Best friend just had a Mitsy delivered 65 RP, replaced some VERY FIRST generation, (what you ma call it) I can’t remember and she can’t either or I’d look the OLD model up on the web to see what its connection options were.

She IS NOT into AV but is a smart cookie trying to grasp it. She’s ticked because the delivery guys came 3 hrs earlier than planned when she and her husband were both out. The Cowboy in residence let them in. And the Delivery crew left without (1) removing the old giant bigscreen per order instructions. (just left it sitting to the side in their LR) And (2) left either one or two(shes not sure of the #) speaker not connected to the new unit.

Delivery guys told the cowboy …tell homeowners, - they need a receiver to hook the speaker back up, and we can’t hook it to the new display.

I’m trying to help her via phone, she’s in town for the week and will not be out there to describe to me what the old unit had on the back for connectivity. (and states she does not know how it was 'wired' orginally. Just an OLD big screen she can’t think what the brand is.

She swears they NEVER had a receiver set up to run the one (or two) speakers.

I’m trying to explain to her that speakers USUALLY do terminate in bare wire or spades etc. Via a receiver. Speakers don’t come with RCA interconnects wired (do they?) to go directly into audio output on a display, so something unfamilar (to me) is going on, I not visualising how the display audio could have orginaly been run to extenal speakers.

Any one familiar with what could be going on?

I’m trying to sort a shopping list to order for a wedding present for them, some decent quality interconnects VS the cheapies included in the box for their audio/video. A DVD player etc. But can’t comprehend how the old speaker(S) set up via the old display, to help them sort connecting the new display. It would be much better if I could figure it out in advance and carry all wedding AV presents and connections I need to rig it all, - during one trip. (it's a 2hr drive).
Any thoughts on the subject?


[This message has been edited by Smart Little Lena (edited July 08, 2003).]

If the speakers were originally designed to connect to the television, they may very well have RCA connectors. Speakers that are part of a system, such as those that come with a television or a minisystem, frequently have rca connectors.

In which case, she'd probably be better off getting new speakers, too ...

Jeff

I got rid of my old Proton 602M 25" monitor about 6 months ago. I purchased it in the mid to late 80's when it was state of the art. While it did not have, a TV tuner or speakers, it did have a small power amp built-in. My recollection was that the amp was in the 3 to 5 watt range. The connections were a spring loaded clip that could handle twisted bare wire or pins.

I recall that having an outboard speaker capability did exist on other units of that or a slightly later time frame. I also recall that most of these older auxilary type speakers that I have seen were hard wired on the speaker side with a simple twisted cable on the other. Therefore, I would not be a surprised if your friend's old TV had a similar setup for its external speakers.

Consequently, I tend to agree with Jeff about deep sixing the speakers. Hard to imagine that speakers (that were possibly even sold with the TV as options) and that were not connected to a receiver could be any better than the speakers built into the new Mitsubishi.

If the speakers were originally designed to connect to the television, they may very well have RCA connectors

My recollection was that the amp was in the 3 to 5 watt range. The connections were a spring loaded clip that could handle twisted bare wire or pins

Bingo, THANK YOU, - HAS to be one or the other of these two possible variations. I have just never seen that before. And swamped with work [hoped] someone here might have an inkling of what was going on out there, after I first heard of this today.

I’m holding on purchasing her AV presents. Trying to sort this all out via phone. I’ve been trying to explain to her the rational for CONSIDERING returning the Mitsy for a DVI-HDCP enabled display. But am having trouble explaining to her the possible benefits of that action, during the current copy protection quagmire. Trying to quickly research if ANY sets are on sales floor NOW, with DVI-HDCP in her price range. (2200) AVS has a list in one spot but LCD/Plasma displays only. Trying to find the CRT RP models listed by anyone in one post/chart. I’m holding on deciding which way on the DVD player for her and cables for it all, - till I see what capabilities her display will have.

I had an idea of looking up stats on recordable DVD player, to see if any have simple connections for transferring from your camcorder. (since she records the horses cutting, for training purposes and transfers it currently to VHS). May now should rethink that idea and switch to a 100 dollar DVD player, and add in (oh great) a HTIB type receiver setup to get her speakers up and on-line again.

The issue is her husband, - due to (a certain amount of deafness he won’t admit too) had a speaker wired near where he sits in the LR. This area is rather large and additionally an open floor plan to the Kit/ Dining area. He needs this speaker nearby to keep from cranking display volume too much. I know for a fact I’ve seen one speaker near his chair, and I could have sworn I saw one on the wall. (and she can’t remember) (don’t know if it was ever wired in). ( Bose cubes come to mind, don’t’ know if I dreamed that) so the system may have been like Bruin’s Proton (bare wire terminated into the old display).

Neither one of them does AV, and I  have volunteered to help lead them out of the dark ages of screen door effect and VHS resolution. (and come out there and hook it all up for them).

But non-AVites have trouble grasping why they REALLY need this or that. (PROGRESSIVE dvd on a 65” display etc). Should have known there would be hitches along this path!

I remember some friends in high school that had stereo record players that had removable speakers that conneced to the main unit with RCS plugs. Not quite state-of-the-art, even for that day.

Paul

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the 1derful1

I expect that most any DVD recorder will include from AV inputs (I know that Panasonic's recorders all have front s-video, composite, and audio). Panasonic's DMR-HS2 and DMR-E60 DVD recorders both have a DV input on the front panel for connection to miniDV camcorders, which would probably better suit her needs -- assuming she has a miniDV camera. The HS2 includes a hard drive for editing and some rudimentary Tivo sort of capability, but it is being replaced by the DMR-E80 (which just started shipping and does not include the DV input). The DMR-E100 will be out in the fall and will have a hard drive and a front panel DV input.

I'm thinking that 73Bruin may have pegged it. I vaguely recall seeing some TV's with spring clip speaker connections somewhere along the way, which would explain how they had speakers hooked up to the TV before and why the delivery guys told the "Cowboy in residence" that they needed a receiver to power the speakers.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

"Cowboy in residence" That looks strange when you pulled it out Gonk! Just to elaborate, I was not using floral personality trait descriptive terminology, the man really is a Cowboy, This is a ranch (where my horses are) so whenever I throw out mentions about “the place” it always appears to me (in here) as if I’m punning the Outlaw site. But it’s the real thing, last weekend one of the buffalo (used for cutting training) killed one of the 2 border collies ‘Bo” Bo was a tad goofy but what a nightmare glad I was not there to witness. (why I don’t like being out in the buffalo pasture, they are fun to observe (over the fence) but you need to maintain respect at all times towards their nature).

I’m printing your post Gonk thank you. Now I’ll have to get her to round up her camera to see what ‘it’ is. I’m getting sidetracked trying to help with the display research. Which will be my starting point for whatever I get them. I threw a wrench into their purchase, when I asked her what she got and brought up the digital connectivity issues, and she wanted to know what that was all about. As soon as that is all sorted, - I’ll decide which route I’m going (basic Prog DVD and some sort of audio setup for them OR the recordeable). Never looked into PVR-DVD or how they work so your post is invaluable for a starting point. She had assumed if her display had HD on it, - she was good to go for the next 10 yrs. I’m now trying to figure out for them what Mitsy Promise module is all about. Appears you can add it now for 1000. But oddly enough I found last night, - it DOES NOT include a DVI-HDCP upgrade, …just firewire. It’s a bad period to be buying displays right now.


[This message has been edited by Smart Little Lena (edited July 09, 2003).]

Sounds like you've got a pretty interesting upgrade project on your hands, Lena. Since I've been scoping out the recordable DVD market a bit as of late, I may be able to offer some info there. You're about twenty steps ahead of me on the current state of HD displays, so I'll just stay out of the way on that one.

There are still only a handful of companies in the DVD recorder market, and there are a ton of different formats still flitting around. DVD-R (probably the best for compatibility with standard DVD players), DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM are licensed by DVD Forum as "official" recordable DVD formats, while DVD+R and DVD+RW are not. DVD-R media is the cheapest (available for as low as $1/disc if you buy spindles of 50 or 100 discs). DVD-RAM is the most expensive, with everybody else scattered around in between. There was an article back in June that reported that DVD-RAM based recorders claimed 70% of the US consumer DVD recorder market in the first quarter of 2003. Philips and Panasonic are the most visible manufacturers; Philips uses the DVD+R/DVD+RW formats, while Panasonic uses DVD-R and DVD-RAM. Some of the Panasonic players show up re-badged as Samsung, apparently. Toshiba (DVD-R, DVD-RAM), Pioneer (DVD-R, DVD-RW), and Sony (DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW) are started to join in now, as well, and both Toshiba and Pioneer have or will soon have players with built-in hard drives. Most of the recorders seem to also include progressive scan capability, but I don't know that many of them are particularly good at it. The DMR-HS2 was included in the last Secrets shootout and proved to be pretty disappointing -- apparently the new one-chip decoder/deinterlacer that Panasonic's started using is a real step back from the days of your RP91 and the RP82.

I am planning to probably get a Panasonic DMR-E80 in the next month or so (want to archive the 20 or so years of home videos that dad has shot on VHS and S-VHS before the tapes become unplayable). The plan is to transfer from my S-VHS deck to the hard drive, edit as needed, and then burn a copy or two to DVD-R to replace the old tapes. Since I'll be relying on my existing 27" display for a few more years and I have a decent DVD player already, progressive scan and chroma bug problems aren't deal-breakers for me.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

[This message has been edited by gonk (edited July 09, 2003).]

Lena:

You may want to consider a HT PC for a combined editing device, dvd player and possibly even audio. Considering that they don't have anything now, this may give them a ton of capability for the price. I saw a emachines box with a what appeared to be a universal DVD Recorder and a separate DVD player for about $800. Throw in a top of the line video card like an All-In-Wonder and I believe you would have it covered. You could probably even hook it up to use the video camera's.

By the way, my cousin owns a small quarter horse and cattle ranch in OK (north of Tulsa) so I quite understand about the "cowboy in residence". We go there every summer, its like having our own personal dude ranch.

If I was getting an HD TV today I would really want it to have an DVI-HDCP port on it. Although this standards thing seems to be continually shifting (firewire etc) it seems that the DVI option might be around for a while. That said, I don't know what price point they start showing up at - my Samsung DLP set has one (42" Model for $2800) but that doesn't sound like it's in their price range. I've got a DVD player with DVI and I know the new Pace HD cable box ships with a DVI port so it on it's way here. The risk is a set without it might be forever limited to 480P via composite - and $1,000 to upgrade is insane.