How to Tell if a SCART Cable is RGB or Composite?

[Tempest_2084]

Ok this may be a stupid or misinformed question, but bear with me. I've been reading that some SCART cables are actually composite not RGB, and I want to know how you tell them apart. I think I read that if it is a true RGB cable it will have all the pins wired up and if it's composite it will have several pins missing. Is this true? If not, is there an easy way to tell? I have a Sony PVM monitor which supports both RGB and Composite so the cable will work either way I'm afraid.

[Retro Access]

Not true re. All the pins wired up.

To explain it in really simple terms a composite only cable will only have wires connected at the extremities of the plug. Ie you will see some wires connected at one end, and wires connected at the other. In the case of a two way SCART to SCART this will be quite a few pins on all four corners, but still only connected at the extremities. Wires will not be connected beyond three pins in.

The amount of pins connected really varies depending on if you have the two way I/O lead or a console lead (though really, composite only SCART leads for consoles really not ought to even exist.) But that rule is still true, they'll only be connected at the extremities, no more than 3 pins deep.

If it is an rgb lead it will have connections spread out all across the plug. If it is a console or computer lead it usually (depending on the console, but still very common) will have a resistor connecting two pins. The amount of pins connected still vary vastly, depending on how many ground wires the manufacturers connected, but you will still see pins connected in the very middle of the plug.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCART if you want the actual pins that you'll see connected in either type of plug.

IF you have all 21 pins connected then it IS an RGB I/O lead, that much is true.

Also to boil it down into extra simple terms: a composite only SCART looks like ass on your display.

[Tempest_2084]

Am I correct in assuming that since I have the cable going into a Sync Strike and then into RGB on my monitor that if it was a composite cable it wouldn't work? Or is that not true either? I'd rather not have to crack open my SCART cables to look.

[Retro Access]

Am I correct in assuming that since I have the cable going into a Sync Strike and then into RGB on my monitor that if it was a composite cable it wouldn't work? Or is that not true either? I'd rather not have to crack open my SCART cables to look.

Yes because sync strike pulls the csync from composite video and sync by itself is not a standalone visual signal. It needs the RGB lines to display a picture. It syncs the visual signals contained in the rgb ergo, it cannot work by itself.

You run a SCART through sync strike and see a picture=that is an rgb cable.

[Tempest_2084]

Am I correct in assuming that since I have the cable going into a Sync Strike and then into RGB on my monitor that if it was a composite cable it wouldn't work? Or is that not true either? I'd rather not have to crack open my SCART cables to look.

Yes because sync strike pulls the csync from composite video and sync by itself is not a standalone visual signal. It needs the RGB lines to display a picture. It syncs the visual signals contained in the rgb ergo, it cannot work by itself.

You run a SCART through sync strike and see a picture=that is an rgb cable.

Great. Then all my cables are RGB. I thought they were, I just wanted to make sure.