Connections Again

[nick dare]

My problem is that I have no idea what the best connections for my system are. I've read the other threads on this topic but no-one has the same problem.

My Toshiba TV has 3 Scart sockets, an audio outlet and SVideo.
My Digibox has 2 Scart sockets
My DVD player has 1 scart and SVideo
My Video has 2 scarts.

Current set up is Digibox Scart 1 into TV Scart 1
Digibox Scart 2 into Video 1
Video 2 into TV 2
DVD into TV 3
TV Audio into Kenwood Amp

My problem is that my Kenwood Amp supports DVD 6 ch input but I don't appear to have anywhere to plug in the Scart at the other end of the 6 leads.

Should I rewire my system or just continue with what I've got which is adequate (but who wants adequate?)

[Cable Monkey]

A multi channel input is only of use to you if your amp is pro-logic only. If it is digital, then the connection for sound should be a single coax or optical cable between the DVD player and amp.

[nick dare]

My amp can switch between pro logic and digital.

So, am I better off with just two phono to two phono?

[soberion]

Your DVD should have a digital output connecter, either a single phono plug (co-axial) or an Optical connector (will roblably look like a small black plug, about 10mm square). You need to use this connection directly to your amp to get the Digital surround sound.

You say your TV audio goes into the amp. What kind of connection? 2 phonos?

Using this setup, you will getDigital sound from the DVD and stereo/pro-logic from every other source.

Is the s-video on the TV a separate socket, or do you mean AV3 is Ss-video compatable?

[nick dare]

Thanks for the tip about the digital cable on the DVD. I've got one of these to connect my Minidisc player. If it fits, I'll try it.

My audio to the stereo is two phonos.

My Svideo is a separate socket.

When I was playing with the connections menu on the TV last night I noticed that I had an AV2 input set to TV and an AV2 Output set to TV (other options - Ext1, 2, and 3 - whatever that means).

What is AV2 Output.

[pjweston]

If your Toshiba TV has the same SCART setup as mine - and it certainly appears that it does - then the SCARTs work as follows:

AV1:
- Leftmost SCART when looking from the rear; should have a '1' near the socket.
- Accepts composite video (called 'AV' on the Toshiba menus) and RGB.
- Capable of input (to the TV) only.
- Intended for digital video sources.

AV2:
- Middle SCART.
- Accepts composite video and S-video.
- Capable of input and output.
- Intended for your VCR (since it has an output function).

AV3:
- Rightmost SCART.
- Accepts composite video and S-video.
- Capable of input only.
- Has additional S-video and composite video socket on the front (and S-video on the back) of the TV which are actually wired into the SCART socket; you can actually simultaneously connect 4 (!) devices to this socket as long as only one is switched on at a time!
- Intended for camcorders (hence the sockets on the front of the TV).

The use of the connections should be pretty clear from the above descriptions...

AV1:
- Connect an RGB capable device to this; most DVDs & Digiboxes will have a menu option to enable RGB output.
- Set AV1 to 'AV'in the Toshiba menus (RGB is always enabled and therefore has no menu option).

AV2:
- Connect your VCR's bi-directional socket (the one with 2 arrows) to this.
- If your VCR is an SVHS model, set AV2 input to S-VIDEO on the Toshiba menu, otherwise set it to AV
- Set AV2 output to whichever device you would like to record from e.g. setting it to 'Ext1' enables your VCR to record the signal coming in on AV1 ('Ext' means SCART).
- If your VCR only has one bidirectional socket you will need to toggle the AV2 output depending on which device you wish to record from; check that you can record with the TV turned off, though.

AV3:
- Connect your remaining device to this socket.
- If possible, set the connected device to output S-video and set AV3 to 'S-VIDEO' in the Toshiba menus.

Here's an example (my setup):

AV1: RGB capable Digibox, input set to AV
AV2: VCR, input set to AV, output set to Ext1
AV3: S-video capable DVD, input set to S-video

It sounds like you've got the audio sorted out. Bear in mind that since SCART is wired for stereo, all 2 channel audio devices with SCART sockets - Digibox, VCR - may as well use the TV's stereo output. There is, for instance, no need to wire the Digibox audio output to the amp. because the stereo signal is already sent down the SCART to the TV and output from there to the TV.

[nick dare]

Cheers, mate.

It's now working fantastic. I can't believe the difference in the picture having switched the digibox to RGB.