SCART switch dead - after some advice

[bolex17]

Hey all,

I've been using a 3 port Bandridge automatic switcher (svb7733) for awhile and it's been working fine. All my cables are from RetrogamingcableUK and are sync on luma cables.

I recently bought some SCART cables for my Sega Saturn and Dreamcast from thefoo.83 on eBay. When I first plugged them into the SCART switcher they worked fine and the picture was great!
The next time I turned it on I got no image from my RGB monitor. The screen would just show a scrambled mess. Everything works fine if I plug the cables directly into my monitor instead of the switch.

I'm not too sad about the switch dying because I've already ordered a Hydra2 from Lotharek. My only concern is that could it be the new cables introduced that killed the Bandridge switch? I've tried the new cables on my OSSC and they work fine as well..

[Galgomite]

I can’t help you but I can boost your post and tell you I feel your pain. RGB Scart has been a huge mystery box of problems as far as I am concerned, growing up in the US. The promise and initial delivery are dazzling. Things work for a while, then stop working, sometimes it seems the console died, sometimes it was the cable, sometimes, who knows? I have had multiple consoles go dead on me after just a few short years using scart. This has never happened in my life with component cables, and I still use a lot of devices with native component. Plus the scart cables themselves are a fragile, inflexible mess. I’ve never had a component cable just fall apart from being plugged in a few times.
I suppose, if there’s one helpful thing I can say, look around on this forum for people’s recommendations for scart cable sellers. It has not made a lick of difference for me personally but at least you will know you aren’t doing anything wrong.

[ASDR]

Many of the cables sold by thefoo.83 contain a sync stripper. This is a questionable design because many of the consoles those cables were made for can actually natively output csync or you could just use sync-on-luma at no quality loss. Generally speaking, sync strippers only make sense in a few select situations where you have very specific receiving equipment that can only deal with csync and your console can't natively provide it. More problematic, the LM1881 IC used outputs TTL level sync that significantly exceeds the video level sync specified for SCART and expected by most equipment like consumer TVs and video scalers. At least for a while cables from thefoo.83 were not correctly build and were missing the resistor on the output side to correctly attenuate the sync levels. I personally own such a Saturn cable. These could damage equipment like switches, scalers & displays that expect video level sync.

Does your Saturn cable have a little box next the DIN connector?

[bolex17]

Many of the cables sold by thefoo.83 contain a sync stripper. This is a questionable design because many of the consoles those cables were made for can actually natively output csync or you could just use sync-on-luma at no quality loss. Generally speaking, sync strippers only make sense in a few select situations where you have very specific receiving equipment that can only deal with csync and your console can't natively provide it. More problematic, the LM1881 IC used outputs TTL level sync that significantly exceeds the video level sync specified for SCART and expected by most equipment like consumer TVs and video scalers. At least for a while cables from thefoo.83 were not correctly build and were missing the resistor on the output side to correctly attenuate the sync levels. I personally own such a Saturn cable. These could damage equipment like switches, scalers & displays that expect video level sync.

Does your Saturn cable have a little box next the DIN connector?

Thanks heaps for the reply mate, I checked and it does have a little box.
I'm hoping this is just a case of the Bandbridge switch being faulty and these cable will play nice with the Hydra2

[ASDR]

Thanks heaps for the reply mate, I checked and it does have a little box.
I'm hoping this is just a case of the Bandbridge switch being faulty and these cable will play nice with the Hydra2

If all you wanted was hope for the best why bother asking The product page for the Hydra2 explicitly recommends against fancy cables with sync strippers and warns about TTL csync. I'd either verify that the cable you got is build correctly (measure the sync signal on a scope, visually verify the presence of the resistor in the SCART head/stripper box or measure with a DMM between pin 1 of the LM1881 and SCART pin 20) or just get a new, know-good one. It'll be cheaper than replacing your Hydra (or worse) a few months down the line. Plus, there's no reason to use a sync stripper with a Saturn. Get a sync-on-luma if you have a PAL unit or csync if NTSC.