So I got my fancy Plasma TV this past weekend, along with a less than stellar Digital STB, and tried to hook everything up. But there are some major flaws in my plan, mostly due to lack of appropriate connectors between peripherals and TV.
CABLES My TV came with two connector cables - one is an RGB Component to RGB/YUV 15 pin; the other is a DVI (at each end).
My Digital Set-top-box, aka Digital Tuner, came with a single 3xRCA composite cable.
My existing Surround Sound has a mind-twisting spaghetti of RCA composite cables, which worked fine for my old CRT TV, DVD, VCR etc setup, because the Video Out cable was a single RCA that connected to the Video In of the TV.
The TV is a Sony PFM42V1, and has these connectors available: Input 1: RGB/Component - 15 pin D-Sub, Audio stereo minijack Input 2: Digital RGB - DVI-D, Video: Composite In/Out, S-Video In, Audio In phono jack Tuner: Not Applicable RS-232C: D-Sub 9-pin Speaker Out: 7w + 7w, 6ohm
My Digital Tuner is a DGTEC DH-2000a, apparently a piece of crap in many ways, and only available in Australia (where I am) but here's what it has: RCA Composite for TV RCA Composite for VCR RGB Component for Digital TV RGBVH Component for Digital TV Coaxial Digital Audio Out Fibre Optic Digital Audio Out RF Out (for VCR) RF In (for Digital Antenna)
My DVD player is a Samsung 1200D, is several years old, is a low end machine, but anyways its outputs are: RGB Component S-Video Out RCA Video Out Digital Fibre-optic Audio Out Digital Coaxial Audio Out RCA Stereo Audio Out
My VCR, which is about 5 years old, has: RF Out RCA Composite In RCA Composite Out
Here's my problem. I wish to connect the DVD and the Digital Tuner to the TV at the highest quality as possible, preferably both digitally. But my only option seems to be to both use component Out, which doesn't give me many options for Inputting to the TV - at the moment I can only use the RGB/YUV 15 Pin.
Questions: If I use the S-Video for my DVD, will the image be compromised in any great way? Should I instead try to keep to digital, or does that not really matter for DVDs?
Can I use the DVI In somehow (I have no need to attach a computer to the TV at any time) either from the RGBVH on the Digital Tuner, or the RGB Component on the DVD?
Can you see any way I can utilise the Surround Sound amp as my switch between DVD input and Digital TV input?
Am I buggered unless I get a better Digital Tuner or a better DVD Player, or both?
And lastly, can you see any way for my VCR to play through to my new TV, because I can't. (I may end up having to attach that to my old TV and keep it in my bedroom)