Hi and welcome to this week's (mostly) TV-themed column. On the 6th December, I'll be at Virgin Media HQ answering your Christmas gadget queries, so get your questions in here if you'd like any help with choosing presents or getting bargains!
Do remember to back up anything that's valuable before taking advice from anyone.
Hi LJ,
When does digital change over? Donna, Swansea
Hi Donna,
The digital switchover began in Whitehaven on the 14th November this year. This town no longer receives analogue TV - simply put, the UK is updating its television transmitters from the old analogue way of sending TV signals to a new digital signal. We should get better pictures and sound, more channels and more interactivity, and it looks like the whole of the UK will go digital by 2012. As far as I can find out, Wales will be changing over to digital in 2009. You can go here for more information: http://www.freeview.co.uk/switchover and also here if you fancy another click: www.digitaluk.co.uk.
Hi LJ,
I've just bought a new 42 inch HD-ready TV - I was offered the chance to buy a new Scart lead to enhance my viewing. Is there any/much difference between a cheap scart lead and a £30 cable? Billy, Glasgow
Hi Billy,
Congrats on your new 42" telly. This is a great question, as you can spend loads on cables, but my advice is not to look at the price, but instead to look for other features: Here comes my guide!
The Art of SCART
1. First, look at the socket itself– does it have all 20 pins in it? (Yes, okay, 21 pins including the sleeve, fellow anoraks). Cheaper scart leads only have a few pins in them.
2. If you have a lot of audio/visual kit in your house, then you might want to make sure that you get a cable with decent "shielding" from electro-magnetic interference, especially if you've got gigantic speakers or power cables anywhere near your leads. By the way, loudspeakers can kick out quite a field, so if you’re wondering why your telly or PC monitor currently has pink/green blurry bits either side, try moving your speakers away from the screen.
3. Look where the socket connects to the cable – does it look durable? These things are pulled about a bit and you don't want them to come apart after 10 minutes, or (worse) get jammed in your lovely new telly. Make sure that the cables actually fit in your TV - chunkier leads are impossible to fit into some recessed TV sockets.
By the way, if a shop recommends cables to you, don't be shy! Ask them to show you the difference by connecting first a low-quality lead (or bring your existing cable in), then a higher-quality one to the TV model you're interested in – most sales staff would be happy to oblige.
One last thing, Billy - if you have a sexy 42" TV, then you might want to consider component cables (red, green and blue + audio) as an alternative to Scart if you have an equally posh DVD player. Hope that helps!
Hi LJ,
Is it possible to connect a Virgin Media set-top box to a pc using a TV tuner card? PS love your show. Alex, London
Hi Alex,
Thanks, glad you enjoy watching! You don't say whether you want to connect your virgin box to your TV at the same time. A quick and dirty way to connect a set top box to a PC TV Tuner card would be the following: Get a Scart converter and stick that in the V box Scart socket that would normally output to your TV or VCR.
As you probably know, the yellow socket carries video, and the red and white cables carry audio – depending on your TV tuner card / sound card, you may need a further adapter to connect the sound. You should now be able to use the software on your computer to view your V box.
Dear LJ,
Will a sky+ box record on to a DVD for me? Chris, Manchester
Dear Chris,
You can use the "Copy" function on your Sky Plus box by pressing the red button while you're in your Planner – but bear in mind this will be an analogue signal output in real time from the box's VCR scart socket at the back, not a digital transfer. If you plug a Scart lead from this output into your DVD recorder's AV in, then (copyright permitting) you can record your programmes for later viewing.
Dear LJ,
I've recently purchased a TV with 2 Scart connections. I want to connect a sky box, a DVD player and a video recorder. Can you please tell me how to connect the Scart leads? Ces, Newark
Dear Ces,
I'm assuming that you would like to record off the box on to your video recorder, and watch DVDs without having to faff around behind your telly. By the way, this will also work with any set top box (e.g. erm, a Virgin box?!).
You'll need 3 SCART leads. When you've fixed up your system like this, you'll need to have your video on and your "AV in" channel selected in order to watch your set-top box, but you'll only need to switch scart inputs to watch your DVD. I've done a little colour-coded diagram for you above (I do love colour coding!). Remember you'll only be able to record the satellite channel you're watching onto your video. If you want to get your aerial signal across your video and TV, then here's a diagram for that too.
Obligatory Computer Question Corner
Dear LJ,
If a PC had two hard drives, could you run XP on one and Vista on the other (not at the same time of course)? Steve, Merseyside
Dear Steve,
Yes, you could... although I suspect you might want an extra disk (or partition) for any information you'd want to share across operating systems. Another option is to set up your PC to "Dual boot" either operating system on request.
I use the incredibly user-friendly Acronis Disk Director to do any partition-related stuff, and it has a boot manager as well: http://eu.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/.
If you're computer savvy, and you've backed up everything, and you have a legal copy of both Vista and XP, PC magazine provide a step-by-step guide http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2109434,00.asp. Also have a look on Microsoft's forums: http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=821099&SiteID=17 – and let me know how you get on.
See you online,
LJ x
Remember, if you've got any Christmas gadget queries - get your questions in here!
Thanks, glad you enjoy watching! You don't say whether you want to connect your virgin box to your TV at the same time. A quick and dirty way to connect a set top box to a PC TV Tuner card would be the following: Get a Scart converter and stick that in the V box Scart socket that would normally output to your TV or VCR.
As you probably know, the yellow socket carries video, and the red and white cables carry audio – depending on your TV tuner card / sound card, you may need a further adapter to connect the sound. You should now be able to use the software on your computer to view your V box.
Dear LJ,
I've recently purchased a TV with 2 Scart connections. I want to connect a sky box, a DVD player and a video recorder. Can you please tell me how to connect the Scart leads? Ces, Newark
Dear Ces,
I'm assuming that you would like to record off the box on to your video recorder, and watch DVDs without having to faff around behind your telly. By the way, this will also work with any set top box (e.g. erm, a Virgin box?!).
You'll need 3 SCART leads. When you've fixed up your system like this, you'll need to have your video on and your "AV in" channel selected in order to watch your set-top box, but you'll only need to switch scart inputs to watch your DVD. 
I've done a little colour-coded diagram for you above (I do love colour coding!). Remember you'll only be able to record the satellite channel you're watching onto your video. If you want to get your aerial signal across your video and TV, then here's a diagram for that too.
