Best Scart splitter

[Soundwave]

Howdo chaps,

Just looking for a scart splitter & I was just wondering what the best one is without spending shedloads of cash??

Is the Argos black box one still the best bet?

I want it so I can have my SKY/Saturn/SNES/Megadrive all in RGB slot 1 without having to faff about behind the telly everytime I want to switch between them.

The downgrade in PQ in Scart's 2 & 3 is just plain ridiculous so Scart 1 is my only option now for PQ that doesnt make my eye's bleed.

Thanks for the help

Neil

[charlesr]

Best for the price, yeah.

[Soundwave]

Any recommendations then Charles for not much more money??

I dont mind spending a bit to get better PQ but I'm not going to go too overboard on it

Ta

Neil

[Pavey]

I have an Argos one here you can have Neil. As far as i know it's the latest version, as the one i used to have was different slightly.

[J0e Musashi]

You won't get better PQ without spending serious money, but see if you can select Scarts 2+3 to RGB over composite. Sky should be fine running at composite though. I could never tell a difference when I had RGB enabled personally.

[Soundwave]

I have an Argos one here you can have Neil. As far as i know it's the latest version, as the one i used to have was different slightly.

That sounds good Nick,
Would deffinitley be interested if you dont mind parting with it

You won't get better PQ without spending serious money, but see if you can select Scarts 2+3 to RGB over composite. Sky should be fine running at composite though. I could never tell a difference when I had RGB enabled personally.

I was afraid that would be the case

Still anything to be able to scart everything RGB through scart 1 will be a god send.

My Sky is connected to my DVD Recorder/player so it needs to be through RGB as well for reasonable PQ for my films which is why I'd prefer to keep it on Scart 1 as well...at least until I get my component splitter setup & can run the DVD Recorder via component instead.

Thanks for the help & advice though guys mucho appreciated.

Neil

[CMcK]

Have a look around for a second hand Joytech scart splitter. I think the model number is 640c. Remote controlled and has a built in amp to boost all the input signals.

[Oldgamingfart]

I have a Holdan HSR-1000 which I believe is now discontinued, but it supports 4 RGB inputs and 3 composite, and has an auto switching function with manual override. It's also capable of routing the audio from any of the connected devices to an amplifier (automatically), and it has a remote.

I think there might be better ones available now but it's a good switcher if you just want to have something that you can plug in and forget about.

[fallenangle]

Very unusual to have 3 SCART sockets and only one is RGB - generally 1 and 2 are RGB capable and 3 limited to CV and S-Video, often with S-Video having to be manually selected. I'd check the TV manual and then make sure S2 isn't set for S-Video either.

There are a number of SCART controllers/switchers on the market available from online AV suppliers which look very similar with roughly matching spec but branded differently. I use a 'Vivanco' one which I've had no problems with ie. no cross-talk interference and also seems to boost the signal too.

Lektropacks.co.uk used to do one branded Trilogy which they claimed was the 'original' and best version. A few years ago it was selling at about ?70.

Just checked and it's now under ?50 exc. p&p.

http://www.lektropacks.com/view_product_standard.php?product=77&sub/=&show=Trilogy1

[dvdx2]

Have a look around for a second hand Joytech scart splitter. I think the model number is 640c. Remote controlled and has a built in amp to boost all the input signals.

can second this great splitter, with no signal loss

the BTECH one is great too (no loss)

[Decider-VT]

I have a quick question about this legendary Argos SCART switch. I spotted this in Maplin today and it seems to be the correct one (according to photographs I've seen, they appear to be physically identical) but only one input is labelled "RGB". A customer question on Maplin's site confirms this:

Just a simple question, I have two RGB devices (Gamecube, Xbox 360) which I want to attach to the one RGB socket on my TV. Will this device allow me to do that? Are all the sockets capable of receiving RGB? A) No only one input and one output socket is wired for RGB not all 4

Is this the case for the Argos switch? I'd like to run two powered Joytech SCART switches through this to enable me to run analogue audio from the phono outputs to my amp. I'm aware of the possibility of degradation in the quality of the picture by running things through two switches linked in series but the whole exercise would be pointless if one of them would display in composite only.

EDIT: answer found here. Does anybody know of anywhere that still sells the Argos switch, then? A full RGB box would be ideal.

[dvdx2]

I have a quick question about this legendary Argos SCART switch. I spotted this in Maplin today and it seems to be the correct one (according to photographs I've seen, they appear to be physically identical) but only one input is labelled "RGB". A customer question on Maplin's site confirms this:

Is this the case for the Argos switch? I'd like to run two powered Joytech SCART switches through this to enable me to run analogue audio from the phono outputs to my amp. I'm aware of the possibility of degradation in the quality of the picture by running things through two switches linked in series but the whole exercise would be pointless if one of them would display in composite only.

EDIT: answer found here. Does anybody know of anywhere that still sells the Argos switch, then? A full RGB box would be ideal.

i got diagonal signal interference with the legendary argos box - get yourself a decent splitter if you want no degradation ie the BTEC or Joytech

[charlesr]

Quality seems variable with the argos box. If you get interference, get a replacement. You'd be unlucky to get two in a row.

[Decider-VT]

i got diagonal signal interference with the legendary argos box - get yourself a decent splitter if you want no degradation ie the BTEC or Joytech

I have two Joytech boxes already- they're perfectly usable but they don't output sound from the SCART inputs via the phono outputs as output from the box is restricted to the corresponding input only. Joytech appears to have designed the box like this so one can plug multiple connections into one input (i.e. RGB SCART and S-video, for example).

It's frustrating because I'd like to route the audio from each box to my amp, ideally before it reaches my CRT. There are various SCART adaptors available that provide phono breakouts for the audio but the Argos box seemed to be especially ideal as people have reported that it has provided the picture quality is excellent and using it means that I could connect both of my Joytech boxes to the single RGB input on my CRT and route audio to my amp from a single output.

Further investigation of an old Argos catalogue reveals that the manufacturer is/was a company named Philex. Their site lists two very similar SCART boxes- the 18205HS and the similarly named 18205S. The latter appears to be identical to the switch that Maplin and others sell, with one RGB input only. I believe that the former may be the box Argos used to sell, given that many members here have reported full RGB-compatibility across all inputs on theirs. The Philex site has different photos of each box, with no specific input being labelled as RGB on the 18205HS, so I've e-mailed them to check if it is fully RGB-compatible across all inputs. I'll report my findings here if/when I receive a reply.

[Decider-VT]

Interesting. From an e-mail sent this morning:

The 18205HS is not fully wired so hence not RGB on all ports, also the demand for scart products has been superseded by HDMI with its Higher resolution, deeper colour and superior sound, and as the market has diminished this is probably why the AV scart switch box products are quite hard to source now as they were made by a large number of manufacturers all with slightly differing RGB, S-Video and Composite video switching options.

So neither box supplied by Philex is capable of RGB across all inputs, which would suggest that the Argos box isn't either- provided that Philex has remained the sole supplier of the Argos box. Can somebody verify that the Argos box truly supplies full RGB across all inputs?