Which Multi Scart adaptor?

[minicity]

A friend has just got a "digi-box" but her TV only has one scart socket and she has a DVD player plugged into that. I said "no problem, I'll get you an adaptor". It's not as simple as that thjugh as I've seen:

1) One that needs to be manually switched between sources.

2) One that senses the last source to be switched on and goes for that.

3) One where you may only have one source switched on and it goes for that.

4) One that has to be plugged into the mains.

Any views on which to go for? Am am especially confused about the fourth option - why would the adaptor need to be plugged in?

Thanks

[SS2.]

IMHO, the cheap and nasty SCART adaptors are just that - cheap and nasty (interference between channels when two devices are switched on etc).

My display has one SCART input and one component input but I have 4 SCART devices connected - I use one of these : www.keene.co.uk/cgi-bin/codesearch.pl?BT945

In auto mode, it senses the last device to be switched on and swaps the output automatically. It can be manually overridden. Its a bit pricier than the £10 3 into 1 SCART boxes, but then you gets what you pays for..

[jap-car]

My £12 Tesco 3 into 1 seems to work very well

[minicity]

Thanks. I would pay more money myself, but my friend wont want to.

I wonder if a manually switchable one might be less prone to interference?

[SS2.]

minicity said:

Thanks. I would pay more money myself, but my friend wont want to. I wonder if a manually switchable one might be less prone to interference?

If it completely isolates one SCART input from the others, then there shouldn't be any 'cross-talk' at all..But then there's the PITA of flicking switches whenever you want to view a different source.

A non-switching SCART adaptor may be OK if you only have one device turned on at a time.

Why not give jap-car's £12 Tesco adaptor a go ? Can always take it back if its not up to scratch..

[grumpy rob]

I've just brought myself one of these.

Currys had two to choose from

one with 5 device and a manual switch - 15.99

one with 4 devices that was an auto - 19.99

I brought the 19.99 one, seems to be doing the job fine. The sky box doesn't look any different from a direct connection. I'm waiting on a new DVD player to be delivered before I know if that works well enough with it.

Edited to add.
My adaptor does have to be plugged into the mains.

>> Edited by grumpy rob on Tuesday 14th February 11:14