Connecting Philips DV444S

[mts]

I have a one socket DVD, a one socket Video, and an NTL DigitalPlus with a TV socket and a Video socket.

This is how I've got it at the moment:

DVD scart -> scart on NTL (Video socket)
Video scart -> scart on NTL (TV socket)
Video RF -> RF on Television
NTL RF -> RF on Video disconnected due to signal conflict

There is also a scart tap on the Video end of the scart lead that goes to a transmitter to send the signal to the TV upstairs.

This means that we can only watch terrestrial by turning the TV to channel 0 to watch the video channel, and have the Video on AV to watch the scart output from the NTL box, and change channels on the NTL box.

To watch a video, we have the same setup and just play the video.

To watch a DVD, we have to turn off the NTL box, which has the side effect of passing through the signal from the DVD to the video.

This was fine until recently when we tried to watch an NTSC DVD, which switches the DVD into a strange (monochrome) display. The TV downstairs can watch this, but the upstairs TV cannot maintain vertical hold. Stopping and ejecting the DVD does not affect the output. Only playing another (PAL?) DVD switches the display back into colour.

Anyone got any ideas? Replies to this will probably be read by myself or Wendy, or if it's really good, could you email me?

[ivj]

UK television stations broadcast in PAL whilst Americans broadcast in NTSC. Most modern televisions will accept an NTSC signal from a Region 1 DVD via a scart socket but it looks like yours won't.

How old is the TV and what make ?

[mts]

Originally posted by ivj
UK television stations broadcast in PAL whilst Americans broadcast in NTSC. Most modern televisions will accept an NTSC signal from a Region 1 DVD via a scart socket but it looks like yours won't.

How old is the TV and what make ?

It's second hand, mono sound only. Philips something, I know it's got FastText. I've hooked the stereo output up to my hi-fi which gives great surround, it's just there's no colour for this particular DVD. More importantly, the signal is going from the DVD via scart through the NTL box via scart into the Video which is then connected to the TV using RF. The TV scart socket is unusable due to not having the original remote control that enables it.

Any ideas? I'm willing to try directly connecting the DVD to the TV and manually switching the scart socket on to test it. but that's not a final solution, so other than that I have no clue. Also, when I tried connecting the NTL box to the TV via scart, the TV wouldn't turn the scart socket OFF, no matter what I did. Help? Please? Someone?

[ivj]

I am afraid that the easy answer id to buy a new television. Your existing set is probably too old to accepts region 1 DVDs as it will not accept a NTSC signal.

You are probably watching dvd and NTL in composite which is a relatively poor picture quality. Newer sets will accept an RGB signal which is of noticeably higher quality and both your DVD player and Digibox will output in RGB.

[mts]

Well, the direct connection to TV worked fine, so I'm guessing it's the Video not being able to tune the signal correctly (someone here mentioned macro something?)

So now I want to know how to hook the DVD up in two places, one direct to the TV, but also through the NTL box as it was before, so that I can watch ordinary DVDs upstairs. I've got a 3-way box and the two scart leads, I just don't know how to hook it all up.

Finally, can anyone advise where I can place the two scart signal taps where they won't cause any problems? Connecting them to the back of the TV seems to cause the signal to stop when the TV is turned off!

At the moment the sound tap is removed, and the sound is plugged directly into the back of the DVD, and the picture tap is plugged into the back of the video so that upstairs sees whatever comes out of the NTL box, which is usually enough. Confused yet? I know I am.