Media Player for old CRT TV

[Dennis Michos]

I need help with a media player for a 32 WEGA CRT TV I have in our summer house

I suppose I need a media player with Component or Composite (btw, which one do you suggest?) as there is no HDMI input on the TV

I would love to buy Western Digital TV for 79, 99 GBP but how do I connect it to my Sony CRT TV?

I am more leaning towards Westrn Digital TV Live HUB with 1TB of Hard Disk for around 150 GBP

Any other alternatives with Component/Composite outputs that can play almost everything (AVI, MKV etc)?

Thanks in advance for any help

Dennis

 

[iMark]

I have looked into this. We still have a Sony CRT. It still works very well, so need to upgrade just yet.

There are converter boxes that will work to convert digital video (hdmi) to analogue but they are quite expensive, about GBP 200.

We have some older Macs which have (micro) DVI. We bought Apple video adapters that convert DVI to S-video/composite. For the moment this works well but newer Macs have either mini Display Port or Thunderbolt. This will not work with analogue video. So if in future we upgrade our Macs we will need another TV. :-(

According to the manual of the Western Digital TV and the live hub have composite out (yellow cable). This means that you just plug the box into your TV like an old analogue camcorder. Yellow cable for video and red/white for audio.

if your TV doesn't have composite (yellow) you can buy a very cheap composite to scart adapter, like this one:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/scart-to-phono-in-adaptor-11961

If your TV supports component I would definitely try that. You need 3 video cables and 2 audio cables.

The WD seems a nice box and future proof too if you ever get a TV with HDMI. Shame it doesn't have S-video out because that's quite a bit better than composite.

 

[Anonymous]

Component will give the best picture you have available on your tv.

In order of quality its hdmi > component > rgb scart > svideo > composite.

 

[Dennis Michos]

Thanks iMark,

It seems my Sony CRT TV (in our summer house) has only 3 SCART and 1 S-Video inputs
Unfortunately no component
I see some component to SCART cables like this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004HTK5L4/ref=s9_simh_gw_p23_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=1XFWVAD0CVXXP8EAWXR3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128473&pf_rd_i=468294

will it work?

Thanks!!!
Dennis

I have looked into this. We still have a Sony CRT. It still works very well, so need to upgrade just yet.

There are converter boxes that will work to convert digital video (hdmi) to analogue but they are quite expensive, about GBP 200.

We have some older Macs which have (micro) DVI. We bought Apple video adapters that convert DVI to S-video/composite. For the moment this works well but newer Macs have either mini Display Port or Thunderbolt. This will not work with analogue video. So if in future we upgrade our Macs we will need another TV. :-(

According to the manual of the Western Digital TV and the live hub have composite out (yellow cable). This means that you just plug the box into your TV like an old analogue camcorder. Yellow cable for video and red/white for audio.

if your TV doesn't have composite (yellow) you can buy a very cheap composite to scart adapter, like this one:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/scart-to-phono-in-adaptor-11961

If your TV supports component I would definitely try that. You need 3 video cables and 2 audio cables.

The WD seems a nice box and future proof too if you ever get a TV with HDMI. Shame it doesn't have S-video out because that's quite a bit better than composite.

 

[Anonymous]

A component to scart lead should work ok.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Remember that component only carries video, not sound....

 

[iMark]

I'm not sure the adapter you mentioned will work and it won't carry audio. If the TV doesn't support component through scart it might prove not to work. I have never tried an adapter like this with our Sony CRT. We have some devices with component out but I have used them only with good quality scart cables.

Another thing to consider is the scart socket on your TV. Our Sony TV has got 3 scart inputs, 1 black and 2 orange. Only the black will take RGB video, so I would recommend using that scart input. Then there is still the problem with audio. You will need an adapter that takes both video and audio if you want to use the TV for sound.

It will be difficult to find an adapter that takes 3 video (component) cables and 2 audio cables. There are however converter boxes (component to RGB/s-video) but they are quite expensive.

 

[Dennis Michos]

Thanks for your responses

I think my Sony CRT has also 2 RCA audio input which I suppose I can use together with the SCART/Component cable, will this work?

It's a pity my Sony CRT does't have a Componet input.

So what do you guys suggest in order to connect a WD HUB Live to my Sony CRT with 3 SCARTs and 1 S-Video inputs?
At the end I will stick with my budget DVD Player with a USB input which I can connect through SCART to my TV
The problem is that it doesn't play MKV and the fond of the subtitles is very small/thin

Can you suggest any budget DVD players (less than 100 GBP) that plays all video formats and can support subtitles with some decent fond/size?

Thanks!!
Denis

 

[iMark]

I think your TV is very similar to mine.

At the back of the TV there are 3 scarts: 1 black, 2 orange. There are also 2 RCA's (L/R) but they are out only but really useful to connect the TV to the stereo. Funny thing is that the level of these outputs can be adjusted on the TV but only through the headphone settings. This is not in the manual.

At the front (hidden) there are S-video, composite (yellow) and 2 RCA's (red/white). This was for connecting analogue camcorders. On the TV I can switch input 3 between front inputs and back (scart 3).

At the moment we have the following devices connected to our TV:

- Scart 1: DVD player

- Scart 2: DVD/HDD recorder

- Scart 3: Wii

- Audio out L/R to stereo amplifier

- Front: S-video + audio L/R adapter to use with portable Macs. S-video is a lot better than composite.

You will definitely be able to connect the WD Box to the front of the TV with just 3 cables: yellow (composite) and audio L/R. Unfortunately this is the lowest video quality. I can't see any other (cheap) way to connect the box.

If you want neater cabling just buy a 3 phono to scart adapter to connect to the rear of the TV.

 

[Anonymous]

Check out the Samsung DVD-H1080, £30 on Amazon. Great little player and the usb conn is great. Plays MOST formats

 

[Dennis Michos]

You will definitely be able to connect the WD Box to the front of the TV with just 3 cables: yellow (composite) and audio L/R. Unfortunately this is the lowest video quality. I can't see any other (cheap) way to connect the box.

If you want neater cabling just buy a 3 phono to scart adapter to connect to the rear of the TV.

I agree the cheapest solution should be connecting the WD Box to the front composite input

Is there any other solution that could use the S-Video input? I think I saw some cables that are SVideo from one side and composite on the other (if I am not wrong). Will this bring any improvement?

If I understood well the video quality goes from high to low by using HDMI - Component - SVideo - Composite
Where can SCART be put in this?
If I read well in some web-sites Composite can carry up to 480p
How much can SCART carry?

Thanks!!

 

[iMark]

I don't think your first suggestion will bring any improvement. It will only be as good as composite video.

Scart is not a video quality standard. It's a connector. It can carry different qualities of signal: composite, S-video and RGB and in some special cases component. Your TV however only accepts composite, S-video and RGB.

Composite can indeed carry up to 480p. Your CRT is not better than this anyway. I bought the special Scart cable for the Wii a couple of years ago and that made quite a big difference compared to the standard composite to scart adapter that came with the Wii.

There's an extensive article on Scart on Wikipedia which will answer most of your questions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCART

You'd get the best picture if the WD box had a Scart connector that would output RGB signals. Next best would be S-video. Unfortunately the WD box has neither output and I don't see any possibility to convert any signal from the box to RGB or S-video without an expensive converter box. The only immediate solution is using the composite connection. It's a shame that WD didn't put an S-video connector on the box.

The fact that hardly anyone else has contributed to this thread probably means that they don't have better suggestions. Our TV's are getting a bit old for all these modern connections.