Scart

From WikiAV

The term Scart is an abbreviation from the French name Syndicat des Constructeurs d'Appareils Radiorécepteurs et Téléviseurs although in France they use the term Péritel or Euroconnector. The Scart connector has 21 pins (pin 21 being the metal surround); these are used to carry audio and video in various formats and also several switching signals.

Contents 1 History 2 Scart Connector Pin Out 3 What’s Transmitted 4 Problems 5 External Links

[edit] History

The scart connector was developed to be a standardized connector capable of connecting together all different types of home AV equipment. Before the scart connector no standards existed between the different product manufacturers, many of them used their own connectors all based upon different styles of connector; none of these were compatible. The only common type of connection that would work between all pieces of equipment (and then it was country dependent) was the RF connection.

[edit] Scart Connector Pin Out

The scart connector is bi-directional that is they can be plugged in either way around they also cannot be plugged in the wrong way around; all these features make the scart connector idiot proof.

+------------------------------------------+
| 1   3   5   7   9   11  13  15  17  19   | 21
|                                          \
|   2   4   6   8   10  12  14  16  18  20  \
+--------------------------------------------+

The 21 pins in a scart connector carry the following signals.

1. AUDIO Output Right
2. AUDIO Input Right
3. AUDIO Output Left
4. AUDIO Ground
5. BLUE Ground
6. AUDIO Input Left
7. BLUE Signal
8. Function Switching
9. GREEN Ground
10. D²B Input
11. GREEN Signal
12. D²B Output
13. RED Ground / Chroma (C) Ground
14. D²B Ground / RGB Status Ground
15. RED Signal / Chroma (C)
16. Blanking / RGB Status
17. Composite Video Ground / Composite Sync Ground / Luminance (Y) Ground
18. Blanking Ground / Composite Sync Ground / Luminance (Y) Ground
19. Composite Video Output / Composite Sync. Output / Luminance (Y) Output
20. Composite Video Input / Composite Sync. Input / Luminance (Y) Input
21. Common Ground (metal shield)

Pin 8 is a switching signal from the source that indicates the format of video signal.

0V means no signal

'+6V means a widescreen (16:9) signal'

+12V means a normal (4:3) signal

D²B stands for Digital Data Bus it is a serial communication standard developed by Philips in the 1970’s for home automation.

[edit] What’s Transmitted

The scart connector was originally designed to send audio and video (composite) in both directions as well as a higher quality RGB signal in one direction only. The scart standard was later modified to send an s-video signal as well, this modification means that you can use either s-video or RGB.

[edit] Problems

As mentioned previously the connection can’t send RGB and s-video signals at the same time

The scart connection is not digital, all the signals that are sent (audio and video) are analogue. There is a new connector known as an HDMI connector, this is sometimes referred to a digital scart connector as it carries audio and video in digital form.

The scart connector only carry’s 2 audio channels (Left and Right), it wont give you 5.1 sound.

A scart connector doesn’t send a component video signal.

The maximum cable length for a scart connector is about 10m to 20m although this is heavily dependent upon the quality of the cable and nearby sources of interference.

The Scart connector isn’t a particularly secure connection, the cable is usually quite heavy and drags the connector out of the device; although recently a range of locking scart connectors have come onto the market which overcomes this problem. You can view a range of locking scart cables at a star solutions

[edit] External Links

Detailed Scart Pin Information