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Review: Bluedelta Smart-SCART PLUS

by Nick Haywood on 7 July 2006, 10:06

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaf6f

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Conclusion and awards



With the advent of the digital home truly upon us and Windows Vista just around the corner, I can see many people investing either in a TV card or Media PC. Using a media extender, they’ll want to view the output on their TV but not give up access to their other devices. Sure, you can argue that a Media PC pretty much replaces a DVD recorder, but I really don’t want a PC in my living room… I’m quite happy using my Xbox 360 as a media extender. Given all the other kit I have plugged into my TV, the Bluedelta Smart-SCART PLUS is an absolute boon.

Click for larger image


It does exactly what it says it does, which is always a bonus. I can’t fault the image quality either, but given that the Smart-SCART PLUS has a built in signal amplifier, I’d be surprised if there were a degradation of image quality. One thing you do need to be aware of is that you need to use decent quality, fully featured 21-pin SCART cables. That cheap-assed set you bought off a bloke up the market aren’t going to do you any favours and can even interfere with how the Smart-SCART PLUS operates.

Also, some devices are a bit picky and like to hog the SCART output, sending a signal all the time. My DVD player is one such device, so that’s why it’s worth fitting everything together outside of your TV cabinet first and figuring out the best configuration for you and your equipment. In the end, given that the Smart-SCART PLUS had freed up all my SCART inputs at once, I opted to run my DVD player on its own SCART input and run everything else through the Smart-SCART PLUS into my TV’s SCART 1 input.

So is the Bluedelta Smart-SCART PLUS worth forking out for? Absolutely. I would not hesitate to recommend this to anyone with more bits of SCART equipment than SCART sockets. It can be a bit fiddly to set up but anyone with a bit of technical nouse should have no trouble. The directions on the info sheet are fine for getting you up and running but poor for actually operating the Smart-SCART PLUS as you’d want. That said, tech support is brilliant and soon resolved my minor problem.

Oh, and one last bonus… now my missus can watch Desperate Housewives without having to pull me off the PC to switch the SCART buttons over… As far as I’m concerned, the Bluedelta Smart-SCART PLUS is worth the money just for that!

Pros
True SCART Auto-switching
Video-Sense means even games consoles work with it
Record from other inputs whilst viewing from a different input
No fiddling around unplugging and plugging in cables
Everything can be routed to a single SCART input on your TV
Tech support is great

Cons
Instruction manual unhelpful in operating the Smart-SCART PLUS
No holes for wall mounting


If you’re fed up with spaghetti and your back is killing you, get one. Get one now!

HEXUS Awards

HEXUS.gaming Recommended
Smart-SCART PLUS
HEXUS.gaming Recommended
Smart-SCART PLUS


HEXUS Right2Reply



HEXUS World Leading HEXUS Right2Reply initiative invites manufacturers, their representatives and vendors which supply HEXUS with products for technical editorial evaluation, to comment on the articles that we publish. If they choose to respond, we publish their response verbatim.

HEXUS Where2Buy

The Smart-SCART PLUS available now, click the following links to order:

www.bluedelta.co.uk

www.amazon.co.uk


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HEXUS Forums :: 11 Comments

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Posted by slugs - Fri 07 Jul 2006 10:29
just what i was looking for today. i think hexus must have a sideline in telepathy. had the same happen the other week went i was going to order a tft television. and there was a notice saying don't do it yet wait as the dell are about to do an offer
Posted by Nick - Fri 07 Jul 2006 10:48
I tell you, it's a cracking bit of kit.

It works with all my consoles and saves masses of hassle as you don;t have to manually switch inputs or ever plug anything in again.

I recommend that you put the least used console in the highest slot, then work back from there.

If you're plugging in a VCR, use the specific slot for it as it's two way.

A great feture for those with 5.1 decoders built into their DVD players is that the Smart-SCART PLUS blanks the video from the DVD player whilst still allowing it to process the sound if it senses video input from a higher slot.

It feeds the video from the other device to the telly and then takes the audio stream and passes it through the DVD's 5.1 decoder, giving you surround sound without the need for another decoder, cool eh?
Posted by TheVoice - Fri 07 Jul 2006 11:34
Do these things work with RGB SCART inputs? That is, if I connected, say, a PS2 and an Xbox 360 (both with RGB SCART cables) into that little box, then connected the box to the RGB SCART cable of the TV (seeing as the TVs I've used only have one socket that is RGB capable), would the TV “see” them as RGB? I've noticed quite a difference between using an RB SCART socket and a regular one.
Posted by Nick - Fri 07 Jul 2006 11:51
Do you mean RGB from your consoles?

Have a look at the image on this page of the review:

http://gaming.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=6085&page=4

The three inputs at the bottom of the picture are from top to bottom, the XBox 360, PS2, GameCube.
Posted by TheVoice - Fri 07 Jul 2006 12:36
They would only be composite inputs though (in that picture). RGB can only be done with a Scart cable (or better, I'd assume), and an RGB Scart socket on the TV. That is, the standard Scart cable that comes with the PS2 can't do RGB, regardless of whether it's plugged into an RGB Scart socket or not. I had to buy the RGB cable myself.

Kind of hard to explain…hopefully that makes some sense.

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