HDMI V SCART

[admin_exported]

Can any one explain why i get a better picture from scart than HDMI, I have tried going through my reciever onkyo 875 but the picture is dull or dusty looking with HDMI and the same with Sky HD, both sky and my xbox elite look better with normal connections, my tv is a Samsung 40'' lcd 1080p, I am using That cable 1 meter length, do i really have to spend 50 quid plus to better a 10 pound scart, I have also checked my out put signal etc is optimised for HDMI

Thanks

 

[bigboss]

Just try using another HDMI cable, not necessarily an expensive one. Expensive HDMI cables don't make for better picture quality, certainly not the kind of improvement you're expecting.

You can also try another HDMI input.

 

[Anonymous]

i guess it could be an upscaling issue , if your amp is upscaling , or your sky box (poor upscaler) and your getting a poor picture , but you get a better pic when using scart , then it could be that the tv is just better at upscaling ... id check that the sky box is outputting "auto" and whether or not the amp is just passing through the signal over hdmi or trying to upscale it ..or as bb said , try another hdmi cable...

 

[007L2Thrill]

JIMR1:

Can any one explain why i get a better picture from scart than HDMI, I have tried going through my reciever onkyo 875 but the picture is dull or dusty looking with HDMI and the same with Sky HD, both sky and my xbox elite look better with normal connections, my tv is a Samsung 40'' lcd 1080p, I am using That cable 1 meter length, do i really have to spend 50 quid plus to better a 10 pound scart, I have also checked my out put signal etc is optimised for HDMI

Thanks

The onkyo 875 is a really great Upscaler, are you running the latest firmware on your onkyo which I think is 1.07, if so, then try turning up the brightness, contrast, saturation etc on you onkyo 875 see if that helps.

Just in case you don't know how to then hold down display button on your remote for around 5 seconds and then the display on the front of your onkyo will say brightness then adjust.

Hope that helps.

 

[b33k34]

First off try to work out if the amp is doing anything - connect your Sky box/X Box directly to the TV via HDMI and then connect via the Amp.

Then compare with the picture connected via HDMI through the amp. Is there a upscaling on/off setting on the amp? Try that in both positions.

Connected via Scart the TV is digitising and upscaling an analogue signal - it will be doing all sorts of processing so I'd not expect the picture to look the same. Try adjusting the colour/brightness/sharpness settings when connected via HDMI. An 'accurate' picture is a lot less bright than most people are used to. The BBC transmit a test card as part of the HD channel 'barker' and there are instructions on how to use it to set up your TV here -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/12/a_christmas_present_from_the_h.html

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all your replys, I have tried other HDMI cables(no differrence), My reciever is set to pass through so I will try using it to upscale. Only had the Onkyo a week so maybe I just need to be a bit braver with the settings etc,But i must add that everyone remarks how good the picture is via scart.

JIMR1

 

[Anonymous]

whats your sky box outputting at over hdmi ?? auto ? 576i 720p ? it should be auto..

 

[chrisup]

Hi,

I have an Onkyo 905 and this is how you change the settings ( Ihope your settings are the same) :

1) press set up on your remote make sure you can this on your tv via the apprpriate hdmi on your tv.

2) Select "Input / output Assign" (you do this by pressing the "enter" button) you need this menu for the next steps

3) select "Monitor Out" the settings should be HDMI Monitor = Main Resolution = 1080p ( tells it what to send to the TV) press return

4)Select "HDMI Input" eg if your DVD is plugged into HDMI 3 at the back of the recever it should show as "IN3" similarly your "CBL / SAT" could be "IN1" = HDMI 1 press return when setting are correct.

5) Select "Digital Input" DVD = HDMI3 (see above) next your "CBL / SAT" should show OPT1 ( optical cable connected so that you can hear dolby digital 5.1 sound tracks when transmitted by SKY HD)

6) Go into your Sky HD box settings if you have the new epg it looks like a spanner "SETTING" go into "PICTURE" and set H"D Resolution Output" = Automatic. Then go to "sound" and "Digital Audio Output" = DOLBY D (dolby digital) and "Digital Audio Output Delay" = 20ms leave the menu.

I prefer to have my SKY HD box plugged directly into the tv but the digital optical or coax cable plugged int the Onkyo that my wife can watch sky without the onkyo being on. But when we watch a programme and want the sound via the Onkyo to our B&W Theatre speakers this way we have the best of both worlds.

I hope this helps

Chris

 

[robstar63]

I have an Onkyo 607 which has only pass through and the picture from SKy HD is superb. There is definately somethiong wrong somewhere. It may be worth going through all your settings including the enhanced HDMI settings (whats that thing that is compatible only with camcorders at the moment -xv colour ??) if that is set it may render a poorer picture in my experience

 

[007L2Thrill]

Did you try holding down the display button on your remote for 5 seconds to bring up the hidden settings menu, the reason is that there was a problem if I recall on early models, with a darker gamma output on the HDMI as the units add to be sent to Genserve to have 2 CAPS removed and update to the firmware.

If you turn on the AMP and then hold down display on the front of the AMP and keep holding display button then press standby once, now it will show the firmware version.

If you have brought a second hand 875 then someone before you may of set different settings in the hidden menu, if so then do a factory reset and this will restore everything to default like it was new, but it will clear all speaker, EQ etc settings.

 

[ear]

this one time.i saw 2 samsungs hd ready tvs cononected to the same dvd player.one via scart and other via hdmi.on the scart one the image was much nicer.on the one with hdmi there was a lot of "blocking" and haloing effect.I found it very strange.

 

[Anonymous]

i have an old panasonic freesat box , non hd , and when connected to my plasma via scart , the sd is better than from my humax over hdmi , weird...

 

[b33k34]

I've been puzzling about this overnight. My assumption was that the OP was referring to HD pictures but on reflection it may well be SD.

I did a lot of viewing before buying my Pioneer and came to the conclusion that SD pictures looked much worse on LCD screens than they did on Plasmas. The "sharpness" of the pixels meant that fine noise was much more apparent and MPEG coding artefacts showed up more (the dustiness the OP was referring to?). The greater the degree of upscaling the worse this effect was - ie a 1080 set would look noisier than a 720 set. This is why I decided on a Plasma in end - it seemed to cover this up much more.

By converting the signal to analogue (to transmit via Scart) and back to digital (upscaling in the TV) a lot of this noise will get 'smoothed out' so the pictures probably do look "better", in that they less noisy, but at the expense of detail.

 

[Anonymous]

My sky box is outputting 1080i, I have tried other settings but nothing gets near the scart at the mo, I have also played with other setting on my sky box along with the onkyo.

Again thanks for everyones help

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Chris i will give it a go tomorrow

 

[Anonymous]

Hi yes tried it but no menu came up, I have just bought a factory refurb but obviously have no way of knowing how old it is or what firmwire update has been applied.

Thanks for your help though

 

[007L2Thrill]

All you do is hold down display button on the front of the AMP and then press the standby button once, then the firmware will display on the front of your display panel.

I have all the onkyo firmware updates on my PC and how to update, but your AMP must have at least 1.04 loaded.

You say you brought a refurb, if so, was it from hyperfi, as when I spoke to them they are all updated to the latest firmware.

If you want the firmware's I will be more then happy to email them to you.