D-shell connector age?

Adrian Graham wrote: To be honest, it's a great idea - and much better than non-European countries where the typical connectivity is via RF only. Going source->modulator->tuner->display never did seem like a good idea when you could just go source->display via separate shielded RGB signals. (The picture quality I've seen on the typical US setup is piss-poor compared to the UK, jokes about NTSC aside) It's just a shame that the connector they picked for the standard is so lousy. Having looked at some old pricelists, SCART connectors weren't much cheaper than D-shells - and given that they were typically used on expensive equipment which only contained a couple of them, the difference couldn't have been significant at all. The only thing I can think of (other than it being some odd political decision) is that you know SCART is SCART; if using D-shells there would have been a few idiots trying to plug any old computer cable into their equipment. That hardly seems justification to enforce a nasty connector choice, though. Assuming that D-shell connectors were around, of course - but if Chuck's right then they should have been readily available in the mid-70's. Pin spacing is wider on SCART, so presumably they suffer less from interference - but we all know that D-shells are perfectly good for video (particularly at TV rates). cheers Jules