SCART Switch

[Zap!]

Having a Sony PVM with SCART, it was always a pain switching the SCART cables, since I have several systems on my desk, plus a DVD player. I got a couple of cheap ones, but they are truly garbage. Signal loss, detecting the SNES and DVD when they are turned off, etc. I heard about some really good ones, and how they are a must-have for those like me (read details here). After some searching, I just ordered one called the gscartsw v3.4. It's pricey, but it has 8 ports and is reportedly exceptional.

 

So, does anyone here have any experience with SCART switches?

[imstarryeyed]

Let me tell you as I love Scart RGB systems here in Texas..

 

Do NOT..Do NOT... DO NOT ... ever ever get a physical type switch.. no matter what.. there is just too many pins and signals in those and you will almost always get ghosting, washout etc etc.

 

I use an electronic switch called a Viking switch.. I got if off of Ebay around 6 years ago and love it..

 

I say just get an electronic switch, not those that have the big springs and kind of go "chunk chunk" when you switch.. those can work ok for Svideo or Composite but RGB really needs a decent switch.

 

I went though a whole lot of switch boxes and tried out a bunch of those cheaper physical ones but all were garbage no matter what the ratings they got. It was only when I got an electronic switch was I happy.

 

I hope your journey is a good one !!

[keepdreamin]

Let me tell you as I love Scart RGB systems here in Texas..

 

Do NOT..Do NOT... DO NOT ... ever ever get a physical type switch.. no matter what.. there is just too many pins and signals in those and you will almost always get ghosting, washout etc etc.

 

I use an electronic switch called a Viking switch.. I got if off of Ebay around 6 years ago and love it..

 

I say just get an electronic switch, not those that have the big springs and kind of go "chunk chunk" when you switch.. those can work ok for Svideo or Composite but RGB really needs a decent switch.

 

I went though a whole lot of switch boxes and tried out a bunch of those cheaper physical ones but all were garbage no matter what the ratings they got. It was only when I got an electronic switch was I happy.

 

I hope your journey is a good one !!

 

That's hilarious, because from what I've seen is the complete opposite of what you just said. My Life in Gaming tested a whole bunch of switches (including the gscart) The mechanical didn't show any apparent signal degradation (Bandridge 5 port manual), which is what I run.

 

Edited April 19, 2018 by keepdreamin

[imstarryeyed]

I watched that video, but it seems to be all of the switches on the video are electronic except the Selecty21 switch. Is it possible that I watched the wrong video?

 

Thank you for linking it anyways as it was really informative and introduced me to a few new models that I did not know about.

 

The lotharek switch looks great and I love that guys work so I bet that electronic switch would work well.

 

In my personal opinion I say stay away from physical switches if possible but if anyone here has personal experience of a good physical switch please let us know as that information would be invaluable.

[keepdreamin]

I watched that video, but it seems to be all of the switches on the video are electronic except the Selecty21 switch. Is it possible that I watched the wrong video?

 

Thank you for linking it anyways as it was really informative and introduced me to a few new models that I did not know about.

 

The lotharek switch looks great and I love that guys work so I bet that electronic switch would work well.

 

In my personal opinion I say stay away from physical switches if possible but if anyone here has personal experience of a good physical switch please let us know as that information would be invaluable.

 

The Bandridge SVB7725 they talk about at 6:40 is a passive mechanical switchbox, and is what I use. Notice the shot at 6:43 shows AV5/VCR. The voltage bleed they talk about has to do with the VCR functionality of port 5 (more specifically, the switching function of SCART pin 8 ), and can be fixed by simply clipping out a diode, instead of cutting a trace as shown in the video.

Edited April 20, 2018 by keepdreamin

[ubersaurus]

I use the mechanical Bandridge switch and it's excellent - I appreciate that it includes rca audio breakouts right there on it.

[CatPix]

Being in Europe I have access to more switches... Or, I HAD, as those are getting rare pretty fast now.

There are affordable models such as this one :

 

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VIDEOLAB-BLACK-METAL-3-WAY-3-PORT-SCART-SWITCH-INPUT-EXPANDER-WITH-TV-AUDIO-OUT/181443974550?hash=item2a3ee75596:g:RxcAAOSwsN9XBAe~

 

They are usually cheap (about 25/30$) and they provide no (or not much) ghosting or signal fading. One thing you must consider is getting a male/male SCART cable as those aren't 4 input SCART switches but 3 input SCART switches, the 4th socket actually being an output plug.

This is in fact an advantage because you can get a cable long enough to go from the back of your monitor to this switch, and place it nearly anywhere you want.

 

The RCA plugs on the sde might be very interesting for people using video monitors, because they are A/V inputs (on some models only) and output, which mean you don't need any kind of "SCART sound extractor" special cable; just plug a cable between the sound output connectors and your amp.

 

On the other hand, never ever use SCART multi-plugs that have no switches. Those send the signal across all connected cables and make your picture darker and the sound weaker. Also obviously having two systems on will create crosstalking.

Those ones are a big NO.

Especially since cheaper ones are only wired for composite video, and not RGB.

One model to avoid is this ones :

It's cheaper than the "metal" model I linked to, but it's not quite as good.

I think that the switches only cut the 12V switching signal, which mean that ghosting/crosstalking and fading will still happen with those if you power two systems at the same time.

Also, the cord on those are very short, as they were designed to hide behind the TV, so for a gamer it's not the most practical solution.

 

Of course, here Im talking about cheap, consumer-available solution, not gamer-designed solutions. It depends of your setup and your tolerance to "unperfection"

Also, this is based on my experience with those.

Maybe some of those 4 socket metal box switches are cheap shit because that's how it is now.

Maybe some of those smaller switches I pointed as poor are in fact good. It's hard to tell, as there is hardly any major brand selling thse new now. It's all Chinese stuff, and every time you buy one, it's a bit of a lottery.

Edited April 20, 2018 by CatPix

[keepdreamin]

I'm not sure how a mechanical switch would cause "ghosting" in the first place, it's simply making an electrical connection between to points of contact. No different than a plug into a socket.

[imstarryeyed]

Thank you all for your insights, they are very helpful.. I am glad there are other options other than the 4 or 5 models that I have tested that were terrible.

 

I am a believer in electronic scart switches but I totally respect other peoples experiences as they are super helpful for me and others to have options from people here on the board that have actually used them.

[CatPix]

I'm not sure how a mechanical switch would cause "ghosting" in the first place, it's simply making an electrical connection between to points of contact. No different than a plug into a socket.

because on cheaper nes, only the pin that drive the switching signal are separated, not the video cables.

RGB in SCART is birirectionnal, there is no "RGB input" and "RGB output".

So on those switches, when you connect two RGb sources together and power them both (by mistake or for testing) then the RGB signals from both sources will go into the same wires and will blend.

Ghosting can also appears with one source because cheaper switches aren't shielded. Most if not all RGB outputting consoles use RGB with composite as sync, and poor/no shielding will lead to the composite picture to bleed onto the RGB signal, and the RGB signals themselves bleeding onto each other.

[Zap!]

The gscartsw v3.4 came in the mail today. Just waiting for a BNC to Male SCART and the BNC to VGA cable (I have two PVM's and want to compare simultaneously) to come in the mail, probably Monday. Didn't realize I'd need to buy another cable, so I ordered both. I fully expect it to be amazing though. For $217.50, it better be!

[mobiusstriptech]

That's kind of pricey for that gscart. You can buy the newer and substantially better gscartsw_lite for less. The lite has 2 SCART outputs with 8 inputs and sync regeneration, which corrects issues with poor sync signals. It also provides a better alternative to sync stripping on composite video as sync devices.

 

The bandridge 5port automatic switcher is known to suffer from brightness issues and some very light noise. However for under $100 shipped to the US, it is a decent option. I have heard these are as cheap as $30 in Europe.

 

The mechanical bandridge out performs the automatic but it does require a trace to be cut to prevent crosstalk issues.

 

Another decent option is the Hydra. The new Hydra is pretty cool with 16 ports if I recall. It's also a pretty decent size because of that.

[keepdreamin]

The mechanical bandridge out performs the automatic but it does require a trace to be cut to prevent crosstalk issues.

 

 

I didn't mind the few minutes of work, considering they're dirt cheap.

[mobiusstriptech]

Yeah I'm not trash talking it. It's a good switch for the price. Just need that one modification.

[juansolo]

I run a load of the mechanical switched Bandridge switches and have no issue with them. The only time I get crosstalk is when it's happening before the switch and it's usually a problem with the scart cable from the console. They certainly don't seem to add any (and in one case I have 3 daisy chained together into a PVM, so it's not like I wouldn't notice). They're great things, cheap and do what they're supposed to.

[Zap!]

That's kind of pricey for that gscart. You can buy the newer and substantially better gscartsw_lite for less. The lite has 2 SCART outputs with 8 inputs and sync regeneration, which corrects issues with poor sync signals. It also provides a better alternative to sync stripping on composite video as sync devices.

 

The bandridge 5port automatic switcher is known to suffer from brightness issues and some very light noise. However for under $100 shipped to the US, it is a decent option. I have heard these are as cheap as $30 in Europe.

 

The mechanical bandridge out performs the automatic but it does require a trace to be cut to prevent crosstalk issues.

 

Another decent option is the Hydra. The new Hydra is pretty cool with 16 ports if I recall. It's also a pretty decent size because of that.

 

Convenience played a part in the price. I won the auction late Tuesday, and received it on Friday. The gscartsw_lite is sold out, plus for what I use it for, I don't need the sync regeneration. Another SCART output would have been nice, but I can always use the VGA for that (I also ordered a BNC to VGA cable). It also has 8 inputs. The Hydra 8 port is great, but shipped it would have been slightly more money for basically the same features but with only one output, plus shipping would take around three weeks. The Hydra 16 port I would love, but that'll be over $300, also with only one output. All in all I'm very happy with this purchase.

Edited April 21, 2018 by Zap!

[mobiusstriptech]

I run a load of the mechanical switched Bandridge switches and have no issue with them. The only time I get crosstalk is when it's happening before the switch and it's usually a problem with the scart cable from the console. They certainly don't seem to add any (and in one case I have 3 daisy chained together into a PVM, so it's not like I wouldn't notice). They're great things, cheap and do what they're supposed to.

 

The mechanical switches definitely have the issue. It's pretty well documented. It's possible that the trace was already cut or you just haven't noticed. Either way, very easy fix and they definitely do their job.

 

Convenience played a part in the price. I won the auction late Tuesday, and received it on Friday. The gscartsw_lite is sold out, plus for what I use it for, I don't need the sync regeneration. Another SCART output would have been nice, but I can always use the VGA for that (I also ordered a BNC to VGA cable). It also has 8 inputs. The Hydra is also amazing, but shipped it would have been slightly more money for basically the same features, plus shipping would take around three weeks. All in all I'm very happy with this purchase.

As long as you are happy with it, that's ultimately what matters. The old gscartsw was still a great switch. If you encounter any issues with the low pass filtering, there is a mod for adding a switch to enable and disable it. RetroRGB has it documented.

[Zap!]

 

 

As long as you are happy with it, that's ultimately what matters. The old gscartsw was still a great switch. If you encounter any issues with the low pass filtering, there is a mod for adding a switch to enable and disable it. RetroRGB has it documented.

 

Thank you. Not sure if you saw my edited post, but I stated that the 8 and 16 port Hydra both only have one output, so that was a factor as well as shipping times. However, Lotharek is working on another with two outputs. That should be amazing.

[mobiusstriptech]

I really considered the Hydra when he announced the 16 port but I have been super happy with my gscartsw and bandridge setup.

[Zap!]

I really considered the Hydra when he announced the 16 port but I have been super happy with my gscartsw and bandridge setup.

 

Well if you ever decide to get the new Hydra 16 (two output version) when it's released, at least you know that you can always sell your gscartsw for $200+ on eBay. I'm proof that they will fetch that much.

[mobiusstriptech]

Honestly I would probably end up using is still. I have multiple sets of cables for the same consoles. Makes for fast testing.

[Jess Ragan]

I don't know much about SCART switches, but I can say with confidence that you don't want this SCART upscaler. It takes up another spot on your power strip and produces video that's, er, less than optimal. The picture looks okay when you're standing still (although overly soft, with rounded off pixels), but when you're moving around, hoo boy.

 

I wish I had a monitor or small television set with native SCART compatibility, but they're not exactly abundant in the United States. Frustrating. Maybe I really will have to buy Retrovision's component cable in the future...

[derFunkenstein]

I have a Bandridge 3-port auto-switcher that works great. I also have a Hama 3-port manual switch that seems just fine. I don't see any ghosting with my setup (OSSC, TCL 55P605)

 

It's all about the *cables*. I bought Retro Access Genesis 2 and SNES SCART cables but still had issues. As it turns out, my original experience with the Hama was poor because the SCART cable from the switch to the OSSC was not good. I replaced it with one of these in February and it's great. I just like the auto-switch because I'm lazy.