Text 32237, 111 rader
Skriven 2009-05-08 17:19:30 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
  Kommentar till text 32209 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: TV Systems
==================
Michiel van der Vlist wrote to Robert Bashe on Thursday May 07 2009 at 22:33:

First of all, it's an education to discuss such things with you, even if we
don't agree on some points. I learn a lot.

RB>> The SCART plug, which is almost impossible to insert correctly
RB>> without a good light (the black plug on a black socket is almost
RB>> invisible),

MV> The problem is not the colour (on my TV the recepticles are blue and
MV> red) but he fact that they are at the back of the equipent and only
MV> dentists can work with mirrors.

I have problems even when I have the socket in front of me, because the sockets
are dark (black in my case) and the pins invisible in the (black) plug. That's
why I need a good light to get a SCART cable plugged in.

MV> And BTW, puls are not "analog" or "digital".

I know, was just using the term to clarify what kind of signal they carry.

RB>> reminds me of the South African electric plugs, which are - or at
RB>> least were in the 1980s, when I was there, a real handful.

MV> The 5A or the 15A?

Who knows? All I remember is that they were real monsters, and even had an
off/on switch in the plug itself. That was not in the plant (I worked as a
chemist at a plant in Benoni), but in a normal household.

RB>>>> the land of government-sanctioned monopolies and cartels (as long
RB>>>> as they pay plenty of taxes and a little to the politicians on the
RB>>>> side).

MV>>> Good to see you didn't miss this opportunity to make a technical
MV>>> discussion into a political rant, but I have to disappoint you: this
MV>>> time you are way off the mark.

RB>> Am I? When the first thing you say is:

MV>>> SCART was a French thing. The acronym stands for "Syndicat des
MV>>> Constructeurs d'Appareils Radiorécepteurs et Téléviseurs". Its
MV>>> original purpose was protectionism.

RB>> I figured that. And now tell me again that I was "way off the mark".

MV> You implied that it was the *German* government that had pushed it. It
MV> was the French...

Governments are governments. I wasn't singling out the German one for
criticism, although it deserves its share too.

MV>>> When the French switched to 625 lines and so the 819 line barrier
MV>>> was dropped, they made a law that every TV imported into France must
MV>>> have a SCART connector. But instead of acting to protect the French
MV>>> industry, it backfired.

RB>> So there is such a thing as poetic justice.

MV> Indeed. ;-)

Warms your heart, doesn't it? ;-))

RB>> Europeans have big hands and bright lights in all their TV rooms.

MV> They know a good standard when they see one...

Were they ever asked? Things like this are decided in back rooms by the
industry bigwigs and the public has to accept them as a fait accompli. I wish
things like "consumer friendliness" would also be considered when setting such
standards, but that's apparently just wishful thinking.

MV>>> Calling it "garbage" is totally unjustified.

RB>> A matter of opinion. I can still remember how difficult it was to get
RB>> a switch to attach multiple signal sources to one TV input. Added to
RB>> the near-impossibility of putting the plug into the socket without
RB>> plenty of room and a good light, I was (and am) not impressed.

MV> If you thought you need a switch then you have not understood how to
MV> properly make use of the standard. You do NOT need a switch to connect
MV> multiple video sources to a TV with only one SCART connector.

That may be the theory. The practice is that if you try to hook up two sources
to a TV the way you describe (daisy chaining), you get a holy mess. I tried
that right at the beginning with a VCR and DVD player. The only satisfactory
solution was to separate the signals completely.

There's a reason why you now can buy switches with one SCART outlet and three
or four inlets, with buttons to select the proper inlet.

MV>>> You need a digital interface to have digital rights management....

RB>> ;-) Two pins for "stop" and "go"?

MV> It is a bit more complex than that...

;-)

RB>> I figure the real experts (the "cracks") will manage to eliminate
RB>> such stuff over time. Same way as they've eliminated the DRM corset
RB>> for HD movies (Blu-Ray) played on a computer.

MV> And maybe they will end up in jail...

And maybe not. The guy who cracked DCSS writes books about hacking nowadays.

Cheers, Bob

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