Sky TV launches NOW TV Smart Stick, with voice, at £14.99

[Iota]

Don't know of any NowTV boxes with Scart out though. Games consoles, chromecast, Roku: they all use HDMI

That's not really an issue if you pick up a HDMI to SCART adaptor. I'm fairly sure you can get them the other way around as well. Shouldn't be an issue with picture quality either, if I recall correctly the standard supports HD?

[3dcandy]

hdmi to scart adapter then sire
however I guess that if it's that important that won't cut it

[3dcandy]

Problem with scart is it's an analogue signal, like vga. So yes, the quality is probably not as good a digital signal like hdmi. strangely enough I tend to still use vga for long runs to projectors because although the signal degrades over the cable run there is less chance of the signal completely vanishing and anyway the resulting lower signal gives an almost positive look to video. text however is not as good

[Saracen]

hdmi to scart adapter then sire
however I guess that if it's that important that won't cut it

Well it would, if I could get one I trust to do a decent job but all the research I've done suggests that that's highly questionable. Quality doesn't need to be super-high (a good job too, given Scart limitations) but something around SDTV is fine.

From what I can gather, the cheap converters are .... rubbish. Opinions vary on the better ones but it's a gamble I don't (yet) need to take considering all I need to do is stick with the existing Virgin box.

[peterb]

Well it would, if I could get one I trust to do a decent job but all the research I've done suggests that that's highly questionable. Quality doesn't need to be super-high (a good job too, given Scart limitations) but something around SDTV is fine.

From what I can gather, the cheap converters are .... rubbish. Opinions vary on the better ones but it's a gamble I don't (yet) need to take considering all I need to do is stick with the existing Virgin box.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neoteck-Alu.../dp/B01KHT1MWI


Has mixed reviews, but if it doesn't do the job, Amazon's RMA process is very good. there are others at varying prices, but all seem to be based on the same OEM device.

[3dcandy]

Saracen buddy - just seems a bit strange when you miss out on all the goodies the V6 brings to the table. But each to their own. Scart is analogue and digital to analogue converters should be fine. The V6 box however outputs widely varying video standards and that is more likely to be your issue than a dodgy converter.

[DanceswithUnix]

Finding Scart on TVs is getting REALLY hard. IIRC, Sony were the last major brand doing it on new models, and I think even they stopped. My next "new" TV may well be second-hand for that reason. It's that critical to me.

I saw Scart on the lower end TVs, just not on the 4K for £400 bracket I was looking at.

I have to wonder what Scart device you are trying to keep going here. I keep old 24" panels around for games console use. I do however have an old series 1 TiVo that is now 18 years old and still the household preferred source despite being SD with a SCART connector. Probably time I bought it a new hard drive, the 120GB drive in there must be ancient now and at that capacity I could replace it with an SSD for an extra turn of speed for reasonable cost

So, is it a treasured TV you want to keep or a set top box/other source?

[Saracen]

....

So, is it a treasured TV you want to keep or a set top box/other source?

Nope. It's four HD/DVD and DVD recorders with Scart inputs. There are several reasons for these, one of which is journalism, and recording research materials from TV. For instance, election broadcasts, the Chancellor's budget speeches, referendum debates (and not just Brexit, sometimes Newsnight interviews, and so on. I have a LARGE collection of such library material. It gets recorded on one of several TV sources, like Tivo, Freeview and Freesat boxes, and then edited down to size. Sometimes, I keep multiple copies. For example, a speech as a whole but also individual parts of the speech relating to indivdusl topics.

Each video clip is then databased with a degree of analysis and description, referencing a DVD index number, timecode, event, issues and, of course, the individuals. So if I want references to a given topic in a goven year, or by a specific person, or in a soecific campaign, etc, then the database gives me a disc number, clip number and for many longer video clips, the timecode of the bit I need.

You may remember that in past discussions, on both Windows and legacy hardware, I've referred to some custom databases. This is one. And as a journalist, that archive and the database that unlocks access, is important research material to be sure that when I say someone said something on such a date, I can prove exactly what was said.

Then add other similar records, stored on DVD, and you start to get the idea.

Could this be done another way, like on PC? Yes. But those recorders have built-in editing capability, so I can batch-transfer up to 8 or 10 hours of recordings to each of these recorders overnight, then split them into individual items, title them, edit out irrelevant bits, set chapter points, create menus, etc, directly in the recorders and FAR more quickly and easily than I could if I faffed about with PC editing.

But the recorders are all Scart inputs. There are, or were, I believe, some HDMI machines that had this capability, but from what I can make out, no such machines are made any more, with this sort of editing and disk-burning capability and even if they were available, replacing these machines (which were around £500-700 EACH) would be unjustifiably expensive.

[Saracen]

Saracen buddy - just seems a bit strange when you miss out on all the goodies the V6 brings to the table. But each to their own. Scart is analogue and digital to analogue converters should be fine. The V6 box however outputs widely varying video standards and that is more likely to be your issue than a dodgy converter.

I'm sure it does serm strange. I was trying to avoid the distraction of why, but it seems to just make people curious. For the reasoning, see previous post. It's what I meant when I said your needs weren't the same as mine. Mine are very specific, extremely unusual but important to me.

As for the V6 goodies, what goodies?

6 tuners? Convenient but not critical?
4K? Don't give a damn. Don't even care about HD. SD is fine for me
Faster? Well, that was my primary interest, but the V3 box I have, which slowed diwn HUGELY with a firmware update a year or so back seens to have speeded back up again. I assume, another firmware update with bug fixes and/or performance tweaks.

There's nothing on the V6 that I'm aware of that's even close to as important to me as Scart connectivity.

Everything I've seen puts a very large questionmark over HDMI converters, and nothing has yet reassured me to the point I'm prepared to risk it.

Put it this way. To use the converter requires the V6 box. To use the V6 box requires me to replace the V3 with V6 and notify Virgin, who will promptly deactivate the V3, because, they tell me, I can't have both, not without a second subscription.

So, if I do that, get one of these dubious converters and then find it unsatisfactory, what chance of Sky re-enabling the V3 and disabling the V6, when they seem to want everyone to move to V6.

My guess? About the same as the power companies reinstalling a dumb meter if you allow a smart meter then change your mind.

[3dcandy]

You do have a specific problem. I'd be inclined to possibly move the journalist stuff somewhere else and then enable the V6 box for normal tv recording. I'd be shot if I had that amount of kit in the living room anyhoo. Of course this is moot if this is your man cave setup.
V6 box is better in a whole host of ways from reducded power consumption to bluetooth remote. Network abilities is another, which I guess you could put into use with your setup, ie. the ability to record shows and then send them across a network which you could record possibly. Again, not thought about it...
I can't understand your reluctance to move to hd though. Picture quality is better in so many ways, from movement to resolution. Again, picture quality is so much better over hdmi but we've sorted that discussion out above. I have a feeling that this will be sorted out when your hardware ceases to work, and I also guess that the first thing to go will be your V3 box as Virgin starts dishing out V6 boxes to everyone and you will be forced to upgrade.

[peterb]

Nope. It's four HD/DVD and DVD recorders with Scart inputs. There are several reasons for these, one of which is journalism, and recording research materials from TV. For instance, election broadcasts, the Chancellor's budget speeches, referendum debates (and not just Brexit, sometimes Newsnight interviews, and so on. I have a LARGE collection of such library material. It gets recorded on one of several TV sources, like Tivo, Freeview and Freesat boxes, and then edited down to size. Sometimes, I keep multiple copies. For example, a speech as a whole but also individual parts of the speech relating to indivdusl topics.

Each video clip is then databased with a degree of analysis and description, referencing a DVD index number, timecode, event, issues and, of course, the individuals. So if I want references to a given topic in a goven year, or by a specific person, or in a soecific campaign, etc, then the database gives me a disc number, clip number and for many longer video clips, the timecode of the bit I need.

You may remember that in past discussions, on both Windows and legacy hardware, I've referred to some custom databases. This is one. And as a journalist, that archive and the database that unlocks access, is important research material to be sure that when I say someone said something on such a date, I can prove exactly what was said.

Then add other similar records, stored on DVD, and you start to get the idea.

Could this be done another way, like on PC? Yes. But those recorders have built-in editing capability, so I can batch-transfer up to 8 or 10 hours of recordings to each of these recorders overnight, then split them into individual items, title them, edit out irrelevant bits, set chapter points, create menus, etc, directly in the recorders and FAR more quickly and easily than I could if I faffed about with PC editing.

But the recorders are all Scart inputs. There are, or were, I believe, some HDMI machines that had this capability, but from what I can make out, no such machines are made any more, with this sort of editing and disk-burning capability and even if they were available, replacing these machines (which were around £500-700 EACH) would be unjustifiably expensive.

Yup, I can see the logic there - it's a set up that works for you - so why change it?

My concern would be that you have old kit that is no longer directly replaceable, so looking for potential replacements now (if you haven't already done so) might be prudent.

I posted a link to a SCART to HDMI converter earlier, but you need the reverse

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neoteck-Alu.../dp/B07591V4FR

Cheap enough to take a punt on, but if it doesn't work, easy to return to Amazon.

Moving up the recorders, it gets harder - there is this

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/...yperdeckstudio

or

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/...deckstudiomini

but these are SDI input professional broadcast machines, so you would need an HDMI to SDI converters

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/...icroconverters

Then there is the issue of converting the old data to a new format....

Something like https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/products/intensity

So the cost is already mounting up...

So I can see why you might want to stay with the skybox V3

[DanceswithUnix]

Network abilities is another, which I guess you could put into use with your setup, ie. the ability to record shows and then send them across a network which you could record possibly. Again, not thought about it...

The network video will be DRM'ed up to the hilt, I would be shocked it you could do anything interesting or useful with it.

If you want network video, better to start with MythTV as a video capture server. That could grab FreeView/FreeSat material in its native mpeg format which you could then copy off the network export on a PC for offline editing, saving the result to a NAS or home cloud for archival. That involves changing every part of the hardware and workflow and building probably two PCs at least (MythTV server and NAS), like that's going to happen

[Saracen]

You do have a specific problem. I'd be inclined to possibly move the journalist stuff somewhere else and then enable the V6 box for normal tv recording. I'd be shot if I had that amount of kit in the living room anyhoo. Of course this is moot if this is your man cave setup.
V6 box is better in a whole host of ways from reducded power consumption to bluetooth remote. Network abilities is another, which I guess you could put into use with your setup, ie. the ability to record shows and then send them across a network which you could record possibly. Again, not thought about it...
I can't understand your reluctance to move to hd though. Picture quality is better in so many ways, from movement to resolution. Again, picture quality is so much better over hdmi but we've sorted that discussion out above. I have a feeling that this will be sorted out when your hardware ceases to work, and I also guess that the first thing to go will be your V3 box as Virgin starts dishing out V6 boxes to everyone and you will be forced to upgrade.

Well, bluetooth remote or IR remote is a moot point for me. Either way both work, and as I'm not planning on putting the V6 or V3) box in a cupboard or behind the sofa, line-of-sight is not a problem. It's what I meant by useful features - it adds a feature but not one I care about.

Same for networking stuff round the place. Great, if I needed it, but as I don't need, or even want to ....

Power consumption? I'll give you that, but the V3 box isn't exactly a poerr guzzler. Am I prepared to spend a fortune and redesign a system I've evolved over msny years to save a few watts? Nope.

I'm not sayinv the V6 box isn't better. IMHO, it is, in almost every conceivable way. It is, however, rettograde in one way (that I know of) and that is lack of fully-functional Scart. For me, that single aspect overrides everything else.

As for the SD v HD etc thing, it's personal. PM will be coming your way shortly.

[Smudger]

Could you test the HDMI->SCART converter on your current Tivo? It has HDMI out, doesn't it? Or is it prior to that tech?

[Saracen]

Possibly .... no, probably, yes, Smudger.

But I don't see the point.

I'm not sure if I gave the impression that I'm looking for a way ti get the V6 to work. My comment on the V6 was in the context of Virgin seeming to want to upgrade. They contacted me, out of the blue, with the offer. Only once it arrived did I discover the Scart issue, so after some brief research I found out what it'll cist to try it with a converter. As my current system works, and I'm not terribly bothered whether I have Ve or V6, by buying a converter that might, or might not, let me do what I'm already doing quite happily with the V3?

Next time I talk to Virgin, I'll tell them they can collect the V6 box.

[3dcandy]

Everyone's getting the V6 boxes..... doubt they'd collect it to be fair! I guess it will be more like you'll be forced to have a V6 at some point