SCART Leads

[pezza.......]

I have recently bought a scart expander to give my TV upto 5 (plus one spare on the TV) inputs. Why, when I plug in my digital decoder, my VCR and my DVD does the DVD and video players seem to take priority over the decoder. with all three plugged in at the same time I can only watch terestrial channels because the dvd seems to over-ride the signal.

[sft42]

This happens to my friends TV as well....it must have something to do with a signal being continuosly sent down the scart lead which mucks around with the other signals....Is your expander a switchable one? My mate gets around it by only fully plugging the DVD in when he's watching a movie but i agree it's not an ideal situation.

[LeMarchand]

You may have a different type of expander to me, but on mine, if the DVD or VCR is sending a signal, it takes priority over the Decoder. What happens when the DVD and/or VCR are in standby/off? On mine, the decoder then takes priority. If this is something you've already tried what make/model is your expander?

[pezza.......]

It is a generic one bought from Maplins and I have this problem even if the DVD and Video are switched off.

[smorodina]

If it's not switchable it's only really suitable for splitting the output of one of the devices for sending to more than one input - dvd to tv and video for example. To use as multiple inputs to a tv it should be switchable ideally. Having said that, I'm a bit mystified as to why any player would send signals when turned off. There are sometimes problems with 'fully wired' scart leads when devices send status signals - for example pin 8 is used for auto switching your tv to the av channel, but a properly switched box should solve all of these problems.