More hook-up confusion...

[pieterd]

I have a Loewe Aventos TV (HDTV) with a Rotel 1080 DVD player. The DVD player is progressive, but only on NTSC. Furthermore the progressive scan only works with component hook-up (scarts utilised at the moment). Living in South Africa, we have PAL and not NTSC. My questions:
1. Enquiring the store owner regarding the progressive scan, he said the TV does it better than the DVD?
2. The DVD and TV can do both scart and component. I am using scart (easier for set-up on the TV). Will component give me better picture?
3. If component is the route, can I use a custom made cable (component to scart) with scart on the TV side? Will that influence picture quality? (Versus component-component)
4. DVD to receiver (Rotel 1055) is by the coaxial cable received in the box. Will it be better to buy a more expensive coaxial cable?
5. Coaxial versus optical - which one?

I'll appreciate any input, thanks!

[hifimaster]

Hi pieterd,

1. That is a toss up. Some TV's do better than some DVD players, and vice versa. You'll have to experiment and see which you like better.

2. Compnent is a better connection, IMO. I may be wrong though.

3.Any change/connection in a wire path is considered a degredation. You could try it and see if there is a difference. IMO I'd stick with one type of connection.

4.Easy. No, the cable carries a bit stream of one and zeros. It either works or it doesn't. There was a test performed a while ago where they used a wire coat hanger for the digital connection. No one could tell the difference.

5. Also easy. It does not matter. Ones and zeros either way. Optical is prefered for long runs and coaxial is less prone to bending/kinking of the cable. Toslink can't be bent very far.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

James