Unsure about SCART connectors

[dinkob]

Hi guys. History between my and my VCRs goes on for too long so I'll just go straight to the point.

Can scart cable be used to connect two VCRs?

Would Scart adapter be recommended (Scart to RCA then to VCR)?

Since I live in the US if I were to purchase a PAL capture card would that work in the US (I have multisystem VCR and a PAL VCR which works perfectly fine without any adapters - I guess that voltage regulator takes care of proper voltage to VCR; the whole problem is that my Samsung multisystem VCR does not reproduce SP mode anymore but EP works and also if I connect PAL source VCR it will convert it to NTSC signal - no problem; however the conversion mechanism is somewhat bad I think so I might be better off just getting a capture card that works with PAL - but for the time being I was thinking about connecting my PAL VCR to Samsung multisystem using SCART cable - I am not sure which option is the best (adapter, SCART cable, or just capture card).

Thanks ahead,

Oh and in the case of the Scart cable is there any specific model or are they all the same? I would maybe guess scart to scart connection would give the best quality.

[Will Hay]

A scart to scart cable is fine beteeen two VCR's, provising one is set to 'out' of course (and installed in a scart socket with an 'in' and 'out' socket.
I imported an NTSC Matrox capture card from the US (to here in the UK)and had absolutely no problems whatsover in capturing a composite PAL signal.
Obviously I couldn't import a TV (RF) signal directly and use the tuner function.
Good luck
Will Hay

[zilog_jones]

With normal VHS VCRs (not S-VHS), they only output composite video (including thorugh SCART leads - SCART can also be used for RGB which DVD players, video game consoles, etc. use), so it wouldn't make much of a difference anyway (except for the auto switching, if your VCRs can do that). Though it is easier to link 2 VCRs with 1 cable, compared to the 2 or 3 (if it's stereo) with RCA cables.

Though saying all this you'll lose a lot of quality copying two SP VHS tapes, never mind copying SP to EP which will be even worse!

It shouldn't be too hard to find a capture card that does PAL composite video too - don't expect it to say on the box though.