SCART video on the RasPi

[FAM17]

I have an old SCART tv and i was wondering if it would work on the RasPi? It does say something in the wiki about SCART but I do not know how it is ', directly from board'

Would hdmi to SCART be feasible? How and What cables are needed to go ', directly from board'?

Sorry for my noobiness.

[Lynbarn]

FAM17 said:


I have an old SCART tv and i was wondering if it would work on the RasPi? It does say something in the wiki about SCART but I do not know how it is ', directly from board'

Would hdmi to SCART be feasible? How and What cables are needed to go ', directly from board'?

Sorry for my noobiness.


The composite vido connector can be connected, via a simple (and fairly cheap) SCART-Composite connector plug, such as ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/CABLED.....038;sr=8-8 [no guarantee - just included as an example])  which should work. HDMI to SCART is a different matter however, and would need more complex (and expensive) protocol converters – if such a thing is available.

[Burngate]

For those not in the EU, SCART was an unlovely invention by Europe designed to protect our TV manufaturers.

It can carry analogue sound in two directions, composite (PAL) video in two directions, and analogue RGB signals in one direction (it uses one of the composite videos for sync) but only in standard definition.

So you can feed our RasPi into a SCART tv. To do this you will need a cable with a SCART connector on one end and an RCA plug on the other. For sound you'll need one with a 3.5mm jack as well (or three RCA plugs in which case you'll need a 3.5mm jack to two RCA adapter as well). Your local shop should have them.

For completeness, here's the relevent pin-out of the SCART:

Pin 18 composite video in

Pin 20 video ground

Pin  6 audio left in

pin  2 audio right in

pin 4 audio ground

[FAM17]

Thanks for the answers but I still am confused on how it plugs into the RasPi? I know it has pins on it but i have no clue if they are relevant or not.

EDIT: I have been a complete doofus. I just checked the diagrams of the RasPi and right there is an RCA connector which I never knew existed. Thanks so much for your replies.

Sorry

[Gert van Loo]

For those not in the EU, SCART was an unlovely invention by Europe designed to protect our TV manufaturers.


I think is was the French (seriously) who tried to protect their home industry with a 'special' connector and then found it did not work because all manufacturers where adding SCART to their TVs.

[Gert van Loo]

FAM17 said:


Thanks for the answers but I still am confused on how it plugs into the RasPi? I know it has pins on it but i have no clue if they are relevant or not.

EDIT: I have been a complete doofus. I just checked the diagrams of the RasPi and right there is an RCA connector which I never knew existed. Thanks so much for your replies.

Sorry



Yes that connects to the round (often yellow) little plug of your TV. At least I assume your TV has a round yellow plug often adjacent to a read a white one of the same type. Most TV's which have scart have those too.

[FAM17]

I feel even more stupid because it took 5 seconds to riffle through a box of cables and wires that i always knew would come handy and i made a RasPi to SCART cable!

Here is a pic (Mine does have a yellow plug!)

[Lynbarn]

Gert said:



For those not in the EU, SCART was an unlovely invention by Europe designed to protect our TV manufaturers.


I think is was the French (seriously) who tried to protect their home industry with a 'special' connector and then found it did not work because all manufacturers where adding SCART to their TVs.



Yep - that was the story I'd heard - and it must be the most unwieldy, impractical connector standard ever - the slightest nudge, they fall out, and colour/vision and/or sound disappear, then as they're normally somewhere around the back of the TV, VCR, STB, etc, you need very long, flexible arms to get them back in!

[Phil Spiegel]

And additionally, the French "restricted" imports (of VCRs) by also requiring them to go through a single Customs Point  (allegedly) … perhaps because, originally, only they knew what  the required SCART connector (which I think is an acronym) looked like??? (allegedly…and retrospectively, as after all, we are now one big common market with equality of sheep and other farm produce…)

(I used to suggest that the Channel Tunnel would have been built a long time ago (like when they first started it), if it was going to any other country   even if it  was twice as long -which admittedly doesn"t give much choice.  When will "they" give Calais back? When will the Angles and Saxons return home???….

[Lynbarn]

Phil Spiegel said:


And additionally, the French "restricted" imports (of VCRs) by also requiring them to go through a single Customs Point  (allegedly) … perhaps because, originally, only they knew what  the required SCART connector (which I think is an acronym) looked like???



SCART: Syndicat des Constructeurs d'Appareils Radiorécepteurs et Téléviseurs, (Radio and Television Receiver Manufacturers' Association) is a French-originated standard and associated 21-pin connector for connecting audio-visual (AV) equipment together. It is also known as Péritel (especially in France), 21-pin EuroSCART, Euroconector or EuroAV. In America, another name for SCART is EIA Multiport. (thanks Wikipedia!)

Even the name seems pretty convoluted!

[drgeoff]

FAM17 said:


I feel even more stupid because it took 5 seconds to riffle through a box of cables and wires that i always knew would come handy and i made a RasPi to SCART cable!

Here is a pic (Mine does have a yellow plug!)





Those adaptors can come in 3 versions:

1.  For video and audio arriving on 3 RCA plugs to go into a SCART socket.

2.  To take video and audio out of a SCART socket via a lead with 3 RCA plugs.

3.  With an In/Out switch so that it can do either of the above (but not both simultaneously).

Although SCART was quite horrible in the mechanical sense it did allow the "switch to me" feature which the rest of the world didn't have with composite, S-video or component.  It could be there with HDMI but many devices leave the HDMI output powered up even in standby resulting in HDMI auto switchers not always working as expected.

[Burngate]

Phil Spiegel said:

I used to suggest that the Channel Tunnel would have been built a long time ago (like when they first started it), if it was going to any other country   even if it  was twice as long -which admittedly doesn"t give much choice.  

Actually the French were quite cunning.
You may remember the Channel Tunnel was started at about the same time German Reunification was being talked about.
You may also be aware of the difficulties on D-Day caused by the weather in the channel.
So the Chunnel is there in case the Germans invade France again. It provides a quick route for us Brits to reinforce the French. And just in case they go into Belgium first, Eurostar goes there as well.

[grumpyoldgit]

Nice to see that you are doing your bit for the Entente Cordiale. Shall I do my "Don't mention the war" Basil Fawlty impersonation as well?

[welshblob]

drgeoff said:


Although SCART was quite horrible in the mechanical sense it did allow the "switch to me" feature which the rest of the world didn't have with composite, S-video or component.  It could be there with HDMI but many devices leave the HDMI output powered up even in standby resulting in HDMI auto switchers not always working as expected.


Yes HDMI is rather a backwards step with regard to the auto switching SCART TV's used to handle. Has any manufacturer come up with a decent solution to this yet?

[gregd99]

I read a very interesting and entertaining article once about the various tv standards. It was written by a US engineer but had a go at describing how the various standards came about.

it went something like....

- NTSC (Never Twice the Same Colour (or color)) was a technically inferior standard that came about due to the need for backwards compatibility when colour was introduced

- PAL was the best technical spec (at the time)

- SECAM was the only spec introduced for purely political reasons to protect the French industry. Teh idea was that it would be incompatible with everythign else and so the french would need to buy french tvs. The standard was also used in some of the former soviet bloc countries with the advantage that the tvs could not receive cross-border signals.

Rather than being anti-french (I work for a French company) this discussion on scart and now secam gives an interesting insight into the mechanics of protection in previous decades.

[cashaw]

The whole thing about SECAM being French protectionism is a complete

fallacy.

SECAM was actually developed before PAL and was developed specifically to support the terrain of France giving large coverage over sparsly populated areas with few transmitters or repeaters. The Soviet Union picked up on it for the same reason, it also better maintained the picture quality over badly maintained (ie Soviet manufactured) transmission chains.

The Soviet Union did not choose SECAM because it was incompatible to PAL. PAL signals could still be viewed on a SECAM TV although in black and white. The sound channel seperation had a greater effect on making it difficult to view TV signals from the West. In fact, this wasn"t really a problem except for the DDR which had a common language with their next door neighbours. In fact, by the early 80"s even the DDR were manufacturing dual-standard TV"s and most everyone could receive West German TV broadcasts. On the day of re-unification, the old East Germany switched to PAL broadcasts overnight without any major problems.

Where SECAM fell apart was that it was almost impossible to mix or fade between two SECAM signals in the studio, so many studios in SECAM lands were PAL based and only converted to SECAM at the output to the transmitter.

[Kernel]

Phil Spiegel said:


And additionally, the French "restricted" imports (of VCRs) by also requiring them to go through a single Customs Point  (allegedly) … perhaps because, originally, only they knew what  the required SCART connector (which I think is an acronym) looked like??? (allegedly…and retrospectively, as after all, we are now one big common market with equality of sheep and other farm produce…)


I heard something similar expect that it was a low-staffed factory that removed the plugs of imported products to make sure they were 'safe' and the process was so slow that it forced manufacturers to open factories in France and start producing there (thus creating French jobs etc.)

[triggerhurt]

Yeah history rules but back to topic. Does the cable config on the picture really work with the raspberry (i am desperately trying to get my hands on)? I see the input is 2x3,5 mm klinke (=ger dunno whats that in eng sry) which is fine for the audio AFAIK. I thought for connecting to the raspberry a "normal" rca cable would do the job (just like the white,yellow,red ones on the picture but only using one of course for video).

Is 3,5mm klinke for video really needed? I did not found such a cable btw… How is it called? (Obviously a RCA to Scart connector like the one in the picture is still needed)

best regards

trigger_hurt

FAM17 said:


I feel even more stupid because it took 5 seconds to riffle through a box of cables and wires that i always knew would come handy and i made a RasPi to SCART cable!

Here is a pic (Mine does have a yellow plug!)

[Burngate]

triggerhurt said:


Is 3,5mm klinke for video really needed? I did not found such a cable btw… How is it called? (Obviously a RCA to Scart connector like the one in the picture is still needed)



My German being worse than your English, does klinke translate to jack? If so, then the lead in the picture is wrong, the yellow (tip & sleeve) jack needs to be a phono aka RCA plug to plug into the RasPi. The black (tip ring & sleeve) jack is ok for the audio.

[bredman]

The correct video and audio connectors are as follows

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.....-cable.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.....i-Plug.jpg

[triggerhurt]

Ah thanks a lot to you two! Yes, I guess "jack" should be "klinke". So now – thanks to your help – I think I know the proper way to scart. I shortly sum it up for eng/ger/… people google sends here:

For scart RasPi got:

1x RCA("Cinch") (Video)

1x 3,5mm Stereo Jack("Klinke") (Audio)

So this (among others) should work:

- 3xRCA("Cinch") male cable to 3xRCA("Cinch") male (Audio/Video)

- 3,5mm Jack("Klinke") male cable to 2xRCA("Cinch") female (Audio)

- 3xRCA("Cinch") to Scart adapter plug (for 1-3 pounds/eur)

[MattHawkinsUK]

Or you could use :

- 3.5mm jack male to 2xRCA male (red + white) for audio

- 1xRCA male to 1xRCA male (yellow) for composite video

- SCART adapter with 3xRCA (red, white and yellow)

That would reduce the number of connectors.

Here is a page I put together with pictures with various connectors and cables on it :

http://www.raspberrypi-spy.co......onnectors/

[kilamrauon]

It works but in black and white, and it don't display the the whole screen.

Is there a way to have it in colour?

[mahjongg]

composite video default to NTSC for some obscure reason (even when its a Britisch product), to switch to PAL you need to add an entry in the config.txt file ( to be created if it doesn't exist) in the SD-cards \boot directory. See R-Pi wiki for details (search for config.txt)