SCART-hate and a mysterious Freeview signal

December 19, 2006 4:52 AM

I have disconnected the SCART connector between our television and PVR. I did this in part because I think Freeview sends some signal at 4am which wakes up the TV and therefore everyone in the house. Is it really a disadvantage not to use a SCART connection?

I have a history of SCART hate. Before the PVR we had a VCR. I pulled out the SCART connector for that because I was irritated by the way the TV (years-old Bang & Olufsen) would be switched on and in video mode by having the VCR on, even when just in standby. We briefly connected a Freeview box which had to be connected via SCART as it had no independent RF connection. As well as turning the TV on when turned on, it also switched itself and the TV on at 5am (this was in the summer, so 4am GMT) for no reason I could discern. Both the TV and the Freeview box have timers, but neither were set. So I disconnected the Freeview box and left the VCR connected by RF only. We’ve now bought a PVR (Humax 9200T) and my life would be one of audio-visual joy were it not for the fact that the PVR switched itself and the TV on at 4am very loudly waking up the entire household. I’ve pulled out the SCART connector and that’s stopped my problem and everything seems fine. Are we really significantly disadvantaged by not using SCART and what is happening at 4am?

posted by boudicca to technology (7 comments total)

First off, not all TVs will automatically turn themselves on when they notice a SCART signal. In fact, I think that's pretty rare. Are you leaving the TV on standby, or are you turning it off completely? Has the 4am thing happened several times, or was it just a one-off? It seems like fixing the issue with the TV might be the best long-term solution. If not...

A SCART cable can carry several different types of video signal, from basic composite video through S-Video upto RGB. So if your box is just outputting composite video or S-Video, you could get the same signal quality by using a normal composite video or S-Video cable, assuming your TV has the appropriate inputs.

The main benefit of using a SCART cable over, say, RF, is the improved signal quality. Having said that, the practical difference between composite and RF may well not be massively noticeable (although the difference between RGB and RF will be like night and day). So if you can't see the difference in picture quality between RF and whatever your SCART cable is carrying, there's no harm in sticking with what you're happy with, whatever the AV nuts say.
posted by chrismear at 5:03 AM on December 19, 2006

Is it really a disadvantage not to use a SCART connection?

Depends on what you're using instead. RF gives a noticeably poorer picture. For the best of both worlds, use a part-wired SCART lead; this connects just the video and audio signals - no control signal, therefore presumably no zombie-TV.
posted by No Mutant Enemy at 5:05 AM on December 19, 2006

It doesn't answer your question, I guess, but wouldn't it be better to leave the scart cable alone and physically switch your tv off rather than leave it on standby? With a physical off, nothing scartside will be able to do anything to your tv, and you'll save electricity too.

A quick scan of google suggests that various boxes update software and/or go through a retune cycle between 3am and 4am GMT. Why this would trigger your TV is anyone's guess...
posted by twine42 at 5:23 AM on December 19, 2006

The TV itself does not have an on/off switch. If it's on at the plug, it's on (though it can be in standby mode). We don't turn it on and off at the plug because the plug is located in a very awkward position.

Chrismear, it happened twice - ie 2 nights running - with the Freeview box, and once with the PVR. I therefore think it's a pattern, but I'm not inclined to get up at 4am to check unless I have to.
posted by boudicca at 5:38 AM on December 19, 2006

I recently stuck my TV on a time switch and set it to turn off between about 1am and 8am - I wanted to save power but this might also solve your problem.
posted by rongorongo at 6:01 AM on December 19, 2006 [1 favorite]

SCART can carry several video formats, in increasing order of quality:

Composite video (alternative == RCA/Phono cable)
S-Video: good quality, alternative = S-video cable
RGB: High quality, but no alternative connection method

If you want to remove the 'auto-on' feature of SCART, you can use Composite or S-Vid cables as alternatives, using adapters at either end if the freeview box/TV does not have the appropriate sockets, and a stereo phono cable for the audio...

Note that other features carried in SCART's many pins (such as aspect ratio information) may be lost

Another alternative is to cut the pin which carries the 'Hello! Wake UP!' signal to turn on the TV.
posted by nielm at 6:47 AM on December 19, 2006

It's the Freeview box, and it's a poorly-designed one if it's sending a SCART signal just because it updated. [Perhaps it's also rebooting. That might do it.]

Can't really stress enough how a TV without a power off button is both personally expensive to you, and antisocial to the rest of us. Drop a purple on this, put it somewhere you can reach, and plug the telly into it. You'll have saved the twenty quid in reduced electric bills before easter.

Don't switch the Freeview box off though - it may need the updates to keep any programme data and/or correctly identify which channel's which.
posted by genghis at 12:24 PM on December 20, 2006