RCA/S-Video Selector

[hashiriya1]

I have a JVC JX-S100. I love it. It looks good with retro systems cuz it is also retro. If you can find one at a great price, pick it up. Supports S-video.

[SpaceBooger]

I have a 50 inch plasma HDTV. It has two S-Video ports on it and I currently have my Saturn and modded Genesis hooked up to it. I also have a set of SNES s-video cables and was wondering if either of these would work without a signal loss if I hooked the Genny and SNES via S-Vid through one of these:
This one - Cables To Go 28750 4 x 2 S-Video/Composite/Stereo Audio Selector Switch

Or this one - RCA VH911 Video Switch Box

My worry is that neither have a power supply, but if they have mechanical switches and I am only running one at a time it should work fine, right?

[ratoa]

I haven't seen one with more than 4 ports that was affordable or consumer grade. I did find a cheap, good one that allowed me to hook up many consoles at once tho. I got a Philips ph61150 automatic switching a/v selector for $14 at Princess Auto. It has 4 inputs, but each one has Component, S-video, and Composite, along with the stereo RCA sound. By using y-splitters for multiple sound inputs, I've been able to hook up many more than 4 sources. Combined with the different inputs on my TV and a cheap Intec G5295 multi-consle cable, I managed to hook up 9 consoles, a VCR, and a DVD player at once. I suspect something disastrous would happen if I turned on all the consoles at once, but as long as I don't try it, it all works great without any noticeable signal degradation. I can turn on any console, and the AV switch automatically connects it to either Input 3 (retro), or 4 (component) on the TV.

(y cables are mostly behind the consoles)

I got the Philips 61150 used as well from ebay last week for US$ 18.00 and works great on my TV...did a few test with and without the device and never noticed any signal degradation at all

[Hobie-wan]

I'm using a mechanical composite/svideo box with my stuff and haven't noticed an issue. I actually have sound going directly to my receiver (which doesn't switch video) and I'm using R/Y/W for the component instead on the box for the GC and PS2 component and svideo for the PS1.

[bryan_65]

I have been needing a new selector box, its nice to read the discussions and I think I am going to have to try that Phillips auto detecting one.

[ColLawEnf]

Check out the Ocean Matrix OMX-PSW6 6x1 router-- I have two & they are very solid and do not have cheap look to them. You will need some BNC to RCA adapters for video. Someone posted an RCA 8X1 awhile back but couldn't find it anywhere.

[Ziggy]

I have one of those Philips too. This one?...



I got it in Wal Mart a few years back for like $25 I think. I've only used it for component switching. I actually got it because it had a front component input, great for PSP! I've heard it has some issues with HD, but it's worked perfect for me with SD. The auto switching is nice too.

I'd really love to find a schematic for building my own AV switcher. The only one I've been able to find is Ben Heck's that's built around digital bus switches which may or may not be suitable for carrying analog data. They're SMD chips too, which really sucks to work with.

Not really. Most of these cheap switch boxes are just mechanical switches. A plain mechanical switch should not alter your signal at all.

What kind of switch box do you wanna build? One that auto switches or something? You could build one with mechanical switches pretty easy. Pretty cheap, too. But I'm assuming you know that, and are talking about something more fancy.