Component video switcher

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Ben

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#12054 25-Feb-2007 21:38

Is there a way to switch 3 component video outputs to one output (one input on the TV)?
Preferable not hundreds of dollars, and preferable IR controlled so I can set it up as a macro on the remote.

chiefie

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#61934 26-Feb-2007 08:53

How about this? Joytech Xbox 360 Control Centre, self-powered and may help boost the signal, so it is an active switcher.

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#62226 28-Feb-2007 08:01

For around $155 you can get the Jaycar one, product code AC1676 on their web site. Has component video, stereo pair and optical TOS SPDIF port switching for 3 inputs. Also has a remote

But if you take into account the ethernet switch on the joytech one, its hard to beat

Cyril

sharkynz

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#64450 20-Mar-2007 19:24

I bought a joytech control centre. It was faulty, didn't transmit a video signal and wouldn't allow me to change its output settings. I emailed the company, 3 days later no reply, I went and swapped it for another one from the shop I had purchased it from...suprise suprise, it too was faulty, exact same thing. I emailed joytech again and again they didn't respond. Useless people they are. I gave up and settled for a refund.
I'm sure it would be a good product if it worked, I'll now be looking at another manufacturer.
Save yourself some time and don't get the Joytech Control Center 540C. I assume all the units in NZ are faulty, would love to hear from someone who has one working.

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#64556 21-Mar-2007 18:28

The Joytech AV switchers are known to be problematic to the point of being completely useless. Sometimes people will get a good one, but they are plagued with quality issues and many models have quite poor quality components resulting in noticable image degradation. I wouldn't bother with them. They did one "high end" one a while back which was supposedly pretty good, but I've read _lots_ of complaints on avforums about every other model.

The Jaycar stuff tends to be pretty good, it's probably worth a look.

sharkynz

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#64584 21-Mar-2007 22:48

Cheers mate.
I did just get one from Jaycar today actually and it is working great. The av control center, with 6 seperate component inputs. Cost me NZ$238, then another odd $100 for cables. I've just got sky, dvd, and in a couple of days time ps3 hooked into it. It's a cable jungle behind the unit but I like that look :) I see why HDMI is preferred.
thnx for your info.

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#66075 3-Apr-2007 12:09

Ben: Is there a way to switch 3 component video outputs to one output (one input on the TV)?
Preferable not hundreds of dollars, and preferable IR controlled so I can set it up as a macro on the remote.

Because no-one had mentioned it already.... you can buy a home theatre amp which, along with everything else and amp will do, will do component video switching. Its not a cheap solution like the Jaycar switcher, but then if you're looking at buying a home theatre amp too it would make sense..

For example: Onkyo SR505 http://www.intl.onkyo.com/products/av_components/av_receivers/tx-sr505/index.html

- HDTV-Capable (50 MHz) Component Video Switching (3 Inputs and 1 Output)

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richms

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#66083 3-Apr-2007 12:40

The problem with getting a receiver for it is that number of inputs is usually very limited on the cheaper ones, and often the cheap ones don't do up conversion so your old composite and s-video sources will still need to be switched over on the TV.

3 inputs isnt really enough these days when there are games consoles, dvd player, dvd recorder, and possibly 2 sat tv boxes competing for it.

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#66182 3-Apr-2007 20:29

richms: The problem with getting a receiver for it is that number of inputs is usually very limited on the cheaper ones, and often the cheap ones don't do up conversion so your old composite and s-video sources will still need to be switched over on the TV.

3 inputs isnt really enough these days when there are games consoles, dvd player, dvd recorder, and possibly 2 sat tv boxes competing for it.

that used to be the case however there are a lot of reasonably priced options now which do upconversion to component.

Stereo World, for example, have an Onkyo TXNR801 amp for $1394 (old runout model). This particular amp has 3 component inputs and 6 s-video inputs. Thats a lot of input switching plus all the great features of the amp itself. It also looks prettier than a jaycar box and yet another remote (the onkyo remote is learning too, btw).

Eastern Hifi is also advertising the Denon AVR3806 amp for $1699. This goes one better by including HDMI switching too... 2 hdmi inputs, 7 s-video inputs, 3 component inputs. It handles s-video/composite to component upconversion, and composite/svideo/component to HDMI upconversion.

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richms

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#66275 4-Apr-2007 13:54

All I have seen that have conversion to hdmi mollest the signal into 1080i, which I would rather not have happen since then the display will be doing a second conversion.

The only way that hdmi would be of interest to me is if I could use a dvi-hdmi cable and run the PC thru it to eliminate the input switching between video and vga on the display device, and all I have seen have specifically said that they do not support PC's via hdmi.

Richard rich.ms

Ben

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#66277 4-Apr-2007 14:20

Yeah my current thinking is to save up for a decent receiver. My TV has a particularly stupid way of selecting the inputs (using the RGBY buttons on the remote with 3 pages of options), so running everything through a good receiver and out over a single Component or HDMI connection is appealing. I use a Harmony remote, so a learning remote is no biggie for me, because the Harmony does everything so well and is Wife-proof.

richms

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#66281 4-Apr-2007 14:50

Flatmates panasonic has that way of selecting inputs, bloody annoying, and a universal remotes AV code just brings up the 4 options at the bottom of the screen, not cycle thru them.

We looked for a while if there were discrete codes for each input like sonys have, no luck however, Othrwise I could load them into my remote and learn them across to it. He has the same problem with components, the tv has one, and three sources being sky, dvd player and xbox.

I have a joytech box with scarts on it that I am just using some scart to component adaptors on it to switch, it has discrete selection and seems to work fine for me. Its the old 4 input one without a display on the front.

Richard rich.ms

Ben

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#66293 4-Apr-2007 15:40

Yup. Mine's a Panasonic tool.

The Harmony remote can manage to switch the TV to the correct AV input maybe 3 times out of 5 =) But I've mapped the RGBY buttons on the remote to ALWAYS run the TV RGBY buttons (regardless of the selected device/activity), so I can switch the correct AV input pretty easily. I love the way the Harmony can fire any button to any device depending on the Activity selected, so in 'XBox' Activity mode, the cursor buttons drive the XBox media centre stuff, the volume buttons drives the HT receiver thing, and the RGBY buttons drive the TV input selection.

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#66362 4-Apr-2007 22:13

richms: All I have seen that have conversion to hdmi mollest the signal into 1080i, which I would rather not have happen since then the display will be doing a second conversion.

From what i have seen most upconversion is pretty lame unless you have an expensive scaling device like the DVDO iScan. Leaving the scaling to the screen can often be the best solution, but definately not in some cases.

I have seen examples where someone had an A/V Receiver and a 40" plasma screen. They fed SKY into it via s-video and a DVD player into it using DVI. Everything was perfect with DVDs, but the sound was ahead of the picture for SKY. The reason was because the screen passed the audio straight through to the receiver but the display took a few milliseconds more to do the scaling of the video signal resulting in out-of-sync sound and video. In this case putting an A/V Receiver in between SKY and the screen to do the scaling didnt make any difference either. Interestingly enough the sound was perfect when it came out of the speakers in the screen...

The only way that hdmi would be of interest to me is if I could use a dvi-hdmi cable and run the PC thru it to eliminate the input switching between video and vga on the display device, and all I have seen have specifically said that they do not support PC's via hdmi.

"No signal is output when a device with HDCP-compliant DVI output is connected to a display that does not support HDCP. A display supporting HDCP must be connected in order to view images via DVI."

I would have expected that if you output a non HDCP signal from a PC, via DVI (digital) then either a HDCP or non-HDCP display would be able to display the picture. If you connected a HDCP compliant dvd player - eg HD-DVD or Blu-Ray - then you would get no picture on a display that couldnt handle HDCP.

I have an AV-Receiver that can handle s-video to component upconversion but I dont use it at all - i'm using a MCE PC with a DVI output to the screen. If I had HDMI/DVI switches in it I would have given it a go. I dont use xbox/psX or other consoles - the only input to the screen is the MCE pc. If I had an xbox or psX and needed to switch signals then i'd probably look into a new Receiver.

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daskip

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#66379 4-Apr-2007 23:38

Liked the look of the jaycar 6 input switcher sharkynz got. I've basically run out of connections to my plasma (well one short...) with the xbox, Wii, dvd rec, sky and fta sat box. Noticed cat num AC1686 which seems to be new for $162, without the ethernet (my router is right there so don't need) but a little more compact with 6 inputs 3 outputs! No hdmi, but my plasma is just a component edtv anyways. Right now I just see myself picking up a separate hdmi switcher when needed, and letting my harmony deal :)
So wondering if anyone has tried the AC1686?

And not that I need it, but anyone seen a switcher that has all of hdmi/component/composite that is short of a full blown $1000+ reciever? Don't need component in to hdmi out as I know you'd only find that in a receiver, but just curious if I could get it down to one box. Thanks!