I have the free basic receiver that Dish Network gave me but I can't afford the $300 one that has component video outputs. I tried both composite and S-Video cables but there wasn't any noticable difference. How can I get a better picture from my satellite receiver to my plasma TV?

Thanks, Javi0084

No chance, Composite and S-Video are already your best choices here.

Current Plasma TVs are crap with higher resolutions - the good ones are already too expensive yet.

Welcome to the forum

The main advantage with component is the ability to use progressive mode if your satellite receiver and display were to both support this. A progressive picture means that the picture is sent in full frames to the TV instead of sending the odd lines first followed by the even lines on the next scan. This essentially eliminates the interlaced effect on fast moving images as well as scrolling text. Component also uses another seperate colour difference signal than SVHS to give a slightly better colour reproduction.

However, whether you use composite, SVHS or component, the actual image definition remains the same, so unless the satellite receiver with component is a HD model, there is no way to get a high definition picture using composite or SVHS.

If your image is suffering from noise such as faint scrolling lines, shadowing, poor colour rendering, etc., then chances are that the cables you are using are of a poor build or you have some equipment near by causing a lot of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). In this case, there are several steps you can try:

1. Use SVHS instead of composite, since SVHS uses separate chrominance and luminance wires to the TV, which helps with colour rendering.
2. Try to remove any external sources of interference - Something as simple as a portable telephone base sitting near a TV can cause interference in the picture. A simple test would be to do a process of elimination by unplugging one item after another near your TV to see if anything you switch off may help improve the picture.
3. There could be an issue with the SVHS cable. If you decide to go for a new cable, first of all, to eliminate as much ghosting as possible (if present), go for the shortest cable that will connect your satellite receiver up to your TV and make sure you choose a high quality shielded cable. Longer cables result in a weaker signal reaching your TV, not to mention echoing up & down the cable, which causes ghosting. While shielded cables can be rather expensive, they do a far better job at protecting against external RFI.

Correction: Component input will display higher resolution than SVHS. (assumes a HD receiver)

Contact your satellite provider to see if they have any specials on HD receivers with 1-yr subscriptions to HD programming. Most HD receivers also will take off-air HD programming with an external antenna mounted at the dish.

That's what I actually meant when I mentioned "so unless the satellite receiver with component is a HD model, ..." in my above above post, since my projector supports 720p and 1080i over component, while component supports 720i, 720p, 1080i and 1080p with equipment that supports these formats via component.