A quick question about cables

[Yukima]

I'm pretty sure there are other topics that exist for problems like this, but I can't seem to find any that apply to my particular situation... ^^;

I recently got a new HDTV and have been agonizing over how to conveniently hook up all of my players and consoles to it. Mostly everything I'm planning to connect uses AV, S-Video, Component, and HDMI connections, so would it be safe to have all 4 cable types hooked up to my TV at the same time? I have a switch box that will ensure that there won't be more than one type of video outputting from the same device (e.g. AV and component video at the same time) but would it be damaging to the TV just to have nearly ALL of its video inputs occupied at any given time even though they aren't all being used simultaneously?

[Niode]

I'm pretty sure there are other topics that exist for problems like this, but I can't seem to find any that apply to my particular situation... ^^;

I recently got a new HDTV and have been agonizing over how to conveniently hook up all of my players and consoles to it. Mostly everything I'm planning to connect uses AV, S-Video, Component, and HDMI connections, so would it be safe to have all 4 cable types hooked up to my TV at the same time? I have a switch box that will ensure that there won't be more than one type of video outputting from the same device (e.g. AV and component video at the same time) but would it be damaging to the TV just to have nearly ALL of its video inputs occupied at any given time even though they aren't all being used simultaneously?

That won't cause any problems. If it does, then your TV is a piece of crap and should be upgraded.

[CRTGAMER]

Just utilize the best video output of your consoles and all the best available inputs of your HD.
No harm running all the different inputs. Click CRT vs LCD at my signature link for more info.

EDIT
Your TV has an input select to switch the various connections, you can also add switchboxes too.

Here is the sum of my link below:

In testing all the various video input options, results the worst to the best:

Resolution limited to 480i and below
RF - Don't bother unless you play games with eyes closed.
Composite - lot of color bleeding and blur.
S-Video - clean images.

Resolution can go 480p up to 1080P
Component - Analog Image resolution up
DVI and HDMI - Best image being all digital

[deathclaw]

In testing all the various video input options, results the worst to the best:

Resolution limited to 480i and below
RF - Don't bother unless you play games with eyes closed.
Composite - lot of color bleeding and blur.
S-Video - clean images.

Resolution can go 480p up to 1080P
Component - Analog Image resolution up
DVI and HDMI - Best image being all digital

And what about VGA?

[Hobie-wan]

And what about VGA?

VGA is pretty even with Component.

[CRTGAMER]

And what about VGA?

VGA is pretty even with Component.

Also unique for Dreamcast, think of DC VGA Box 640x480 as in PS2 with Component 480p.

[MrPopo]

And what about VGA?

VGA is pretty even with Component.

VGA is even with HDMI and DVI. It's just the only VGA sources you're likely to see are the 480p Dreamcast or running an XRGB upscaling your 240p/480i games.

[Assman]

Hell, I'd even say component's pretty even with HDMI. Comparing the two through my HD satellite receiver gives me no noticeable difference whatsoever.

I know the popular opinion is that HDMI is inherently better because it's all digital and blah blah blah, but in real world situations, I don't think it's necessarily that black and white. Granted, a huge benefit of HDMI is the fact that you can get the cheapest, shittiest cable possible and there'll be no loss of quality whatsoever compared to a top of the line one.

Oh right, digital audio too. Eh, still...

[Niode]

Hell, I'd even say component's pretty even with HDMI. Comparing the two through my HD satellite receiver gives me no noticeable difference whatsoever.

I know the popular opinion is that HDMI is inherently better because it's all digital and blah blah blah, but in real world situations, I don't think it's necessarily that black and white. Granted, a huge benefit of HDMI is the fact that you can get the cheapest, shittiest cable possible and there'll be no loss of quality whatsoever compared to a top of the line one.

Oh right, digital audio too. Eh, still...

Quality will vary with component cables due to their analogue nature. I'm pretty sure HDMI can handle a much higher colour gamut than component. When I upgraded my component only xbox 360 to the HDMI 360 Elite I noticed that gradients had much less colour banding on my screen. Most people with LCDs probably won't notice it because their screens are only 18bit (or worse) so they aren't getting the full 24bit 'true color' range that almost all plasma TVs support. The difference is very clear on my TV. There's much less noise when viewed close up too, of course this isn't respective of normal viewing conditions but a difference nonetheless.

Of course this could be something to do with the way the 360 outputs it's signal over analogue mediums but there's a difference in my setup when using HDMI compared to component.

[Assman]

Interesting stuff. Isn't one of the HDMI modes a digital version of component, though (YCbCr)?

I still haven't checked out my 360 with an HDMI cable, but the picture's ridiculously clean as it is, even up close. I honestly can't imagine it looking any better. Then again, I have an LCD, not a plasma. Maybe the 360 doesn't actually output YCbCr through HDMI and uses digital RGB instead. It just doesn't seem like YCbCr against YPbPr would produce a noticeable difference under normal circumstances (like the cable not being crap, etc.).

Oh well. I guess component just has more variables than HDMI when it comes to picture quality.