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Looking for Freeview STB with DV out

TadpoleTadpole Posts: 1,646
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Is there such a beast?

Failing that, recommendations for a Freeview box with reasonable-quality S-Video out (as opposed to RGB, composite or component) which won't break the bank.

The reason: I've picked up the Aldi DVD recorder and want to find ways of improving picture quality on recordings - the recorder doesn't seem to support RGB input on SCART. It does, however, have sockets for S-video in and DV in.

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 11
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    you can get scart to S-Video adapters quite cheaply, would that work?
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 110
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    I would like freeview hard drive recorder with Network.

    then you could copy your programs to a pc edit out adverts make the start and finish clean and burn to dvd.

    who will need buy dvd of your favorite tv program then

    nnails
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    TadpoleTadpole Posts: 1,646
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    LotusAndy wrote:
    you can get scart to S-Video adapters quite cheaply, would that work?

    I was thinking of keeping the video connection totally in S-video, and I don't know if these converters would introduce signal or quality loss. I think there are two types of converters, one which just uses the S-video pins on the scart itself, and others which do physically convert the signal from one format to another. This is an area I'm not too familiar with, so any guidance would be appreciated.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,819
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    Quite a few boxes support S-Video out IIRC. The SCART>S-Video leads just have different connectors on either end, they don't do any actual convertion.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 150
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    sanderton wrote:
    Quite a few boxes support S-Video out IIRC. The SCART>S-Video leads just have different connectors on either end, they don't do any actual convertion.

    Some of these converters do, cos they feed the S-Video into the composite pin on the scart so that any tv can view the signal and not just S-Video compatible tvs.
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    russellellyrussellelly Posts: 11,689
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    Quite a few of the Freeview PVRs have S-Video out sockets, none have Firewire (DV) ( :( ), I don't think any regular boxes have S-Video out sockets, but many output S-Video via SCART, so an adaptor shouldn't result in quality loss.
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    TadpoleTadpole Posts: 1,646
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    Have found that the Sony VTX-D800U and the JVC TU-DB1 both have S-video out via at least one of their two Scarts. Some Daewoo units appear to as well, but the pinouts are unusual.
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    BadvokBadvok Posts: 972
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    nnails wrote:
    I would like freeview hard drive recorder with Network.

    then you could copy your programs to a pc edit out adverts make the start and finish clean and burn to dvd.

    who will need buy dvd of your favorite tv program then

    nnails
    Just by a PC DTT card, much easier!
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    TadpoleTadpole Posts: 1,646
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    Just to update, I got my Sony VTX-D800U hooked up to the Aldi DVD recorder using S-video cables, and the recording quality is now pretty impressive. I think it's a pity that Sony decided to put the RGB and S-video outputs both on the same SCART, as I had been using that socket to provide RGB output to my IDTV to work around Panasonic's interactive/text faults.

    Have used a Maplin L05BB to extract the S-video, but it makes the RGB signal quite a bit darker. (Yes, I have tried changing the SCART set-up on the digibox between s-video and RGB).

    I guess DV-out-equipped digiboxes will arrive sometime.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 22
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    Tadpole wrote:
    Just to update, I got my Sony VTX-D800U hooked up to the Aldi DVD recorder using S-video cables, and the recording quality is now pretty impressive. I think it's a pity that Sony decided to put the RGB and S-video outputs both on the same SCART, as I had been using that socket to provide RGB output to my IDTV to work around Panasonic's interactive/text faults.

    Sorry for the late posting, but the Pioneer DBR-TF100 has S-video as an option on both its SCART sockets. I bought mine for just GBP70 from Richer Sounds.

    Si
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    technologisttechnologist Posts: 13,382
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    Tadpole wrote:
    I guess DV-out-equipped digiboxes will arrive sometime.
    Unlikely as they would require to convert from MPEG to DV compression - which is not a trivial matter ..
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 8
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    nnails wrote:
    I would like freeview hard drive recorder with Network.

    then you could copy your programs to a pc edit out adverts make the start and finish clean and burn to dvd.

    who will need buy dvd of your favorite tv program then

    nnails

    Yeah - they're great - I got mine last week. It's the "setting the video from work" thing that's best.

    If you're interested, I went for a Shuttle XPC with an AMD 2800+ Athlon XP, 512Mb RAM, 160GB disk and a Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T card. I added Gentoo Linux and MythTV and it all works beautifully with the remote in and SVHS to the telly. Total cost, around £350 - more than a PVR but with the network connection, the GPL'd software (so I can update and extend it myself if I want to) and all the USB/Firewire and other IO nonsense (including SPDIF), well worth the money. I believe I can even get a CAM and smartcard reader to get a HDD PVR for TUTV. The network port can also be used to run front-ends on other machines and you can network as many as you want as a single system. I reckon the next machine will have a 2nd DVB-T and a satellite card...

    It took a while, but it's well worth the effort!
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,819
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    Orcadian wrote:
    Some of these converters do, cos they feed the S-Video into the composite pin on the scart so that any tv can view the signal and not just S-Video compatible tvs.


    SVideo -> Composite leads do "conversion", but not Composite -> S-Video
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    TadpoleTadpole Posts: 1,646
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    Unlikely as they would require to convert from MPEG to DV compression - which is not a trivial matter ..

    Didn't realise that there was such a differnence between DV and MPEG - I thought it would have made sense for DV to have been based on MPEG.
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