[mythtv-users] SCART (Was: Interfacing Zotac IONITX to Analog TV)

[Simon Hobson]

Mike Perkins wrote:

>>Thought that the SCART was a global standard on TVs.. But it might only be
>>an european standard then? Oh well, I have scart on all my tv's, so I could
>>probably use it.. Only problem is money... I don't think my wife agrees that
>>I should spend more money on toys (that's her opinion on my myth
>>experiments)

>It's a cheap nasty tin and plastic connector the French managed to 
>foist upon the rest of us europeans. It's got 21 pins and *still* 
>hasn't got enough signal paths, the way it's specified. Utter crap.

Yeah - in hindsight it was short of pins, and the connectors are 
often cheap and nasty (but usually because people spend "cheap" and 
accept "nasty"). But, at the time it WAS a huge step forward.

Before scart :
Every manufacturer had their own idea of what connector to use and 
what signals to support. Some had multiple such 'standards'.
Some (most ?) TVs had no AV connections at all.
Connecting anything up involved a horrible mess of multiple cables 
(eg 2xphono for audio plus another phono for composite video or a 4 
pin round connector for S-Video) with multiple connectors.

Thanks to the French for mandating it on every TV sold in France :
We now expect there to be at least one, usually more, standardised 
connectors on our TVs and AV equipment.
Whilst the cable may be thick, we can normally hook up TVs to video 
recorders, PVRs, decoder boxes, satellite & digital receivers etc 
with a single cable.
RGB is commonly supported since there are pins for it.
Even non technical people can buy a TV and another device (video, 
PVR, etc) and connect it up themselves.


So whilst I agree with you that it's now got some shortcomings, I'd 
rather have it than what we didn't have before :-) It sounds like out 
US friends are missing out.

-- 
Simon Hobson

Visit http://www.magpiesnestpublishing.co.uk/ for books by acclaimed
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