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SCART switchers again!


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Old 05-01-2006, 16:47
Chris Simon
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Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Snowdonia
Posts: 2,725

I know this has been discussed to death, but I find everything very confusing and conflicting!

I think everyone agrees that the perfect solution would be the Holdan HSR-1000 if they sorted a second or third RGB output and sent through Pin 8 switching on those outputs. But having contacted Holdan about a possible Mk3, I've got a definitive answer that they are not planning to release a Mk3 as they prefer to wait and see which way the market goes!

So...

I think the next best thing would be the Trilogy 1. Can someone confirm the following for me:

1. It has 4 fully wired RGB SCART inputs, including Pin 8 switching.

2. It has 1 fully wired TV RGB SCART output, including Pin 8 switching.

3. It has two distinct output paths therefore you can send something to the TV output while sending something else to the VCR or DVD - whose inputs are actually bidirectional. This is effectively a router then, not just a simple switch! Or are the record paths 'hardcoded', in that the VCR and DVD sockets can only record from a specific socket?

I know that some people have experienced widescreen switching problems with Pin 8 being pulled too low and permanently selecting 16:9. But to be honest I think I'd prefer to manually change back to 4:3 when necessary than change to 16:9!

The 'record' output path needs a bit more clarification too for my tiny mind! It can output a separate signal to either the DVD or the VCR, but not both, in other words, it hasn't got 3 output paths??

How do you tell it which output to direct the second video path to - is this done on the remote? And presumably you could send the same input to both outputs at the same time without loss of quality, e.g. Sky to both TV and VCR. But presumably not DVDR as well because that would be a third path.

Basically, what I want is as follows:

Inputs

1. Sky digibox
2. DVDR/HDD
3. VCR
4. FTA sat box

Outputs

a. TV
b/2. DVDR/HDD (record from either 1, 3, or 4)
c/3. VCR (record from either 1, 2 or 4)


With a and (b or c) being independant.

Is this do-able with the Trilogy?

One problem I think I can see is that my DVDR/HDD (a Pioneer) doesn't have a single in/out SCART - it has one for output and one for input, so I'm not quite sure how to fit it together with the Trilogy's bidirectional socket.
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Old 06-01-2006, 17:30
mrfreeview
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Bedfordshire
Posts: 1,105
Originally Posted by Chris Simon
I know this has been discussed to death, but I find everything very confusing and conflicting!

I think everyone agrees that the perfect solution would be the Holdan HSR-1000 if they sorted a second or third RGB output and sent through Pin 8 switching on those outputs. But having contacted Holdan about a possible Mk3, I've got a definitive answer that they are not planning to release a Mk3 as they prefer to wait and see which way the market goes!

So...

I think the next best thing would be the Trilogy 1. Can someone confirm the following for me:

1. It has 4 fully wired RGB SCART inputs, including Pin 8 switching.

2. It has 1 fully wired TV RGB SCART output, including Pin 8 switching.

3. It has two distinct output paths therefore you can send something to the TV output while sending something else to the VCR or DVD - whose inputs are actually bidirectional. This is effectively a router then, not just a simple switch! Or are the record paths 'hardcoded', in that the VCR and DVD sockets can only record from a specific socket?

I know that some people have experienced widescreen switching problems with Pin 8 being pulled too low and permanently selecting 16:9. But to be honest I think I'd prefer to manually change back to 4:3 when necessary than change to 16:9!

The 'record' output path needs a bit more clarification too for my tiny mind! It can output a separate signal to either the DVD or the VCR, but not both, in other words, it hasn't got 3 output paths??

How do you tell it which output to direct the second video path to - is this done on the remote? And presumably you could send the same input to both outputs at the same time without loss of quality, e.g. Sky to both TV and VCR. But presumably not DVDR as well because that would be a third path.

Basically, what I want is as follows:

Inputs

1. Sky digibox
2. DVDR/HDD
3. VCR
4. FTA sat box

Outputs

a. TV
b/2. DVDR/HDD (record from either 1, 3, or 4)
c/3. VCR (record from either 1, 2 or 4)


With a and (b or c) being independant.

Is this do-able with the Trilogy?

One problem I think I can see is that my DVDR/HDD (a Pioneer) doesn't have a single in/out SCART - it has one for output and one for input, so I'm not quite sure how to fit it together with the Trilogy's bidirectional socket.
Yes SCART issues can go on forever!

This is what I did I went and purchased one of those 1 in 5 out SCART socket things. Then I took the back off it and removed all the PCB interconnections - basically the copper print on the PCB - not easy you need a small sharp knife and a lot of will power not to end up throwning the thing into the corner of the room and getting all upset.

Then I decided what I wanted connecting to what and if it was to be comp video, comp+s-vhs or RGB bearing in mind that you can't have s-vhs in both directions on the same scart lead or bi-directional RGB or RGB bi-directional with s-vhs. (so actually having a SCART for I/P and another for O/P is really rather good!)

Then I worked out all the pins that I needed to interconnected and then interconnected them with short lengths of wire. Finally put the whole thing back together again and I had created a Juncter for SCARTs. Then it was simply a case of SCART cable from the Juncter to this device, SCART cable from the Junker to that device and so on.

As my set up is 2 X DVD Rec, 2 x VHS Rec, 2 X DVT-B STB and a 3 SCART input TV it was all quite challenging! Each device having more than one SCART type connection allows many possibilities!

But the key point is it can be done!

And what of the dreaded pin 8? Well that was easily resolved just hold it at 6V permanently into the TV and you have 16:9 format forever!
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