Scart socket / tv / dvd question

[Ribol]

I have a Sony TV with one too few scart sockets on the back. Forgetting the rest of the equipment I have, I have one scart socket that I would like to connect two DVD players to. I do not want to go anywhere near the TV to operate a switching box toggle.

I have seen loads of splitter boxes about with “all 21 pins connected” and also with a toggle switch to go from one source to the other. Has anyone bought a splitter you just bung on with one male plug and two female sockets which switches itself automatically when you play either device?
Is there much loss in quality if any? I do not have an expensive state of the art home cinema system so anything with not too much loss of quality will do me, it does not have to be perfect.
Any suggestions where I can find such a splitter?

[count duckula]

You can get cheap ones (£15) from 'Game' etc nothing special, it you have both devices on at the same time you get a ghost effect, they are cheap and cheerful, you can get auto switching ones for £50ish, that with switch 5 devices and deal with RGB.


Malc

[Ribol]

count duckula said:

you can get auto switching ones for £50ish, that with switch 5 devices and deal with RGB.

Is that what is meant by all 21 pins being connected then - dealing with RGB?

[viper_larry]

I bought a 4-way auto switching box (made by Philips) from ASDA for £9.99. Never used it and sold it on eBay for £16

[Ribol]

viper_larry said:

I bought a 4-way auto switching box (made by Philips) from ASDA for £9.99. Never used it and sold it on eBay for £16

Thanks, will try ASDA for one.

I will try it and if it does not work I can always sell it on ebay at a profit

[JamesG]

I bought a 5-in-1 SCART switchbox in Argos yesterday for 15 quid. Works fine. I don't know how many of the pins are actually switched rather than permanently joined. I would guess it's just RGB and audio. All the composite video pins were joined together.

I tried an auto-switching one a while ago and got huge distortion of the picture so returned it. Also tried a cheap Tesco one without a switch and (unsurprisingly) the picture was darker with more than one SCART plugged into it.

[mybrainhurts]

Ribol said:

I do not want to go anywhere near the TV to operate a switching box toggle......

Saps the energy, doesn't it...?

Try training the dog.........

[Ribol]

JamesG said:

I bought a 5-in-1 SCART switchbox in Argos yesterday for 15 quid. Works fine. I don't know how many of the pins are actually switched rather than permanently joined. I would guess it's just RGB and audio. All the composite video pins were joined together. I tried an auto-switching one a while ago and got huge distortion of the picture so returned it. Also tried a cheap Tesco one without a switch and (unsurprisingly) the picture was darker with more than one SCART plugged into it.

Sounds like this auto switching lark is not a good idea then?

[stedale]

Ribol said:

JamesG said: I bought a 5-in-1 SCART switchbox in Argos yesterday for 15 quid. Works fine. I don't know how many of the pins are actually switched rather than permanently joined. I would guess it's just RGB and audio. All the composite video pins were joined together. I tried an auto-switching one a while ago and got huge distortion of the picture so returned it. Also tried a cheap Tesco one without a switch and (unsurprisingly) the picture was darker with more than one SCART plugged into it. Sounds like this auto switching lark is not a good idea then?

I bought one from B&Q (of all places) it does two DVD/video connections, one satellite/games console connections and other none scart connections. Seems to work OK although you need to switch TV to AV where before the TV switched over automatically. cost 30 quid and is silver about the size of a hard-back book (dunno the make). Whether all 21 pins are connected I don't know but pic qual seems alright.

[Ribol]

If anyone has the same problem, Dixons do a Ferguson FAV-100 "automatic 4 in 1 Scart Switch Box".

Fully wired 21 pin RGB enabled connectors, switches itself automatically, no quality loss £20 - job done.

[Lois]

haha! I asked the same question today...just before I found another scart socket!

[Ribol]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Well, if you look at it again tomorrow and it has disappeared again you now know another way out

[wiggy001]

stedale said:

Ribol said: JamesG said: I bought a 5-in-1 SCART switchbox in Argos yesterday for 15 quid. Works fine. I don't know how many of the pins are actually switched rather than permanently joined. I would guess it's just RGB and audio. All the composite video pins were joined together. I tried an auto-switching one a while ago and got huge distortion of the picture so returned it. Also tried a cheap Tesco one without a switch and (unsurprisingly) the picture was darker with more than one SCART plugged into it. Sounds like this auto switching lark is not a good idea then? I bought one from B&Q (of all places) it does two DVD/video connections, one satellite/games console connections and other none scart connections. Seems to work OK although you need to switch TV to AV where before the TV switched over automatically. cost 30 quid and is silver about the size of a hard-back book (dunno the make). Whether all 21 pins are connected I don't know but pic qual seems alright.

The fact that it doesn't switch to AV automatically suggests that not all pins are connected

When I was shopping around, I was advised that to get the same quality as a £15 manual jobbie I would need to spend £60+ on an auto-switching box (and that was just 2 into 1).

I went for a manual one from Maplins. Things to look for:

RGB compatible (especially for DVD/Sky)
Fully wired
Can't remember which pin numbers it is, but on mine I have my DVD and Sky into one RGB and it's wired in such a way that I can watch a DVD and still record Sky - not all are wired to allow this.

Spent about £15 - 20 in Maplins a year or so ago (and that again on each gold-plated scart lead - definitely noticed a difference in picture quality.

HTH

[whittaker52]

If i havent got the wrong end of the stick, and you mean a 5 into 1 scart adapter (ie 1 adapter in the back of the tv and you wwant more), then i got some really good ones from play.com for £5.99 and they do the trick really well, and they're really cheap!

check out -
www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=ELEC&title=172089

[rfisher]

On a similar theme;

I've just got a DVD recorder and was planning to copy all my legally bought and paid for VHS tapes to DVD as they are taking up too much room. When I try to record I get 'copy protected' coming up on the DVD recorder and it stops. Most of these tapes are several years old so it's not as if I'm trying to copy the latest release or anything.

Anything I can do or am I stuck with my VHS mountain?

[Ribol]

You can get a scart to scart lead which has a macrovision disabler built in.
You can copy whatever you want with one of those