SCART Switches and Game Consoles

[Guspaz]

All 60GB models are backwards compatible, that's why I chose it for my search. Ditto for 20GB models. It's only the 80GB models where it gets iffy. (EDIT: The 40GB model is not backwards compatible at all)

[Thomago]

Ah, I understand!

[Blade]

At that point, Marq's digitizer/scandoubler ($170 USD?) and a Monoprice DVI+TOSLINK to HDMI adapter ($40 USD) is a lot cheaper.

Would I need one or the other, or both? Or just the Component-to-AVI? You mentioned lag, but I'm not too worried about that, since I play games online anyway (not PS2 games, but, I don't think it will be an issue).

[mario64]

Does anyone know if this switch will work with the JP21 cable which comes with the Framemeister? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000 ... ge_o00_s00

All of my RGB cables are JP21

Anyone?

[Guspaz]

At that point, Marq's digitizer/scandoubler ($170 USD?) and a Monoprice DVI+TOSLINK to HDMI adapter ($40 USD) is a lot cheaper.

Would I need one or the other, or both? Or just the Component-to-AVI? You mentioned lag, but I'm not too worried about that, since I play games online anyway (not PS2 games, but, I don't think it will be an issue).

The issue is that Marq's digitizer/scandoubler only supports video. So you feed it a 240p RGB or component source from a console, and it spits out 480p over a DVI connector with no audio. You have two options to use this signal: if your setup is fully integrated to expect audio over HDMI, then you use an active DVI to HDMI converter that includes an audio digitizer, so that the DVI video from the scandoubler and the analog audio from the console is combined into HDMI. Or, because the PS2 has a digital audio output (TOSLINK optical) you can use a DVI+TOSLINK converter. If your setup does not require audio over HDMI, you just use a cheap passive DVI to HDMI adapter (like a buck at monoprice or something) and run the audio from the console to your audio device (speaker? home theatre?)

That will probably work well, but it's not a cheap setup. You can buy a cheap converter, which may mess up 240p output (it may treat it like an interlaced image even though it's not), and will have lag. Some converters aren't too bad for lag, some are terrible. I couldn't tell you which ones are good for lag.

Or, as I said, look for a good deal on a backwards compatible PS3, which will output HDMI and run PS1/PS2/PS3 games.

[Shuco13]

@viletim
Hey first of all I wanted to thank you very much for your informative post on the last page I stumbled upon. Secondly I've got a few questions regarding your post:

There are several different ways signal the signals can unintentionally couple (interfere), and I don't want to get too far into to the details. Basically there is coupling into the signal conductors (additive interference) or coupling into the ground conductor (subtractive interference).

Red, green, and blue are always going through the cable together so the coupled signal is usually a small amount of R+G+B. If this is added to the signal the results is slightly brighter video. If it's subtracted the video gets a bit darker. Now here's where it gets more interesting. There

When speaking of subtractive interference it that the kind of interference which is also a result of extended cable length?

In summary, if your SCART cables have basic shielding (not coax), are less than 2m long, and are connected directly to the display or an active SCART switch, you don't need to be concerned about interference from composite video or luma as sync. However, if you use a passive switch box and the cable between the switch box and display is not ridiculously short, then you can expect some degree of coupling to occur. High quality SCART cables made from coax will not help much here. The amount of visible distortion results from a particular amount of coupling is dependant on your display to some extent.

So when using a passive switch it's necessary to keep the cable length below 2m as well right?