Scart was first introduced on European televisions in the early eighties, although it has largely been replaced by the HDMI lead.
The need for scart was apparent as there was no standardised way of connecting televisions to video recorders. Some countries used RF antenna connections and other RCA Composite video.
The advent of scart gave a single connection for both audio and video and it was rapidly adopted across the European market.
What to look for in a good scart lead:
The single most important factor to enhance quality on a scart lead is the level of shielding. A fully wired scart lead has twenty one wires carrying different signals, all these wires act like aerials picking up interference from other wires.
A fully shielded cable will have individual shielding for each of the internal wires and an outer shielding. This reduces crosstalk where the signals interfere with each other. The easiest way to assess the level of shielding in a cable is to look how thick it is and feel the weight, the more shielding a cable has the thicker and heavier it will be.
Fully wired:
A scart lead carries both audio and video signals. A fully wired scart lead has all twenty one pins connected. This allows for RGB which is the highest quality you can obtain using a scart lead.
Some scart cables are available that are not fully wired. If a device can't handle RGB the cable manufacturer will save money by omitting the wires that are not needed, this tends to be common on the basic scart leads that are often supplied with new equipment, they are seen as a stop gap to get you up and running with your new equipment.
Gold plated:
Gold plated cables can increase image quality, but only slightly. The main benefit of a gold plated cable is to reduce oxidization, as gold does not oxidize. This in turn reduces the chance of the signal quality deteriorating with age.
Length Maximum:
Basically the shorter the better, as previously mentioned, cables act like aerials picking up interference, the longer the cable the more interference you will get. A fully shielded 5m cable should be fine. But for longer distances you really need to invest in a top quality cable.
Scart lock:
This is a system that locks the scart lead in place on your television; it's simply a couple of springs that push inside the socket ensuring a tight fit. Scart lock is essential on heavier high quality cables, as they are more likely to fall out of the socket due to the weight of the cable.
How much to spend:
Like everything in life, you get what you pay for. It's pointless spending six hundred pounds on a television and three hundred pounds on a DVD player and then connecting the two with a three pound cable.
If you only need the standard length of around 1.5M, then a good rule of thumb would be to spend around five percent of your overall equipment budget on your cables. So if your television and DVD player cost a combined total of nine hundred pounds, you should be looking at spending forty five pounds on scart leads.
The author has experience in HDMI Cable and Scart cable and Scart Lead
Tags: satellite tv, cable, technology, hdmi lead, scart lead, scart cable