[Rob]

STB "boosting" may be slightly incorrect, but many connections via the STB do require the STB to be powered, indicating there is some sort of amplifier. It's the same as daisy chaining your coaxial aerial thorugh the VCR in the good old days when that was all the extra kit we had.

Yep it's dissapointing that there aren't better or an alternative variety of outputs from the STBs, especially for sound, but I suppose the cable companies have to balance build costs versus number of ports, many of which would be redundant. The number of times we see comments on lack of even basic phono sockets on some STBs (ntl's most recent Samsung STBs have ditched these), necessitating use of a breakout phono / scart lead.

Of course a Scart lead is perceived to provide the best variety of signal out of the STB (analogue), you can get various leads that can split a scart into other components.