Hacked off at the price, receiver's, TV's, PVR's you name it

satscaner

It seems to me that theses days you've either got to be loaded or you have to take out a bank loan each time you want to get your self a new TV or anything electrical come to mention it.

I've got a Goodmans 1403 R TV that I bought for £130 15 years ago. Its still working fine not a thing wrong with it. The only down side is that it has 1 RGB analog conection on the back and I have to loop my receivers through my VCR to be able to watch them as they no longer come with the RGB output.
I bought a dvd player for the first time this year (normally use the dvd on the pc) only to find out that when I loop it through the VCR its Screws up the picture & sound ( DVD plyer now going cheap)

I cant stand the fact that if I buy a new PVR, DVD player or receiver I now also have to replace my perfectly good working TV if I want to watch any thing on the new PVR', DVD player or receiver. Why throw away some thing that works fine.

If any one know where i can get hold of a s video componet video, RGB scart, HDMI output ---- to ---- RGB analog output converter please let me know Ive not yet seen one. One of them would be a lot cheaper then a new flat screen TV I think

Salty25

Welcome to the United Kingdom, could I interest you in a loan, which will no doubt cripple you financially in years to come?

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satscaner

Why thank you kind Sir...... Thats just what I want

RedDevil_UK

why not buy a scart socket extension hub

my son has one in his room... 1 minute 1 RGB socket, the next hey presto 4

they do bigger ones too, how many RGB sockets you need

see HERE

looks like ive saved you a few quid

pgh13

Agreed up to a point, but you're not comparing like for like are you? That sounds like a 14 inch portable, and £130 in 1991 (when a 200MB - that's megabyte, hard drive cost £199) was no small purchase.

satscaner

pgh13 I see where your coming from & did consider that, I was just really having a maon about prices in general. Theres no way i could spend £2000 grand on a big flat sreen even if I had the money. I mean thats almost or just over 18 years worth of a TV licence at todays prices.

RedDevil Im kind of doing that at the moment with a few other conectors.
Problem is the tv has no scart input and I have to run through the VCR Scart to get the signal on the tv. But the VCR screws up the signal on some equipment and there go's your picture and sound. Thanks any way

Skip Channel

Your current TV has only an aerial socket, or does it also have phono/RCAs? If it's only got an aerial socket, you'll need an RF modulator box from a place like Maplin/CPC/Lektropacks. These let you tune SCART & RCA sources into a TV like your do a VCR.

satscaner

Cheers Skip an RF modulation box it is then, problem solved.

rolfw

Maplin do a cheapie one.

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satscaner

I've just done a google search and found this site that tells you how to build your own RF modulator useing the modulator out of the back of an old sat receiver.

Think I may give it a go. It can be this weeks experiment for me.

here's the website

Skip Channel

I've just seen that Maplin also do a videosender with a receiver that has an RF out. But that's £60 and it's best not to go wireless if you don't need to (presumably all your kit is next to the TV anyway.)

satscaner

Yes Skip all my kit sit's next to each other, I manage to remove a modulator last night from an old grundig box I had lying around so I'm in the process of trying to build my own. Bit more fun than buying one off the shelf.

BarMoo

Satscanner - how have you gotten on with the modulator build? Like is it up and running yet.

.

Have Fun, Moo.

satscaner

Well I've been a bit busy so far this week, at the the moment I only have the modulator I removed from the old receiver, but tonight I plan to dig out some of the other components that I need. Then tommorow it could be a trip to maplin or RS for any other bits. should not take long to build once I get all the bits.

When I have completed it and if it works I will post some pic's in here for you all.

Channel Hopper

What model of Goodmans TV is it ?

I do not recall any that could not accept video composite by selection through the remote.
I have not seen a video giving RGB out either so I am assuming there is something else in the system that is forcing the TV into RGB mode.

Disabling one of the pins from the SCART lead (or changing it for a cheaper one with fewer pins) may allow you to check what is going on, without spending cash for nothing.

RF modulation has it's own drawbacks (no stereo for a start)

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

satscaner

the TV is a Goodmans 1403 R TV. approx 15 years old plus

The RF modulation is just a little project for me, somethin to play around with.
I think I may have made a mistake at the bigining in saying that it was RGB The conection on the tv is just the standard analouge tv connection.

The problem I have is that the vcr screws up the picture form the dvd player because of copyright issue's. This is with the use of a scart lead.

Channel Hopper

Well now we are getting somewhere

Unless the DVD only has one SCART as well, then you could try putting the Video first in line, the second option would be a change of DVD player (one with Macrovision disable).

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

satscaner

Ahh Macrovisoion I've read something about that before, rings a bell now.

the dvd player only has one scart outlet

well I've just put this Rf modulator together with all the parts I could find and its not doing a lot so its back to the drawing board

BarMoo

Lets face it, even the cheapo DVD players are Macrovision enabled. Looking for a hack is a fiddly-faff, etc.

What satscanner is quite happy to do is make a DIY modulator for the video out.

I am quite happy to wait and see how his project turns out.

.

Have Fun, Moo.

Skip Channel

Some Macrovision hacks are just as easy as making most cheapo machines region free - it's usually a case of pressing a few number buttons in a certain way.

Other than that there is of course hardware Macrovision "correctors" that are available from some electronics stores (usually they advertise them as something slightly different, for obvious reasons!)

BarMoo

Well, I don't have any 'Room Fragrance' at home [read: code word for gay smelling salts] - but, pray, by what name do these Macro_tralala toys go by ..... *cough*.

I have a circuit diagram for one - but can't be ass'd to build it, LOL.

Now, I really do need one (sic) so I can slim down on the plastic and space that these VHS buggers take up.

.

Have Fun, Moo.

rolfw

Search Ebay for macrovision, they sell for around £30.

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satscaner

I've found this Website that explains more about Macrovision for those of you who want to know a bit more about it.

Rd100

I do not think the price of tv's etc is ott the sony 32inch ctr i brought a few years back cost over £1000 and i just brought the new model sony lcd 32inch for £700 from tesco

You can also get cheaper lcd's 26 inch £350 from argos and £450 for 32 inch

You can also pick up a twin tuner DTT pvr for about £100ish now aswell

satscaner

I think this one is going to go on & on & on

The best deal I saw was at www.novatech.co.uk last year, they were doing a un-branded 32" lcd that was HD ready for £600, I dont know what they have on special offer at the moment

I've seen the DTT PVR's in the WHAT TV & VIDEO mag very nice. I'd have to get one that would let me write onto disk though