Faulty scart socket?

[Steve1977]

We have a Sony 28" Widescreen CRT (100Hz) and we have a very pecuilar problem and it all started to occur when I invested in a DVD recorder (whcih was duly sent back). But this whats essentially happening...

Scart 2
Our TV has three scart sockets. In the 1st Socket we have Virgin Cable and have had no picture problems, but when we connect up the DVD player to Scart 2, we get a really strange problem where the screen keeps on flickering intermintently, particulary around the lower edge of the screen.

Scart 3
So maybe there's a problem with the DVD player? I dunno and I doubt it because when I connect it upto the 3rd Scart socket, I get no flickering whatsoever...but the picture quality looks muddy and not as good picture quality as Scart 2.

Going back to Scart 2...
Now if I connect the Gamecube or Virgin Cable to Scart 2, I get no flickering whatsoever! argh!!! So I havent a bloody clue whats going on.

Iv also tried 3 different scart leads when connecting the DVD to Scart 2 and it doesent seem to matter

This is really doing my nut in, Iv had the problem for ages now and you know how the small things just **** you off because of other things going on in your life? Well this is one of those niggly little bitch of a problem which is refusing to go away and thus is becoming a bigger problem in my mind by the day.

Please please help!!

[martinman3]

You don't say which model you have but most sets until recently only supported RGB on one SCART, AV1. If both the cable box and the DVD player are set to use RGB in this situation you sometimes see parts of one picture source (AV1) around the edges of the picture source you are viewing (AV2).
I presume that this is because the video timing is slightly different between the two sources and shifted up/down or left/right relative to each other.
If you can use S-Video or composite on AV2 the problem should go.
Or you could plug the DVD into the second scart of the cable box if it supports this.
Or you could use a SCART switcher, manual or automatic type, which supports RGB.

[Steve1977]

Cheers for the post mate! Really really helpful. Will give this a try

[Steve1977]

I sat down to watch Superman Returns on DVD tonight and I did the following:

* Set our Cable box to composite (from RGB)
* Put the Cable Box in Standby incase we had any interference at all

But unfortunately the same happened with regards to the flickering.

So what I did then was actually remove the Scart lead for the Cable box from back of TV and we still got flickering. I then put the Scart Lead for DVD into the Scart 1 on TV...and yet, still more flickering.

Once again, putting it into the 3rd Scart socket on our TV eliminated the flickering but the quality was very poor (even though the DVD was still set to RGB)

With the player plugged into Scart 2, I changed the settings to S-Video and this eliminated the flicker but the picture was in black and white.