For any newcomers to the retro-gaming scene, SCART (sometimes incorrectly referred to as ‘EuroSCART’) is a European cable standard that allows for both composite and RGB video, as well as audio in one single connector. There’s also a Japanese version of the standard called “JP21”, that looks identical to SCART and offers the same features, but uses a different pinout (as shown above in the picture unscrupulously stolen from Google Images)!
This can be annoying and potentially dangerous, as almost all SCART equipment sold and supported these days in the retro-gaming world use the European standard. For years, finding solutions to convert one standard to another was difficult, but luckily there are a few good choices available!:
Video Game Perfection has just started selling shielded Receptacle-to-Plug cables:
JP21 to SCART cable
SCART to JP21 cable here
Retro Gaming Cables also offers a dongle-style SCART to JP21 adapter:
Retro-Access sells a wide variety of conversion choices and can offer even more with their custom configurator:
SCART to JP21 Cable
JP21 to SCART Cable
SCART to JP21 – Receptacle to Plug
JP21 to SCART – Receptacle to Plug
Overall, it’s my strong recommendation that if you’re starting out, stick with all SCART equipment. I understand some people already invested quite a bit on JP21 cables, however consider the total cost: If you have a complete setup and just need the final output converted, any of these solutions are an excellent choice. Alternatively, if you only have a few cables, you might benefit overall to just getting shielded SCART versions of the cables; It’ll be easier overall and depending on where you got the original cable, you might have a bump in quality as well.
For more information on the topic, refer to the t-shirt ;p
