £50 on a lead, unless it really is worth it?

Thanks

Si
 
Simon said:
Nice, so regardless of cable, RGB will give a better signal in theory.

Don't know if I could justify £50 on a lead, unless it really is worth it?

Thanks

Si
Click to expand...

you dont have to spend £50

but you can buy a decent after market improvement cable for £10/£15 which will be much better than your free stuff.
 
Simon said:
Nice, so regardless of cable, RGB will give a better signal in theory.

Don't know if I could justify £50 on a lead, unless it really is worth it?

Thanks

Si
Click to expand...
In my defense, I was drunk when I bought it. :D

But it's still a great cable.
 
I recommend a Thor Scart Lead at around £20 online.
For the money, you will NOT beat it.

Basically, RGB is better. It's been well explained above I think :)

However, not all scart sockets on your TV will accept an RGB signal, check the manual.

Also, the Sky box will only output RGB from the TV socket. NOT the VCR socket.

You can feed an RGB signal INTO the VCR socket on a Sky box though.

So, if you had a TV with 1 x RGB scart socket you could connect a DVD player (outputting RGB) to the VCR socket on the Sky box and then the Sky Box to the TV's RGB enabled scart socket. You would then benefit from being able to operate both devices in RGB "mode".
 
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Might give it a go then, would be rude not to. Havent found my manual to see if scart 2 is rgb on my TV though
 
Simon said:
Might give it a go then, would be rude not to. Havent found my manual to see if scart 2 is rgb on my TV though
Click to expand...
I have set up a couple of these Toshiba sets now and am pretty sure AV2 is NOT RGB enabled, you can set it to accept SVideo in the menus (a similar quality to RGB but not something a Sky box can usually output). The scart sockets on this TV can act as outputs too. You can change what is outputted from them in the menus but I am quite sure you cannot set AV2 to be an RGB input. Only composite or PAL. AV1 (Scart 1) is the RGB input.

I guess you watch most "stuff" off of Sky? If so connect Sky to AV1 which is RGB enabled.

What other equipment do you have connected to the TV?
 
Tesla said:
I have set up a couple of these Toshiba sets now and am pretty sure AV2 is NOT RGB enabled, you can set it to accept SVideo in the menus (a similar quality to RGB but not something a Sky box can usually output). The scart sockets on this TV can act as outputs too. You can change what is outputted from them in the menus but I am quite sure you cannot set AV2 to be an RGB input. Only composite or PAL. AV1 (Scart 1) is the RGB input.

I guess you watch most "stuff" off of Sky? If so connect Sky to AV1 which is RGB enabled.

What other equipment do you have connected to the TV?
Click to expand...

It may not apply to the OP but both Sky+ and Sky HD boxes do have SVideo out.
 
Found the manual, doesn't really mention a lot, does say AV1 is recommended for decoders etc though.

I mainly watch Sky, normal white box. Not + nor HD, this is in AV1.

AV2 has my housemates Cambridge Audio DVD player, which is a bit old I think (DVD53 model) and the Xbox is connected to AV3 with the component HD cable, tend to watch DVDs through the Xbox too, although I'm not really sure if it's better than the Dvd player or not.

Ah just checked the menu, can set EXT2 to either AV or S-video, I guess S-video from a DVD player will be better, will it be better than a Xbox on software.
 
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Simon, I couldn't say if the Xbox will perform better than your DVD player.

Yes I would set the DVD player to output SVideo then compare it with your Xbox.

Component Video (NOT composite) is better than RGB again! So the XBOX can output a better picture, doesn't mean it will compared to a dedicated player.

Alternatively loop the DVD through the Sky box (setting the DVD to RGB) as I detailed above.
 
Tesla said:
Alternatively loop the DVD through the Sky box (setting the DVD to RGB) as I detailed above.
Click to expand...

Will need another decent cable for that then I guess, I'll have to do some fiddling and see what it looks like in AV1.

When wired up as you describe does sky switch to the DVD player when the dvd player turns on?

Cheers
 
Corasik said:
The option is there because not all TV's support RGB on any/all of their scart sockets. My old TV only supported RGB on scart 1, and I used that for my RGB compatible DVD player, so I had to use the PAL setting for SKY. My new TV supports RGB on several scarts inputs, so now I can use RGB on both DVD and SKY.
Click to expand...
Just wanted to add a quick bit of info I discovered by accident recently. On my Pace Sky Digibox, the second SCART output socket (the one labelled VCR) also acts as an input so I can have my DVD player plugged in there and when there's a signal from it, the Sky picture is automatically bypassed. So I can use DVD and Sky both through a single RGB scart input on my TV. The Sky input also accepts an RGB signal so I can get the best picture quality from both. I can also plug xbox or gamecube in there with RGB scart leads when needed instead of the DVD. Even works when Sky is on standby.

Pretty cool I thought.
 
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Simon said:
Will need another decent cable for that then I guess, I'll have to do some fiddling and see what it looks like in AV1.

When wired up as you describe does sky switch to the DVD player when the dvd player turns on?

Cheers
Click to expand...
If you use a fully wired (any decent one will be) scart then yes.
 
I recommend IXOS scart leads, got one today and can definatly see the difference. Seems a shame to plug in these leads, they are so shiny :)
 
Simon said:
In the system settings on my sky box there is a setting to go from PAL to RGB. Can't really tell the difference but RGB looks better on the menu.
Click to expand...

i get a vast improvement from RGB, sharper picture and colours are far more vibrant
 
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