SCART sockets

[patrickgnl]

I was just reading a french forum, where the french author was expressing amazement that in the late nineties you could still buy TV sets in the UK without SCART sockets.

To my knowledge they were never made a legal requirement here, which would be why, although it would be fair to say that they would only be missing from the very cheapest end of the market, as all of the main manufacturers included them.

The SCART socket of course started life in France, I believe because of the decision to make Canal Plus a pay terrestrial station, and they needed a way of adding a decoder that switches in and out automatically. I remember seeing such a device in a TV shop window while on my hols once. In the UK Channel 4 started in 1982 and was free to air and pay TV was never broadcast on analogue TV here.

The whole of Europe benefitted from inclusion of the SCART socket, as it included RGB which considerably increased the picture quality from satellite Tv in DVB-S and around the same time DVD players. Even today there is a market for small CRT TVs with ScART that gamers use with their consoles. Another feature way ahead of its time was the automatic input switching, which although less sophisticated, in my opinion worked far better than HDMI switching does today, the latter is very hit and miss, and fiddly to set up.

While Europe had SCART sockets the rest of the World eventually had component inputs on their TVs, satellite receivers and dvd players. Five phono sockets instead of one rather large plug. The one benefit to component inputs was it could be used for higher resolutions than 576i/480i, i have a Sony monitor that works with 1080i via component inputs. But of course by this point HDMi came along and SCART and component cables were destined for the connection cable bin.

I still have a drawer full of scart cables and a few component ones too. Life *was* simpler with SCART, although there were problems, some cables weren’t fully wired, the pins would sometimes push in and the cables were so thick.

I would be interested in what others on here have to add (or correct) on this topic.

Patrick

[paulsherwin]

SCART was mandatory on most TVs sold in the EU after some time in the early 90s.

[G6Tanuki]

Wasan't there a get-out-clause depending on the size of the telly? (Small/portable ones not needing to be fitted with a SCART port?).

Personally, though the _idea_ of SCART was good, the physical implementation varied from the poor to the utterly-dire. The plugs/sockets lacked a decent retention-scheme - it was oh-so-easy to partially dislodge a SCART plug when pushing a games-console/VCR/PVR/Satellite-decoder back onto its shelf under the telly, a problem made far greater by the way the cable came out of many SCART plugs at 45-degrees. Fatigued soldering on the PCB-mounted sockets was another big problem.

Thankfully we now have HDMI/DisplayPort for all this stuff.

[paulsherwin]

That is true. SCART is a good example of a connector becoming a standard for essentially political reasons. There were plenty of other multipin connectors around when Peritel was developed, most of which could be securely locked in place, but they had the drawback that none of them were French.

To be fair, SCART sockets were originally intended to be positioned vertically, with the cable exiting the bottom of the plug. They were easy to orientate and reasonably secure when used like that.

[turretslug]

ISTR it was above 14" (surely 37cm aux français?) that it had to have a SCART connector initially- I recall a story in Television magazine whereby all prospective import TVs of non-French manufacture at one point were sent to a small provincial customs house where presumably some diffident official unhurriedly unboxed it and gravely muttered "Non" on the grounds that it didn't have a SCART socket.

Yes, great idea but rubbish implementation- if they had chosen to use something along the lines of a 21-way version of the proven "D" series, (ground pin commoned with shell) that would have been rather more dependable and with a range of locking options, instead it became a contender for most horrid connector ever.

a contender for most horrid connector ever

I think that calls for a new thread, I will start it.

[AJSmith625]

One of the biggest problems I found with scart was that some customers just could not get the hang of the automatic switching when the tv was used with a video recorder. They had got use to switching the tv to channel position 8 or 0 to use the video then going back to 1,2,3 or 4 for ordinary tv. Some makes of video would automaticlly switch the tv over as soon as it was switched on. If the timer had been set to record a programme the owner could not understand why the channel he or she was watching would suddenly change to to the one being recorded and with some tv sets they could not switch back by pressing the appropriate channel button on the tv remote control. More clever video recorders would only switch over the tv set when the play button was pressed or the menu button pressed to set the timer. Once the timer had been set the tv would switch back to its own channels. I often found the best solution was to disconnect pin 8 (automatic switching) at one end of the scart lead then show the owner how to toggle manually between tv and the recorder using the TV and AV buttons on the tv remote control.

Alan.

[Welsh Anorak]

Although I don't like them, they have one great advantage over the HDMI ports in that they have a switching protocol. In practice that means that elderly people don't need to worry about the TV's Source button. In fact, I've visited one such person this afternoon - she has an HD TV with a Sky HD box. Luckily both have SCART sockets so she uses SCART as she can't understand how to get to HDMI. The loss of HD isn't an issue.
And how many service calls have we had oveer the years for no sound or no picture, often intermittent? A good push on the plugs and a bit of acting to make the customer feel they've had their money's worth and the job's done.

[trickie_dickie]

Originally Posted by Welsh Anorak

Although I don't like them, they have one great advantage over the HDMI ports in that they have a switching protocol. In practice that means that elderly people don't need to worry about the TV's Source button. In fact, I've visited one such person this afternoon - she has an HD TV with a Sky HD box. Luckily both have SCART sockets so she uses SCART as she can't understand how to get to HDMI. The loss of HD isn't an issue.
And how many service calls have we had over the years for no sound or no picture, often intermittent? A good push on the plugs and a bit of acting to make the customer feel they've had their money's worth and the job's done.

I had that very problem a few weeks ago. We have an old Sky box feeding a Flatscreen TV in our bedroom. (Yeh, I know but at my time of life, its one of the few pleasures I get) Anyway, the TV was showing "No Signal". It would switch from Sky to Freeview (built in) no problem. Had me going for a while until I went to check the Scart lead. As soon as I touched it, problem solved. My Mrs was amazed that I still had that magic touch. LOL

[ColinB]

Originally Posted by AJSmith625

I often found the best solution was to disconnect pin 8 (automatic switching) at one end of the scart lead then show the owner how to toggle manually between tv and the recorder using the TV and AV buttons on the tv remote control.

Alan.

Yes, I pretty much always did this if putting a new install together for the less tech-savvy user.

[AC/HL]

Turned a simple TV into a monitor and/or source of baseband video (coupled with mains isolation of course), enabling all the "boxes" we take for granted these days. Not all leads have the full range of signals though, adding a bit of mystique to the pot. A bit clunky perhaps, but universal in a corporate world.

[1955APREN]

Two problems that used to come across quite often
1 some set ie some Decca;s scart socket was only a input did not output
video or audio ( a friend of mine who used to install deaf aid loops in retirement home got caught on this one)

2 Pattering on video in strong signal area's this was most likely due to poor
screening in the start lead . If say BBc 2 was last station watch by customer
this signal would still be out putted to one of the pins on the scratch lead( was it pin 9) To clear the problem we used to take start lead tv end a disconnect pin 9 (Got a nice big C on job sheet only another 5.7 to go for the rest of the day to reach my target for the day.
Derrick

[Dave Moll]

Originally Posted by 1955APREN

some set ... scart socket was only a input did not output video or audio

Annoyingly, this is true of the inherited LG flat-screen digital television that I have. The SCART is input only, though it apparently has output via HDMI (not that I've made serious attempts to utilise that.

[birksholt]

Trying to reach round the back to put the scart cable in a socket you can't see, the more modern equivalent of which would be connecting a USB cable, always takes the third attempt to find out you had it the right way round in the first place

[IKC2E51R8]

Scart is still the bane of my life but also extremly helpful, i have two crts in use in my room besides my daily driver flatscreen samsung, A Philips GR2.2 that I use with my PS3 to watch music videos ive converted to 4:3, the sound on the GR2.2 is incredible, Its one of the GR2.2s with a subwoofer connection and once i hooked up the subwoofer i couldnt believe the already great sound was so much richer.

Ive also got my Sharp 8PSR Set thats connected with a Goldstar VCR and Matsui DVD player.

all three of them demand scart and from time to time i might wanna use the ps3 on the sharp so il be swapping the scarts between them alot.

also use the PS3 for testing tv's im working on so more fiddling around with scart.

[Richard_FM]

I've had a love-hate relationship with Scarts over the year.

The usual problems with connections working loose due due to the weight of the cable etc..

There didn't seem to be a standard for which way up the sockets shoud be, so one at least one device I had to use one of those 3 x RCA breakout boxes upside down with the switch downwards.

My 21" Philips set used one of the Scarts as an S-Video input, which wasn't in the original spec and not often implemented. When I wanted to connect by first DVD player to this set I had to used a 3 x RCA + S-Video breakout box as the Scart on it didn't output S-Video. Only one of the Scarts was a RGB input and was taken up by an On Digital Box.

I've heard Philips used their own multi-pin connections on Laserdisc players and V2000 VCRs. I've not seen one, but I heard they are like a Scart but different enough to be incompatible.

[bluepilot]

I remember many years ago in the early days of satellite TV, there were Amstrad boxes all over the place in the UK. In Germany on the other hand satellite TV was unheard of because the FTZ regulations made it impossible to just buy a satellite dish and install it. (A lot of hassle with an "active antenna" which had to be sold at exorbitant prices by an authorised dealer and installed by a qualified installer after first getting permission from the FTZ, and then registered with the authorities). The simple ex-pat solution was to buy an Amstrad box in the UK, smuggle it to Germany and connect it to a German TV with the SCART connector. It worked wonderfully.

[AC/HL]

You just need a bigger dish: https://satfi.co.uk/coverage/

[llama]

ref Post #1:
I seem to remember the French mandated Peritel to accommodate their equivalent of Prestel/Viewdata/Ceefax etc to enhance accessibility.
Graham

[Red to black]

As far as I recall the French government mandated all TV sets imported into France had to be equipped with a scart socket as a crude form of protectionist measures (similar to the 405 standard in Britain) against cheap imports, later this became part of EU measures for similar reasons but was watered down somewhat with various screen sizes and time limits, it did become known later as the Euroconnector for a reason.