[David Robinson]

All the SCARTs on my TV were in use and I wanted to add a DVD player. So I bought a Pioneer DV-565A which will loop through another source via its SCART input connector when it is in standby. The loopthrough source is my DTT box. Problem solved? Er... no.

The Pioneer would not play back 4:3 material correctly. It was keeping the TV in widescreen mode all the time. To cut a long story short, I found that the state of the external device affects the way the Pioneer plays DVDs:

• If the external device is in standby, the Pioneer plays in widescreen all the time, irrespective of the disc. It will also occasionally deselect itself on the TV altogether, while watching a disc
  
  
• If the external device is active and in widescreen, or not connected at all, the Pioneer appears to work correctly
  
  
• If the external device is active and in 4:3, the Pioneer plays all discs in 4:3
  
  
• If the external device changes widescreen mode (as set top boxes will do if the transmission mode changes), the DVD playback disappears from the screen and reappears a couple of seconds later (possibly in the wrong mode, as above).

All this refers to using SCART pin 8 as the means of widescreen switching. I have long since disabled line 23 widescreen signalling on the TV, because it forces the set to show 4:3 material in 4:3 whereas I mostly prefer to use 14:9 for this.

I returned the unit to the retailer and got a replacement, but the result was the same. I think I can reasonably say that Pioneer UK customer service have been about as much use as a chocolate teapot. I asked them if this was a fault on my particular unit or a design problem. They ignored this question, simply and stupidly saying it was not a fault. When I again pointed out that it is, they then said that all Pioneer models do the same. How they could possibly know this is beyond me. Obviously they can't be asked to try any experiments or even ask Head Office the question, but are just trying to fob me off.

So - do any other members of the forum have the same problem? Equally interesting, does anyone NOT have the problem?