Pi2SCART does not want to sync to my CRT :( Am I connecting it up right?

[jjsmclaughlin]

Hi, I have just received a Pi2SCART as a gift. I am attempting to connect it to a Hantarex MGG 15 EQ HR CRT monitor which accepts an RGB signal on a 9-pin D-sub plug. The Hantarex manual states the following pinout:

1. Ground
2. N.C.
3. Red
4. Green
5. Blue
6. Intensifier
7. N.C.
8. Hor. sync. or composite
9. Vert. sync.

Would anyone be able to tell me the correct pins on the SCART connector to attach each of these signals? What pins does the Pi2SCART actually send stuff down? (for example, I imagine it doesn't send composite video (lol), does it hook up all of the many SCART earth pins? etc)

I looked up the SCART pinout on the internet and made the following connections:

1. Ground -> SCART PIN 17
2. N.C. -> NOT CONNECTED
3. Red -> SCART PIN 15
4. Green -> SCART PIN 11
5. Blue -> SCART PIN 7
6. Intensifier -> NOT CONNECTED
7. N.C. -> NOT CONNECTED
8. Hor. sync. or composite -> SCART PIN 20
9. Vert. sync. -> SCART PIN 20

I get a picture on the CRT with correct colours, but it is not in sync. Adjusting the CRT potentiometers will not make it sync. The picture rolls vertically slowly. The horizontal sync is mostly stable with some slight jitters, and the bottom part of the rolling image shears to the side sharply.

Originally I had only Hantarex pin 8 (Hor. sync. or composite) attached to SCART PIN 20. When that did not work, I also attached Hantarex pin 9 (Vert. sync.) to SCART PIN 20. The results were exactly the same.

I wonder if I am taking Hantarex pin 1 (Ground) from the wrong place?

Obviously there are many things which could be going wrong. But the most likely is my cable or connections. I thought the best thing to do was to first check that I am at least wiring up my cable correctly! After that I can begin experimenting with other possibilities.

I should add: The CRT is in good working order and will sync with other signals. I have experimented with other hdmi_timings values in config.txt and they all produce the same result. I feel fairly sure the Hantarex just isn't getting a sync signal it likes and it's probably my fault.

Thank you very much for your time!

[mitu]

Could be that Pi2Scart uses a - normal for a TV - 15khz VSync, while the monitor may expect VGA/RGBHV (31 khz VSync).

EDIT: connect the Pi2Scart to a TV to check.

[jjsmclaughlin]

@mitu Thank you! That's a useful thing to check.

Unfortunately I no longer have any SCART compatible TVs. I am able to drive this Hantarax monitor using an old Ultimarc ArcadeVGA card and a VGA to 9 pin D-sub cable I soldered together. As far as I can tell, the ArcadeVGA outputs a 15Khz signal; that's really it's selling point. I may be misunderstanding what you are saying about Vsync though.

What I really wanted to check was that I was hooking up to the correct SCART pins, so I could eliminate that as a source of error.

Something I have just thought of: Since the Pi2SCART has a female SCART connector, should I be getting sync from pin 19 rather than pin 20?

[mitu]

@jjsmclaughlin said in Pi2SCART does not want to sync to my CRT :( Am I connecting it up right?:

Something I have just thought of: Since the Pi2SCART has a female SCART connector, should I be getting sync from pin 19 rather than pin 20?

I'd say yes, isn't 19 the sync output ?

[jjsmclaughlin]

@mitu Yes, it is!

So I thought I had better post to say that I solved my own problem. I had to get sync from SCART pin 19 on the Pi2SCART's female connector, not pin 20. I did not know about male SCART leads swapping pins 19 and 20. I hope this post might help somebody else out one day.