Any Solid SCART Switches Out There?

[Lemony Vengeance]

I made all of my cables myself. Just bought six 10 foot long RGBHV BNC cables, cut them in half, then put scart sockets on the end. You will need to run an extra wire for one of the audio channels since the V BNC would be used for the other one + ground. You would then cut off the BNC end, then separate ground and the audio channel and feed it into the screw terminals.

Bit of work, like I said previously, but ends up being a pretty nice setup.

 

[Mega]

Extron switches use the 5 screw Phoenix connector. They tend to be blue in color, you can see a few connectors with plastic tails in the pic Yodd posted on the last page. You can actually make your own RCA audio connectors. I made a few shoddy ones before I lucked out on an eBay seller with exactly 16 to sell: 12 for the inputs and 4 for the outputs on my Extron matrix switch. These are called Extron CSR 6.

I would avoid the System 8/10/etc switches. They only allow for one output and half the fun and versatility with these is hooking up multiple monitors or multiple connection types from one monitor (I had one monitor hooked up via both RGB for most of my systems and S-video for a couple of others). You want to look for the Crosspoints. From oldest to newest: 300 > 450 Plus > Ultra. The latter two are the ones with the clear buttons are newer and I'm assuming have less age/wear. The naming convention is 88, 124, 128. So the 88 has 8 inputs, 8 outputs. The 124 has 12 in, 4 out. And so on. I have a Crosspoint 450 Plus 124. I intended to buy a 128 but the seller made a mistake and I decided to keep it to avoid the return hassle. I actually miss those 4 additional outputs... Seems crazy but a couple of PVMs can take up most of them with the usual cable hookups.

Here's my switch. One of the inputs is a Hama scart switch til I get around to obtaining a couple more breakout cables. The switch also needs pure,/composite sync and I only have one breakout cable with the built-in sync stripper at the moment, so I interchange my luma-sync devices with input 6 at the moment.

 

[Stellarola]

Extron switches use the 5 screw Phoenix connector. They tend to be blue in color, you can see a few connectors with plastic tails in the pic Yodd posted on the last page. You can actually make your own RCA audio connectors. I made a few shoddy ones before I lucked out on an eBay seller with exactly 16 to sell: 12 for the inputs and 4 for the outputs on my Extron matrix switch. These are called Extron CSR 6.

I would avoid the System 8/10/etc switches. They only allow for one output and half the fun and versatility with these is hooking up multiple monitors or multiple connection types from one monitor (I had one monitor hooked up via both RGB for most of my systems and S-video for a couple of others). You want to look for the Crosspoints. From oldest to newest: 350 > 450 Plus > Ultra. The latter two are the ones with the clear buttons are newer and I'm assuming have less age/wear. The naming convention is 88, 124, 128. So the 88 has 8 inputs, 8 outputs. The 124 has 12 in, 4 out. And so on. I have a Crosspoint 450 Plus 124. I intended to buy a 128 but the seller made a mistake and I decided to keep it to avoid the return hassle. I actually miss those 4 additional outputs... Seems crazy but a couple of PVMs can take up most of them with the usual cable hookups.

Here's my switch. One of the inputs is a Hama scart switch til I get around to obtaining a couple more breakout cables. The switch also needs pure,/composite sync and I only have one breakout cable with the built-in sync stripper at the moment, so I interchange my luma-sync devices with input 6 at the moment.

Very cool. I did see the Extron CSR 6 adapters while looking for solutions. They are pretty much impossible to find, unless you find them already attached to a switcher. I contacted a company in the UK that apparently have them, but they won't ship outside their country.

 

[Superpretendo]

Has anyone experienced a low Hz audio hum when using certain SCART switchers? I get it when using my 3:1 Hama, but not when using my 3:1 Bandridge. I've tried a ground loop isolator, various consoles, different wall plugs, same thing.

 

[Yodd]

Does it happen when there is only 1 console attached to the Scart switch and the other scart inputs empty?

I know some of these cheap scart switches have a tendency to attach all the ground pins together as well as some other pins.

Another reason to go with a better switching solution.

 

[Superpretendo]

Does it happen when there is only 1 console attached to the Scart switch and the other scart inputs empty?

I know some of these cheap scart switches have a tendency to attach all the ground pins together as well as some other pins.

Another reason to go with a better switching solution.

It does. I'll continue troubleshooting. Really hoping the dude from Assembler/Shmups making the 8:1 switches kicks production into gear and makes them a bit faster, I know quite a few people interested but they are never available to purchase...

 

[Mega]

He should have just charged more so he was actually turning a profit and could hire someone to help him crank them out. The people who want this thing actually want it enough to pay a premium, especially with nothing else really on the market. Retro Gaming Cables UK will beat him to the punch at the pace he's going (owner sent out a survey asking how many plugs would be ideal if you could have one scart switch).

 

[Wachenroder]

Don't quite know what you would be planning to do with that scart extender but I highly doubt you will get any sort of satisfactory results using that contraption. For one it has no switching circuitry.
In terms of 5 port switches, the Carrefour ones - like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SCART-BOX-5...227959?hash=item35f78928f7:g:Nk4AAOSwu4BVpXQh - are IMHO currently the best bet, given that the Bandridge 5 slot is no longer available.
I have written a little bit about the 3 slot version of this switch in this thread and after using it for some time I can say that:
- the switching circuitry is fine, it isolates the selected input from the other inputs, there is no interference etc. so the basics are covered.
- the scart plug on the output cable side was at least in the case of my switch of a particularly crappy quality - the pins were misaligned and the plug was difficult to insert in a scart socket without bending anything. I have since threw the stock plug in the garbage and just soldered in a replacement male scart plug. Equally well, you can dispose of the plug and rewire the output side for BNC.
- the female scart input connectors on the switch side are so-so: when using certain scart plugs it is not as snug connection as one would hope for or as is the case in e.g. the Bandridge switch. This is not really anything too dramatic, but if you are often changing cables etc. you may find that every so often you need to reaffirm that the scart plugs are fully seated in the switch.

Just received this scart switch. Its pretty much junk. The connections on all but 1 port are all loose and either mess the color up or the picture is way too dim. I try pressing down to get a clean connection but its not really working all that well.

I'm still doing tests on it but its not looking good so far.

edit: and you are right about the pins being misaligned. It doesnt fit properly

edit2: I really should have read your warning more closely lol. They fit my experience to the T

edit3: Think this one was defective and damagaed during shipping. Guy sent me another one free of charge and the second one works a lot better. The connection is still a bit loose so you have to play with it a bit sometimes but for the most part its decent enough for the price.

 

[kuze]

He should have just charged more so he was actually turning a profit and could hire someone to help him crank them out. The people who want this thing actually want it enough to pay a premium, especially with nothing else really on the market. Retro Gaming Cables UK will beat him to the punch at the pace he's going (owner sent out a survey asking how many plugs would be ideal if you could have one scart switch).

I'd love to see like a 12:1 version of the gscart

 

[Mega]

I responded with 16 inputs on the basis that my 12-input Extron is technically full and I'm still missing common systems (Saturn, SMS). If that's unreasonable to make or impractical for most potential buyers: keep it to 8-10 inputs and anyone who needs more can daisy chain a couple.

 

[gusmoney]

Gscartsw v3.2 preorder for March delivery up now. SCART ballerz only.

 

[Yodd]

Holy shit, that thing went up in price from what he was originally charging for them.


Extron FTW.

 

[Wachenroder]

Gscartsw v3.2 preorder for March delivery up now. SCART ballerz only.

Holy shit at that price.

 

[tacoguy]

Holy shit at that price.

The crazy part is that it sounds like the man isn't even turning a profit.
I really want one but at that prize makes me think twice.

 

[SNK416]

I have 2 shinybows they work great got them from ani-av.com kinda pricey tho... but I think theres a sale on there.

 

[MtothaJ]

Just received this scart switch. Its pretty much junk. The connections on all but 1 port are all loose and either mess the color up or the picture is way too dim. I try pressing down to get a clean connection but its not really working all that well.

I'm still doing tests on it but its not looking good so far.

edit: and you are right about the pins being misaligned. It doesnt fit properly

edit2: I really should have read your warning more closely lol. They fit my experience to the T

edit3: Think this one was defective and damagaed during shipping. Guy sent me another one free of charge and the second one works a lot better. The connection is still a bit loose so you have to play with it a bit sometimes but for the most part its decent enough for the price.

Just in case anyone is interested, this is what they look like inside:





As mentioned previously, the switching circuitry is solid enough, but the rest (female scart connectors, flimsy non-coax signal output cable etc) is junk.
I guess the PCB could be of some use if someone wanted to make a switch of some sort (scart / rca / any other type of signal) by soldering directly to the solder points.

 

[Wachenroder]

^ I recognized that pcb the moment i saw it lol

I modded the casing and positioning a little bit trying to get a more solid connection which did help, but it seems like no matter what i did, it just doesn't give a clear picture, The picture is always a bit dim compared to connecting directly into my display.

Not sure how to fix that so i just dont use it, Probably gonna hold out for one of better quality.

 

[MtothaJ]

^ I recognized that pcb the moment i saw it lol

I modded the casing and positioning a little bit trying to get a more solid connection which did help, but it seems like no matter what i did, it just doesn't give a clear picture, The picture is always a bit dim compared to connecting directly into my display.

Not sure how to fix that so i just dont use it, Probably gonna hold out for one of better quality.

No dimming of the image on my one - I find that this is often the case on the automatic switches and the lowest of the low ones with no selector switches.

Yesterday I modded my one to be an audio switch - the upside here vs some of the generic audio switches you can buy is that I put ground on one of the other switching pins instead of on the common ground circuit, thus isolating the devices from one another and stopping any ground loops / noise from the other devices feeding into the audio via the shared ground.

 

[Wachenroder]

thats awesome.

now that i think about it, while it does look similar, mine is a different model.

mine has 5 ports

can you link me to the exact one you bought?

 

[MtothaJ]

thats awesome.

now that i think about it, while it does look similar, mine is a different model.

mine has 5 ports

can you link me to the exact one you bought?

I actually bought mine in store at Carrefour, but this is one like the one I got: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Carrefo...ch-3-Way-0-4M-Audio-Video-to-TV-/121336567119
The packaging of my one was slightly different thought (see pic on first page of this topic).

 

[cr4zymanz0r]

I actually got so sick of issues with SCART switches and cables that I finally decided to buy a bunch of project boxes and make RCA style RGB break-out boxes. Now I just route it over regular component switchboxes (they also need connections for composite so i can send csync or cvbs through it).

Here's some pictures I took a while back during the process http://imgur.com/a/ckKRl

I'll have an Omega CMVS soon too so I'll need to work on a break-out box for it as well.

 

[myblackamex]

Gscartsw v3.2 8 port looks nice but they do not seem to be ready for a production run and you have to watch when they are ready. The Shinybow 4 port (SB-5520) or 6 port (SB-5525) work great. It may be pricey to some but this Neo Geo no price complaining here!

 

[xsq]

http://imgur.com/a/ckKRl

that looks like a lot of clutter and a lot of work... but the result could be nice.

 

[MtothaJ]

that looks like a lot of clutter and a lot of work... but the result could be nice.

This is pretty much also my view on the subject - this solution seems overly complicated but the main thing is that it acheives the desired results.
If going all out and getting rid of scart I would think of getting an Extron switcher, especially since they are not all that expensive (or at least that was the case a few months ago).