General Forum

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

SWISS_2 — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:07:27 GMT

I purchased two Beovision 8 units in February, just prior to the price increase. I observed a dealer demonstration of a BV 8, and was not impressed intially. Why ?

The unit was in the process of being cabled to a gaming set. The switch to a television source was SD ( for my viewing ) and not very good, frankly. But the sound was excellent, and the ML capability did catch my eye. I only confirmed the sale later when I could see a music DVD being demonstrated along with a SKY HD broadcast.

As mentioned above, ones' BV 8 viewing quality is only as good as your source and line supply cable. I do not know of anyone who enjoys television sitting at oblique angles to the screen, unless they desire a nice, stiff neck.

I'm sure that Blu-ray will no doubt be an improvement also, but I have no intention of changing all our VHS and DVD collection from over the years to Blu-ray; Some films we enjoy are not even available on DVD.

HD is more distinct and easy on the eyes than SD. Component cabling, or better yet HDMI is very good and better still.

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

soundproof — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:24:55 GMT

Try to get hold of a proper Scart to Component cable and set up the TV for the component signal.

That way you won't have any trouble with fit in the well, and you have the best possible image from component.

svhs is no better than a composite image - while with a component signal you really get what the screen is capable of. (And HMDI is a further improvement, if you have a higher resolution source.)

http://www.tvcables.co.uk/cgi-bin/tvcables/PGV375.html?id=pNrXFC5I

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

Robert — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:50:29 GMT

Ah right, i know what sort of cable you are using now. I think I'm going to bring the cables i'll be using to my dealer and have a go at connecting them, and if it doesn't look like it'll work I can discuss the options of having some cables made up for the job etc. Should hopefully work out alright. I know that I can assign all my devices, and control the ones I need with my Beo 4/5, now it'll be a case of actually hooking them up successfully!

Thanks JK,

Robert.

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

jk1002 — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:43:01 GMT

I have the 32". I do not know if a phono to scart adapter will fit. What I have is a normal scart cable with 3 cinch (2 audio, 1 composite) & 1 svhs connection on the other end. I think I posted the part number earlier, but will certainly look it up for you if you need it.

Cheers

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

Robert — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:32:29 GMT

Does the phono to scart adapter fit into the connection well with the cover clipped in over the panel? I had a look at my parents BV8 today, and it looked like it would be a tight squeeze to fit the adapter and phonos in... especially with another scart connected right next to it.

Robert.

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

jk1002 — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:21:10 GMT

I have the scart adapter already. My dealer threw that in as a freebie. I just haven't done that much with my Wii so I am not really bothered by it yet ..... thanks for the tip ..... will look at it soon.

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

Robert — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:52:39 GMT

jk, you ought to get the component cable for the Wii. I noticed a marked improvement over the bundled composite cable when I upgraded. The picture is sharper and with greater colour saturation. Definitely a worthwhile upgrade. Although it might be hard getting the scart adapter for the audio to fit as I mentioned in another thread. I take it you are using AV3 for the Wii at the minute? I plan on using component for my Wii when I get my BV 8.

Robert.

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

jk1002 — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:50:36 GMT

>>Maybe you're right and the Beovisions on the boat were not calibrated well.<<

It's not about calibration. I think what they very often do is, split a single signal source for multiple screens. My dealer had a Video Server as a shared source for all his TVs through CAT 5 connection. The picture was horrible as there were significant distortion in the picture that came clearly from the cabling / sharing the source.

I remember that when I was a youngster and I worked in a TV store for a few month, they had a single antenna but as much as we fiddled we could never get a picture as good as at customers home as we had to split the signal for 20 or so TVs.

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

jk1002 — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:45:29 GMT

>>If your signal is composite only, then you should expect picture artifacts and pixellation<<

the only SD source that I have connected is a Wii through the composite. Not artifacts or picellation, the picture is just slightly unsharp compared to DVD or Apple TV.

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

Robert — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:39:18 GMT

Hi beolife,

I'll only be purchasing the TV, so I won't be getting any value added extras. It's quite interesting to see hwta prices other dealers are charging for it. Mine seems to be abit higher than most. Not much I can do about that I suppose, seeing as the individual dealers set their own prices.

Robert.

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

beolife — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:41:58 GMT

I have just had a system priced up for a project & the system module aka masterlink was £325, but do bear in mind that if you are spending a fair amount then value added extras come into it & you may find that you get the module for free, normally this would be around 5% of the system price so if you were spending £10000 then your value added extras would be worth £500 Easier for B&O to swallow rather than discounting I suspect.

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

Craig — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:05:03 GMT

Think I was told somewhere around the £285 mark when I spoke to my dealer last week.

Craig

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

Robert — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:13:46 GMT

Stan:
My dealer quoted me 350 USD for the ML option.
Stan

I was on the phone to my dealer today, and he quoted me £475 for the ML module, and a total price of £2850 for a BV 8-32 w/ ML, without a remote. The price of the ML module seems rather steep compared to your values Stan and Soundproof... Has anyone in the UK had a quote for it, and if so how does it compare to mine?

Robert.

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

Craig — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:23:53 GMT

soundproof:

How much to the side are we talking?
The viewing distance you describe will not present a problem. You notice it when you're standing above the BV8 on its floor stand, or when you're off to either side, walking past. But sitting as you describe, 3m away, won't be a problem.

Thanks for the reply Soundproof, that has put my mind a rest.

Craig

Re: How good is a BV8 with an SD source?

soundproof — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:09:41 GMT

How much to the side are we talking?

The viewing distance you describe will not present a problem. You notice it when you're standing above the BV8 on its floor stand, or when you're off to either side, walking past. But sitting as you describe, 3m away, won't be a problem.