SCART
SCART (from Syndicat des Constructeurs d'Appareils RadiorÃÂécepteurs et TÃÂélÃÂéviseurs) is a standard for connecting audio and video equipment. Also called PÃÂéritel and Euroconnector. SCART makes it easy to connect VCRs, DVD players, gaming systems and other equipment to television sets with minimal loss of quality.The SCART connector was developed by the French.
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2 Speculations about the intentions of the creators of SCART |
Motivations and applications for SCART
Before SCART came, consumer TV sets did not offer a standardized way of inputting signals other than RF antenna ones. Assuming the connectors even existed, devices made by different companies could have different and incompatible standards. For example, a VHS VCR could output a composite video signal through a German-orginated DIN-style connector or through an American-originated RCA connector.
SCART attempts to make connecting video devices together much simpler, by providing one plug that contains all the necessary signals, and is standard across different manufacturers. SCART makes connecting such devices very simple, because one cable can connect any two SCART-compatible devices, and the connector is designed so that you cannot insert it incorrectly. Devices with multiple SCART connectors can pass the signals unchanged when not active, which allows daisy-chaining of multiple signal sources into a single TV socket.
The ageing SCART standard has a number of drawbacks from today's point of view: it cannot carry both S-Video and RGB signals at the same time (originally it couldn't carry S-Video at all, which is quite logical since S-Video was invented many years after SCART). However, it is possible to output S-Video and RGB alternatively from a single SCART towards a TV, for example from an S-VHS + DVD combo player, and the TV set will adapt automatically. SCART cannot carry component video signals at all. 5.1 or higher surround sound formats, or any kind of digital picture or sound transmission are also outside SCART's capabilities for now. Note that carrying a 5.1 signal to the TV set is of little interest, as such a signal is only usefully directed towards a stereo system, and European TV programs do not offer 5.1 sound. RGB signals, which were SCART's strong point for many years, are getting less useful today, after the (arguably) superior component video signal format was introduced.
Pin-out:
+------------------------------------------+
| 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 | 21
| \\
| 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 \\
+--------------------------------------------+
AUDIO Output Right- AUDIO Input Right
- AUDIO Output Left
- AUDIO Ground
- BLUE Ground
- AUDIO Input Left
- BLUE
- Function Switching
- GREEN Ground
- D²B Input
- GREEN
- D²B Output
- RED/Chroma Ground
- D²B Ground
- RED/Chroma
- Blanking
- VIDEO/Sync/Luminance Ground
- Blanking Ground
- VIDEO/Sync/Luminance Output
- VIDEO/Sync/Luminance Input
- Common Ground (metal shield)
- 0V means no signal, or internal bypass
- +6V means a widescreen (16:9) signal
- +12V means a normal (4:3) signal
Speculations about the intentions of the creators of SCART
Its original purpose, at least from the somewhat cynical point of the view of a previous contributor to this article, was to prevent foreign television imports. Previously France had legislation which prevented all imported televisions, if they didn't support the old French 819 line monochrome system. One could understand that this effectively stopped any foreign televisions being imported, but when the 819 line system disappeared (its VHF frequency band has been given to Canal Plus, the first French Pay TV network, at the beginning of the eighties) this was no longer a valid reason for banning imports. Therefore they introduced the SCART socket to try to maintain their private television market [another speculation], the newly passed legislation requiring every TV sold in France since 1980 to have a SCART socket. This was of course much less of a deterrent, as it was much easier for manufacturers to add a SCART socket to their televisions than to produce dual-standard sets, and the SCART was actually useful elsewhere, with the development of home video recorders and especially of personal computers, which could be very easily connected to TV sets, giving the best possible image quality.