SCART convert from two way to one way

I have a Panasonic TX-26LMD70 TV and this is connected to a Sky+ box, a hard-drive/DVD box (Philips DVDR3440), a VCR, and a lap top. Since the other items don’t have HDMI connection options are the two SCART connectors, the Phono plugs, TV coax, and the PC lead.
The VCR very rarely used but the others are in regular use. For some reason I find the two SCART connectors on the Sky+ are not the same I realise one is IN/OUT and other is OUT only but the Hard-drive/DVD on one output will only work if the output is selected after the unit is switched on.
And with the TV we seem to get a ghost image. I have tried all sorts of combinations of leads but the ghost image seems to be there when ever the hard-drive/DVD is used.
On further investigation I realised the faint ghost image is linked to the Freeview signal and if a blank screen is on hard-drive/DVD and I flick between Freeview and AV1 (hard-drive/DVD) this is easy to confirm.
It seems one can use the TV as a Freeview box to record from but without a second TV to monitor the hard-drive/DVD it is not really a useable feature however I can’t find any way to disable the feature.
To cure the problem I have modified a SCART lead by removing one CVBS lead which linked pin 20 to pin 19 and this has in the main removed the problem but the direct picture from Sky+ does not look quite the same as the signal vie hard-drive/DVD.
I also wonder if a similar mod would help the connection between Sky+ and the hard-drive/DVD.
I wonder if anyone can explain how a SCART lead should be modified to make it one way only.

First off, you shouldn't need to start snipping pins in SCART leads to make a system work.

If we start by boiling your system down to just the basics it'll be easier to deal with what you want. So let's forget about the PC and VCR for the time being. That leaves us just the TV, Sky+ box and DVD Recorder to deal with.

Next, I need to understand what you want from your system. I'll give you an example:
If it was me, I'd have Sky+ as my main recorder because it can do the whole record-one-channel-whilst-watching-another-channel thing. The DVD Recorder would be there mainly to play movies and to do the odd recording from Freeview. The TV has its own Freeview tuner built in, but that really wouldn't get used that often as my Sky+ box would be the main system tuner. All of this presumes there is a Sky subscription and that the Sky+ box record feature works.

What do you want?



P.S. if you just want to snip some pins then have a look in the back of your Panasonic TV manual. It shows you the pin out of a SCART plug

The hard-drive/DVD is used for items considered as special like the Disc World film done on Sky and it will allow the removal of adverts before writing to DVD.
It also allows the transfer of film using firewire from the camcorder.
And is used to view as it has 6 hour memory rather than 1 hour offered with Sky.
The Sky+ is used for temporary recording only to be viewed or transferred within 3 or 4 days.
Because the hard-drive/DVD has a RF module on output it is also used to view DVD, or Hard-drive in rest of the house. Sometimes we want to view Sky+ direct.
The connection Sky to Hard-drive/DVD will not work TV at all and I have a feeling it is caused because of a loop formed and hence wanting to work out how to make the lead one way only.
The connection Sky to Hard-drive/DVD also fails if connection Hard-drive/DVD is turned off and on again until I use select inputs and go around in a circle and re-select the EX 2 input again.
I have seen SCART leads before with missing pins so I would assume there is a standard way to make them one way so thought I would ask.
And yes I have pin out and that's how I selected Pin 19 to 20 leaving just 20 to 19 for CVBS in (video) does of course mean lead has to go right way around.

ericmark said:

The hard-drive/DVD is used for items considered as special like the Disc World film done on Sky and it will allow the removal of adverts before writing to DVD.
It also allows the transfer of film using firewire from the camcorder.

Click to expand...

Transferring camcorder footage is an independent connection (firewire). It can be done no matter how the recorder is connected to the TV, so we don't need to concern ourselves with that.

Archiving - yes, OK - there are a few different ways to connect; but if you want to use the recorder's Time Slip feature in preference to Sky then that leaves only one option: Sky+ TV SCART (RGB) to Recorder AV2 (RGB) to TV SCART 1 (RGB). So the Sky signal passes through the DVD Recorder, which means the recorder always has to be on. It's not my preferred way of doing things; for a start I don't like the quality drop or time lag from using time slip on my Philips, but things could have improved on your model. However, it's your system and your choice.