I want to connect my Windows Media Centre PC to my Widescreen (16:9)
TV through the RGB SCART connection (as this is the highest quality
connection available to me).  I have looked on the internet and found
solutions that suggest making a custom VGA to RGB SCART cable and
using Powerstrip to output the correct resolution and frequency.  I
have made two different cables without success.

I have found many suppliers of scan converters that claim to allow
VGA to output to TV but there are no impartial reviews that give
details of the quality of the output.  This makes me nervous about
buying one of these devices.

So, I would like information on what the best solution is (without
breaking the bank) to output standard VGA to SCART RGB in 16:9
Widescreen format that actually worksa and is of the highest quality
possible from a TV.  If the solution is a scan converter, I would like
detailed information on the quality of the output and a comparison to
other ways of connecting (like composite and S-VHS).

It is fustrating that this seems so hard to do as every games console
available seems to do this so easily!  The Xbox is only a PC in
disguise and can output RGB SCART perfectly.

You may find that you will have better luck and/or performance if you
install/upgrade to a video card with TV-out capability. The nVidia
chipset used in the X-Box, for example, supports TV-out natively. By
having the TV-out support on the video card, you will maximize the
quality of the TV-out signal (assuming you use a decent video card).
Then, converting from the component or S-Video signal of the video
card to an RGB SCART signal becomes a lot easier.

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answer Researcher

I assume aht misundertsood the question; a graphics card with a TV out
function will produce either a "Composite Video" or "SVideo" signal,
and while both of these are superior in quality (at least in theory)
to broadcast NTSC or PAL signals, they still use similar modulation
techniques which significantly reduce colour resolution and fidelity,
and overall picture clarity.

SCART - which AIUI isn't seen much (at all?) in the US - allows both
composite video, and, as bigrik says, direct RGB input to a TV -
whereby rather than encoding the R,G,B and Sync signals onto a single
wire, they're sent on seperately; just like they are to your VGA
monitor. In theory, if your video card produces the right format, this
can drive the TV's Tube directly to give a much sharper image
(especially for digital sources) than you can get from composite or
SVideo, as well as having much better control over things like the
overscan, automatic source selection and aspect switching.

Unfortunately, I've not seen anyone selling pre-made VGA to SCART
cables - It was a google search for one myself that brought me here!
:)

It is impossible to do this with a cable. Scan convertion is
necessary. I have a GrandTech Ultimate 2000 that will do this. Several
other GrandTech (http://www.grandtec.com/) products do it also. You
need to order a US $10 cable to use the scart RGB output.

I would rather use a video card with scart RGB output, but I have not
been able to find one anywhere.

I have found a website that sells a number of cables which it
advertises as for use connecting RGB SCART to 15 pin HD. The examples
they give for the use of this type of cable are things like connecting
a DVD player to an LCD monitor.

Does anybody know if this cable could be used the other way around
with a gender changer on the 15 pin D connector, connecting the VGA
port on your PCs graphics card to RGB SCART on the back of a
widescreen TV?

The website is:

http://www.beststuff.co.uk/specialist_rgb_leads.htm

In cases like this I recomend the use of a video card with DVI-output
and a DVI-to-RGB-cable (it often comes bundled with the card). The
only thing you need if the dislay device not have RCA-input for RGB is
a SCART (with RGB-support) on one side and 3 female RCA on the other.

I have a Matrox video card with 2 DVI outputs and I made my one
SCART-RGB-cable (its easy). This solution works great!