HDD to Tv connection. Please Help...

[ciank]

I have a hdd media player which allows me to watch video that's stored on its hard drive on the tv.
I connect the cable in the 'av out' of the hdd to the composite video input on the tv (yellow,red and white sockets). But the picture is dark, grainy and the aspect ratio is changed.
As this is an Av out connection i would have expected better, and when i play the same video files on my dvd player they are perfect, unlike the hdd player.
What connection changes can i make to improve the situation?
My tv has scart, composite video and s-video sockets, but no VGA socket. My HDD Media player has VGA out, AV out and YPbPr out. What cables or converters can i use?
Any thoughts?

[oracle128]

You've got an unfortunate mix of connections. Component video (the YPbPr) is about the best analog connection you can get, but without component input you have to resort to composite. Dark and grainy sounds like composite's forte, but a wrong aspect ratio seems like it could be one of 3 things:
1) The TV is set to the wrong ratio
2) The DVR is outputting the wrong ratio
3) You're outputting NTSC instead of PAL (or vice-versa), this will probably be a setting or switch on the DVR

When you say the aspect ratio has changed, how do you mean? It's widescreen when it should be 4:3? It's 4:3 when it should be widescreen? Or something else?

If, for example, it's widescreen when it should be 4:3, there's your answer: composite output is 4:3 aspect. It's very feasible to output widescreen with it, but if you do, it has to be recorded widescreen, sent to the TV as 4:3, then stretched back to 16:9, in which case it's going to look even worse than a normal composite connection.

[ciank]

that sorted out the aspect ratio problem, the hdd media player was not set to a widescreen television. thanks for the help.

my only problem now is the dark, grainy picture. the quality using the composite cable is useless, and much worse than dvd player quality using the scart.
Is there a way i could connect the component video to my tv, using a scart adapter or something else? My tv doesnt have the usual component inputs (red,blue and green sockets).

[oracle128]

my only problem now is the dark, grainy picture. the quality using the composite cable is useless, and much worse than dvd player quality using the scart.You're seeing the difference because SCART is generally much better than Composite.
Is there a way i could connect the component video to my tv, using a scart adapter or something else? My tv doesnt have the usual component inputs (red,blue and green sockets).VGA to S-Video adapters exist (see here (http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=vga+to+s+video+adapter&btnG=Search)), but other than the internet I don't know what physical stores they'd be available in, maybe check out a specialty electronics/home theater store near you. Component video to SCART adapters also exist (http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=component+video+to+scart+adapter&btnG=Search), they may be a better option (less hassles with VGA's resolution etc), but look a little rarer and a little more expensive. As far as I can tell, component video to s-video doesn't exist. You may also find some luck with the final available combination, VGA to SCART.