Differences between first-party and third-party SCART cables

[azmun]

Lately, I've been searching for the best SCART cables to use on my various consoles. I didn't give much thought and used to buy cheap generic ones. It's only the last few years this has become relatively hot topic with much attention. Unlike composite a/v cables, RGB via SCART employs a much more sophisticated design. It gets really technical and I've tried learning as much watching various YT vids. It pays to figure which setup is best since the differences can be quite noticeable. And using the wrong ones can result in sub-par graphics and/or audio noise (i.e. buzz). Even worst, they can potentially harm or damage the hardware. If I could classify cables into three broad categories:
1-official, original, authentic, genuine
2-third-party (off the shelf)
3-third-party (custom)

In general, original ones are the gold standard. However, it can be both difficult to track and are usually quite expensive. Even then, you are not assured of compatibility due to different standards of PAL and NTSC system as well as the different hardware revisions (and the upscalers). My question is, what makes first-party SCART cables better build quality? Or put another way, how do I know what components should be equipped for a particular setup (e.g. should a NTSC SNES/SFC have resistors and/or capacitors)? Obviously, in-house engineers know which specs work best. But why didn't they use CSYNC more frequently if this was supposed to be the superior type? Finally it seems for third-party custom cable makers, the issue of shielding has become one of the distinguishing features or selling points. Why haven't they incorporated the use of ferrite beads on both ends, something original SCART cables have?

[ldeveraux]

Why haven't they incorporated the use of ferrite beads on both ends, something original SCART cables have?

New (great) cables from RA and RGC are individual line shielded, so no need for the iron?

[Gara]

We surpassed first party cable quality quite a while ago on most cables. Retro access is putting out scart cables beyond anything ever made officially. HD retrovision component cables are above the Sony offerings in materials. S-video hasn't really gotten there.

Pinouts and build instructions are out there if you want to make your own. Years of discovery and trial and error have given us rock solid options.

[darcagn]

But why didn't they use CSYNC more frequently if this was supposed to be the superior type?

csync was more of a thing required for professional RGB monitors (using BNC etc.) rather than consumer RGB televisions in Europe. I believe the SCART "standard" is using composite video, especially because some television sets have secondary SCART inputs that only use composite instead of RGB. Using csync would make those cables incompatible with some TV ports.

[azmun]

@ ldeveraux
So does this mean ferrite beads are replacement for shielding? I was under the impression that besides protecting the wires, authentic SCART cables had these components as added defense against interference.

@Gara
Not so sure many will agree we've surpassed the quality of first-party SCART cables. Maybe you can give specifics? Perhaps in terms of reducing audio buzz. A quick review from the following thread viewtopic.php?f=6&t=52249 indicates that custom cable makers still had quality control issues and had subsequently worked on revisions to improve design.

@darcagn
Yes, perhaps I stand corrected. Csync may not necessarily be the superior type as luma sync may be just as effective or good? Admittedly, am not a heavy user of upscalers (save for occasional use of OSSC) and prefer to directly feed my original hardware to consumer grade European CRT TVs.

[ASDR]

@ ldeveraux
So does this mean ferrite beads are replacement for shielding? I was under the impression that besides protecting the wires, authentic SCART cables had these components as added defense against interference.

I guess you don't need to filter out interference if you shield everything and prevent it from occurring in the first place. Maybe some particularly noisy consoles could benefit from them, would make for an interesting experiment.

@Gara
Not so sure many will agree we've surpassed the quality of first-party SCART cables.

On the contrary, I'd expect that to be an almost universally held opinion. Game consoles are cheap children's toys, not videophile grade equipment. Console manufacturers routinely shipped their devices with massive flaws. They made systems that were outputting completely wrong levels because they used wrong resistors to simplify their BOM. They stuffed resistors and capacitors into cables instead of where they'd belong because they wanted to save a few pennies on components. Often systems have terrible jailbars or buzzing because they couldn't be bothered to separate grounds or route their traces properly. Why would you expect their cables to be the unattainable gold standard? The work the community has done over the years in cabling and audio / RGB amps have far surpassed whatever the original designs did. We have decades of additional experience and 10-100x the budget.

@darcagn
Yes, perhaps I stand corrected. Csync may not necessarily be the superior type as luma sync may be just as effective or good? Admittedly, am not a heavy user of upscalers (save for occasional use of OSSC) and prefer to directly feed my original hardware to consumer grade European CRT TVs.

I don't think csync vs SoL will ever show a quality difference. Even SoC is fine except in cases where it causes interference or the receiving deceive can't properly extract sync.


I don't have much experience with CRTs, but from what I've seen over the years a lot of the finer points here become moot anyway. CRTs generally seem to be far less revealing than an OSSC setup, so a lot of minor noise or blurriness might not even register on your display.

[MKL]

Cables with individually shielded conductors need connectors that have a ground pin for every conductor carrying video information. VGA (DB15HD) and scart are such connectors. Consoles connectors are not of this kind (children's toys...). They have a single ground pin. Now we have these "companies" making cables containing 4-to-6 coaxial conductors that need to go to a tiny, unsuitable DIN and mini-Din plug. So one wonders: what happens to the ground braids of the 4-to-6 coaxials inside the plug? How are they all joined together and sent to that single ground pin inside that tiny plug? It sounds like something that almost defies the laws of physics. Is it done well or is it just done? I guess that is something that needs to be seen by sectioning the plug of one of such cables. One thing I'm 100% sure about is that it wouldn't be a nice sight. More like a yuck-inducing sight. The idea itself is terrible. I personally would never want something like that. To me, the only way to have a good, reliable connection is to install in the console a custom connector for video (e.g. a 9-pin D-sub with 4 pins for RGBS and 4 pins for their respective grounds) and a couple of RCA jacks for audio and cables running separately until they all go into the scart plug. Cables that are of a higher quality and cheaper than those made by these sellers and that most people could make themselves. And if this means sacrificing the original look of the rear of the console, I'm totally willing to pay this price.

[dseleski]

Cables with individually shielded conductors need connectors that have a ground pin for every conductor carrying video information. VGA (DB15HD) and scart are such connectors. Consoles connectors are not of this kind (children's toys...). They have a single ground pin. Now we have these "companies" making cables containing 4-to-6 coaxial conductors that need to go to a tiny, unsuitable DIN and mini-Din plug. So one wonders: what happens to the ground braids of the 4-to-6 coaxials inside the plug? How are they all joined together and sent to that single ground pin inside that tiny plug? It sounds like something that almost defies the laws of physics. Is it done well or is it just done? I guess that is something that needs to be seen by sectioning the plug of one of such cables. One thing I'm 100% sure about is that it wouldn't be a nice sight. More like a yuck-inducing sight. The idea itself is terrible. I personally would never want something like that. To me, the only way to have a good, reliable connection is to install in the console a custom connector for video (e.g. a 9-pin D-sub with 4 pins for RGBS and 4 pins for their respective grounds) and a couple of RCA jacks for audio and cables running separately until they all go into the scart plug. Cables that are of a higher quality and cheaper than those made by these sellers and that most people could make themselves. And if this means sacrificing the original look of the rear of the console, I'm totally willing to pay this price.

Hi, this is Retro Access - not wanting more controversy stirred here. I guess we just don’t connect all the metal in the shielding of our cables to a ground point... or do we? (we do.)

It doesn’t defy the laws of physics at all. Most mini dins in consoles don’t use a ground *pin* they use a ground *entirety of the metal shielding* which you can easily solder shielding to for all 6 or 7 of the lines in the cable. This uncapped plug is Fortraflex because I had it lying around - coax is about as much, maybe a slight extra amount of shielding with built in 75 ohm properties. Maybe it looks terrible? I don’t know. This is how I do it though, using these particular dins with easy access to both sides of the inside of the shield.

Larger dins usually have a ground pin then the shield is also connected to ground so you just solder your hefty amount of shielding to the inside of the shield as well as the ground pin and leave whatever audio ground isolated from the 3.5mm hookup.

Admittedly I don’t *like* mini din but not because it’s harder to solder or anything (it’s not) it’s just that large chunky dins don’t break. Pins do break off mini din if you aren’t careful plugging them in. We have a few returns to that yearly. Admittedly I’m also not a fan of sending these signals through tiny pins but what can you do? If you want to drill a big dsub (not originally intended as a video connector either btw - BNC are) shaped hole in the back of your console, that might be more suited to task but most people don’t want to do it and you might be shocked by the price of true coax VGA if you want to go the route of getting a better grade coax than we use... Belden *would* be better grade but they cost like $7 a foot then you have to solder the ends on yourself or pay somebody like Blue Jeans Cable $85 for a vga coax cable - I’m really in the wrong business.

Only connecting say, the drain wire is something that we (personally) do not do. I’ve seen it done with cheaper cables, but if I don’t connect all of this metal here I get ocd about it.

[Gara]

@Gara
Not so sure many will agree we've surpassed the quality of first-party SCART cables. Maybe you can give specifics? Perhaps in terms of reducing audio buzz. A quick review from the following thread viewtopic.php?f=6&t=52249 indicates that custom cable makers still had quality control issues and had subsequently worked on revisions to improve design.

A lot has happened in the 5 years since that post. There has been some growing pains but all the cable big makers are putting out properly speced cables.

Cable quality is at its highest it has ever been. RGC UK has thier Packapunch series which is great. Retro access is currently the only scart supplier using 75 ohm cabling. RGC UK has the edge in tooling. They have some darn impressive injection molding on the plugs. Retro Access is using 3D printing. Both companies are using a pretty standard scart hood.

[maxtherabbit]

Cables with individually shielded conductors need connectors that have a ground pin for every conductor carrying video information. VGA (DB15HD) and scart are such connectors. Consoles connectors are not of this kind (children's toys...). They have a single ground pin. Now we have these "companies" making cables containing 4-to-6 coaxial conductors that need to go to a tiny, unsuitable DIN and mini-Din plug. So one wonders: what happens to the ground braids of the 4-to-6 coaxials inside the plug? How are they all joined together and sent to that single ground pin inside that tiny plug? It sounds like something that almost defies the laws of physics. Is it done well or is it just done? I guess that is something that needs to be seen by sectioning the plug of one of such cables. One thing I'm 100% sure about is that it wouldn't be a nice sight. More like a yuck-inducing sight. The idea itself is terrible. I personally would never want something like that. To me, the only way to have a good, reliable connection is to install in the console a custom connector for video (e.g. a 9-pin D-sub with 4 pins for RGBS and 4 pins for their respective grounds) and a couple of RCA jacks for audio and cables running separately until they all go into the scart plug. Cables that are of a higher quality and cheaper than those made by these sellers and that most people could make themselves. And if this means sacrificing the original look of the rear of the console, I'm totally willing to pay this price.

Hi, this is Retro Access - not wanting more controversy stirred here. I guess we just don’t connect all the metal in the shielding of our cables to a ground point... or do we? (we do.)

It doesn’t defy the laws of physics at all. Most mini dins in consoles don’t use a ground *pin* they use a ground *entirety of the metal shielding* which you can easily solder shielding to for all 6 or 7 of the lines in the cable. This uncapped plug is Fortraflex because I had it lying around - coax is about as much, maybe a slight extra amount of shielding with built in 75 ohm properties. Maybe it looks terrible? I don’t know. This is how I do it though, using these particular dins with easy access to both sides of the inside of the shield.

Larger dins usually have a ground pin then the shield is also connected to ground so you just solder your hefty amount of shielding to the inside of the shield as well as the ground pin and leave whatever audio ground isolated from the 3.5mm hookup.

Admittedly I don’t *like* mini din but not because it’s harder to solder or anything (it’s not) it’s just that large chunky dins don’t break. Pins do break off mini din if you aren’t careful plugging them in. We have a few returns to that yearly. Admittedly I’m also not a fan of sending these signals through tiny pins but what can you do? If you want to drill a big dsub (not originally intended as a video connector either btw - BNC are) shaped hole in the back of your console, that might be more suited to task but most people don’t want to do it and you might be shocked by the price of true coax VGA if you want to go the route of getting a better grade coax than we use... Belden *would* be better grade but they cost like $7 a foot then you have to solder the ends on yourself or pay somebody like Blue Jeans Cable $85 for a vga coax cable - I’m really in the wrong business.

Only connecting say, the drain wire is something that we (personally) do not do. I’ve seen it done with cheaper cables, but if I don’t connect all of this metal here I get ocd about it.

looks nice

[emphatic]

The Microsoft Advanced Scart Cable for XBox 360 is night and day from 3rd party cables.

[ldeveraux]

The Microsoft Advanced Scart Cable for XBox 360 is night and day from 3rd party cables.

I assume you mean it's better? But why would anyone use SCART when HDMI is easier/available?

[emphatic]

The Microsoft Advanced Scart Cable for XBox 360 is night and day from 3rd party cables.

I assume you mean it's better? But why would anyone use SCART when HDMI is easier/available?

If you want to use RGB(S) in your arcade cabinet and have something like SCART2JAMMA, that's when you want it. The Microsoft VGA cables are way better than the 3rd party ones too. HDMI is something else though, as it's digital.

[ldeveraux]

The Microsoft Advanced Scart Cable for XBox 360 is night and day from 3rd party cables.

I assume you mean it's better? But why would anyone use SCART when HDMI is easier/available?

If you want to use RGB(S) in your arcade cabinet and have something like SCART2JAMMA, that's when you want it. The Microsoft VGA cables are way better than the 3rd party ones too. HDMI is something else though, as it's digital.

Awesome, that's what I thought. Thanks!

[azmun]

@ASDR
While game consoles are not "videophile grade equipment," I would not call them "cheap children's toys" either. Yes, they were primarily aimed at a young but also mass market so pricing was crucial. Manufacturers were known to sell their consoles below cost, hoping to recoup losses in software sales. Lastly, games produced were comparable to those released at the arcades and PC front. While they may seem dated now, back in the day they were innovative.

When I said official cables are the gold standard I never implied they are unbeatable or flawless. Rather, they were best and are benchmark for comparing. I'm glad if finally SCART cables from other makers are superior. It has taken decades!

Running consoles directly to a consumer grade standard definition CRT may be more forgiving, but there are still obvious interference. In fact, I can't wait for my custom cable to arrive in the mail as the original one (MK-1637 09) I'm using for my Mega Drive 2 leaves a lot to be desired, with noticeable video and audio noise. I wonder where it is coming from in the first place. Your assessment seems to point they are internally generated but what about other factors in the environment (power, television, radio, data, etc.)?

@emphatic
Thanks for the heads up. Will look into these.

[Classicgamer]

I am in favor of checking if there is actually an issue with the lower cost cable options before investing big.

It is sometimes the case that poorly made cables can result in interference and other issues but it certainly is not universally true.

Every properly made 3rd party scart cable (with correct grounding) I have owned has performed equally well with official cables. In fact, the only time I ever experienced noticable issues with a scart cable was when I made it myself (as I have never been great at properly grounding them).

Depending on the environment, shielded cables might help but only if emi is actually an issue. It has never been a problem for me as I don't game on my washing machine or use extra long cables.

My personal experience has been that expensive gold plated shielded cables are usually a waste of money. They will do nothing to improve the image quality unless there was a specific issue with the old cable. Image quality is more dependent on the source material and the display.

I have been conned into buying expensive cables on multiple occasions but I have yet to find a noticable benefit over low cost (but properly made) rgb cables. My $50 PS2 scart cable from Retro Gaming Cables produces identicle performance with the $5 PS2 scart cable I got off eBay.

[fernan1234]

My $50 PS2 scart cable from Retro Gaming Cables produces identicle performance with the $5 PS2 scart cable I got off eBay.

This may be the case, especially if you're comparing them on a CRT. I'd wonder about the sound though. But I'd bet good money that if enough time goes by, or if you need to unplug them a few times or if they have to bend somewhere, the cheap one is gonna give up way sooner. Durability is ostensibly part of what you pay with a higher quality cable.

I remember when I first got into RGB I bought a bunch of JP-21 cables from Solaris Japan, which were marketed as being of high quality with specs that met or even surpassed OEM cables. And they were not cheap--they were more expensive than the shielded non-coax cables RA and RGC were offering at the time. Within a couple of months, 3/4 of them started having missing colors due to poor connectivity problems. I also tried cheap ebay cables that buzzed like crazy on bright scenes. On the other hand, I never had a single issue with RA and RGC cables.

[FinalBaton]

On the other hand, I never had a single issue with RA and RGC cables.

Same, this has also been my experience so far. I've got 1 SCART-to-BNC cable from RGC and a bunch of console SCART cables from RA and no problem so far

[Classicgamer]

My $50 PS2 scart cable from Retro Gaming Cables produces identicle performance with the $5 PS2 scart cable I got off eBay.

This may be the case, especially if you're comparing them on a CRT. I'd wonder about the sound though. But I'd bet good money that if enough time goes by, or if you need to unplug them a few times or if they have to bend somewhere, the cheap one is gonna give up way sooner. Durability is ostensibly part of what you pay with a higher quality cable.

I remember when I first got into RGB I bought a bunch of JP-21 cables from Solaris Japan, which were marketed as being of high quality with specs that met or even surpassed OEM cables. And they were not cheap--they were more expensive than the shielded non-coax cables RA and RGC were offering at the time. Within a couple of months, 3/4 of them started having missing colors due to poor connectivity problems. I also tried cheap ebay cables that buzzed like crazy on bright scenes. On the other hand, I never had a single issue with RA and RGC cables.

All scart plugs are the same size and thickness regardless of the price. They have to be or they would not fit in the scart port. It's in the cable where you find visual differences in thickness and shielding. The question though is if those differences translate to a better image and my experience has been that it doesn't.

Any cable can break if used carelessly. I can't think of any time I broke a scart lead though. They are usually fairly sturdy.

My view is: spend less on cables and more on the monitor if getting the best image is the goal.

I have had issues with scart to BNC adapters though. The ones with a built in sync strike have to be made properly and there are various eBay sellers offering almost diy offerings with poor grounding.

I had good results with this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Female-RGB-Eur ... SwPhdU47vv

And very poor results with this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sync-Splitter- ... SwIqxcLb7U

[fernan1234]

But besides picture quality there are also audio concerns. Audio is as important as video. I've never found a cheap SCART cable that doesn't have audio buzzing due to inadequate shielding.

In any case, I've come to conclude that SCART as a whole is a very suboptimal solution to deliver video and audio. It's a consumer-level standard and it has been idolized in the retro scene only because it was originally the only available way to deliver RGB for most systems.

Inspired by another thread recently, I've abandoned SCART completely and embraced VGA/15-pin D-Sub as the ideal AV solution, with all the pros of a BNC setup and none of the cons. Hopefully the retro scene as a whole will move away from the very flawed SCART standard sooner than later.

[Makinx]

In any case, I've come to conclude that SCART as a whole is a very suboptimal solution to deliver video and audio. It's a consumer-level standard and it has been idolized in the retro scene only because it was originally the only available way to deliver RGB for most systems.

Inspired by another thread recently, I've abandoned SCART completely and embraced VGA/15-pin D-Sub as the ideal AV solution, with all the pros of a BNC setup and none of the cons. Hopefully the retro scene as a whole will move away from the very flawed SCART standard sooner than later.

Scart is still the only way I can hook up the consoles to my televisions, which is what they were originally intended for. How is your VGA solution ideal for that kind of setup?

Besides that, with the many high quality scart cables and multiscart solutions such as the gscartsw now available, I doubt scart is going anywhere.

[fernan1234]

Besides that, with the many high quality scart cables and multiscart solutions such as the gscartsw now available, I doubt scart is going anywhere.

A SCART setup with good cables and a good switch is good enough for most purposes. But I was recently disappointed with even a gscartsw for reasons I won't get into here. More importantly, everything that a SCART setup accomplishes can be done better and at a lower cost with a VGA one, since VGA switches are easier and cheaper to find, the connections are more secure, more compatible with Extron equipment, and less prone to the interference/wear/voltage/etc. problems of SCART. Even if your TV only has a SCART input, it would still be cheaper with the added cost of a custom VGA to SCART cable (probably including a sync stripper).

But for now SCART is definitely more beginner-friendly for people just getting into RGB, but I can see a future where a community-based high-quality device like the gscart/gcomp is developed but for VGA connections. User maxtherabbit is also working on a board that can add VGA output to most consoles, making it possible to use regular VGA cables rather than custom ones. BNC is hailed as the gold standard right now, but it's bulky and costly or more difficult to make cables. VGA offers all the same advantages of BNC. I think it's the future.

[Classicgamer]

I don't use scart (or any other RGB cable) for audio. I always hook my consoles up to external speakers. When I used to use a scart TV as a kid in the UK, the sound was always as good as the TV allowed.

Scart is just a plug type like DB15 or RCA plugs. It is no more optimal or suboptimal than any other commonly used plugs for RGB.

RGB is the absolute best connection for old analog video sources. Whether rgb is connected with a scart plug, a DB15 port or BNC connectors is irrelavent. You just choose the right cable type for the monitor you are using. The image will be identicle whichever you choose.

Scart plugs can be wired for any analog signal your display can handle. Just like a db15 (vga style) plug, it's just a bunch of pins in a housing. Those pins can be wired for composite video, Svideo, RGB (with various types of sync), component video etc. this makes it the best choice for multi av out ports on consoles as the 21 pins provide plenty of options.

Scart is not idolized, it's just the plug type found on TV's in Europe and Japan. It is therefore the most commonly available RGB cable for old Japanese consoles.

[fernan1234]

Yes, they are different connector types for the same signal, but different connector types offer different advantages. I outlined above why SCART is the worse of the bunch, and I probably missed some other factors.

[nmalinoski]

Scart is still the only way I can hook up the consoles to my televisions, which is what they were originally intended for. How is your VGA solution ideal for that kind of setup?

Besides that, with the many high quality scart cables and multiscart solutions such as the gscartsw now available, I doubt scart is going anywhere.

Whether or not DE-15/VGA is ideal depends on what kind of setup you want, what you want to get out of it, and what's available. There is no solution that is going to satisfy everyone's requirements.

If you're the kind of person who is fine with hooking up individual consoles to a SCART-enabled TV and disconnecting and putting them away when you're done, great; do that, because, no, DE-15 would not be ideal for you, because you'd have to spend another $30~$45 on a DE-15 + 3.5mm TRS to SCART adapter.

On the other hand, if you have more complicated requirements, like desiring to have all of your game consoles hooked up and ready to play at any given time (like me, ostensibly fernan1234, and others); you need additional video processing equipment in your chain; and/or you live in North America, where SCART and 15kHz RGB are effectively non-existent; then something like DE-15/VGA can be a more desirable solution.

There are also far more options with DE-15/VGA, due to its prevalence in the PC world. If you want something high-quality, for example, you can pick up second-hand, Extron-branded, 4- and 6-input (and sometimes more), automatic VGA switchers for $50 or less, whereas a gscartsw or hydra is going to cost you at least $200. Even the 5-input mini-Hydra is going to cost you $120 before shipping.

If you need a matrix switcher, you can get an 8x8 with audio for $45 shipped within the US, where the only SCART matrix switcher I could find is a 6x2 by ShinyBow for $180.

Currently, SCART has the edge on cable cost. You can expect to pay $30~$45 per cable from Retro-Access and Retro Gaming Cables; where 6-foot DE-15 cables from Retro-Access seem to cost about $50 each. If someone were to design and build breakouts like the SyncBaby, you could use off-the-shelf shielded SVGA cables at $3.70 each and coaxial 3.5mm TRS cables at $2 each, and, even if the breakout adapters were $20 per console, that would be cheaper than SCART.

[fernan1234]

nmalinoski nailed it.

where 6-foot DE-15 cables from Retro-Access seem to cost about $50 each

Just to add here, some cables will be less if they don't need extras such as sync strippers (unmodded PlayStation and SNES, for example, will need it) for compatibility with Extron gear. And it's all bound to get cheaper with more developments, whereas I don't really see SCART stuff going down in price as much.

I wish people had evangelized VGA more a couple of years ago. I remember reading a post here by someone saying how while we all spent so much time waiting for our gscarts or hanging on to huge Extron Crosspoints, and dealing with annoying connectors, he was enjoying a slim Extron VGA switch he picked up for a few bucks with DE15 cables. It caught my attention but ended up forgetting to look into it more. Better late than never I suppose.

[nmalinoski]

where 6-foot DE-15 cables from Retro-Access seem to cost about $50 each

Just to add here, some cables will be less if they don't need extras such as sync strippers (unmodded PlayStation and SNES, for example, will need it) for compatibility with Extron gear.

Yup. I did my cost estimate with a 6-foot PlayStation cable with a sync stripper and a 3.5mm TRS audio breakout on the DE-15 end, which came to about $50. Omitting the sync stripper would drop the price by $7.

[energizerfellow‌]

Currently, SCART has the edge on cable cost. You can expect to pay $30~$45 per cable from Retro-Access and Retro Gaming Cables; where 6-foot DE-15 cables from Retro-Access seem to cost about $50 each.

And if you need a more affordable SCART cabling option that's still quality, there's Insurrection Industries as well (though all their SCART cables appear to be wired for NTSC and cover a relatively limited list of consoles, if that matters).

[azmun]

Another observation I have with these cables--sometimes they are fully wired and other times not all 20 (or 21) pins are connected. Is there any advantage/disadvantage with this setup? Perhaps connecting just the red, green, blue, sync, audio and ground lines induce less interference/cross-talk?

[nmalinoski]

Another observation I have with these cables--sometimes they are fully wired and other times not all 20 (or 21) pins are connected. Is there any advantage/disadvantage with this setup? Perhaps connecting just the red, green, blue, sync, audio and ground lines induce less interference/cross-talk?

When people warn about not-fully-wired cables, they're probably referring to the cables that are really only wired (poorly) for composite video and stereo audio, omitting the wires necessary for RGB.

Where console cables are concerned, I'm pretty sure none of these cables are "fully wired", because features like bi-directional composite/S-Video/stereo audio are simply not used in this context; however, you may run into some cables, I think particularly those from Retro-Access, where features that might be useful, like aspect ratio control and mode control, are not connected.

Of course, that really only matters if you intend to use these cables directly with a SCART-compliant display that does not let you select between composite/S-Video/RGB[/YPbPr] or toggle aspect ratio. If, instead, you're going to use these cables with a gscartsw and/or the OSSC, then that having those control lines wired doesn't make a difference, because those devices don't have those lines connected to anything.