A/V Selectors

[IcKy99]

Ok so i have a GC, DC, PS3, NES, AES and soon a N64, that all use A/V cables, so i was wondering wich A/V System Selectors work the best for use of multiple systems

[GSZX1337]

Every thread that mentioned an A/V selector I've seen a link to this.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=family

[IcKy99]

Every thread that mentioned an A/V selector I've seen a link to this.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=family

yeah i seen it plenty of times before so with all those recommendations it cant be that bad can it?

[MrPopo]

I looked at that one when I was first getting my two A/V switches (too many consoles), but I ended up going with a different selector that I found on Radioshack:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=3070527

This guy has the really nice advantage of being remote controlled. I got a Harmony Remote, so when I want to play my SNES or PSX my remote selects the appropriate channel on the A/V selector. It feels nice and light, which is good, since there shouldn't be anything inside that box except an IR receiver and some switches.

[lordofduct]

I used to use A/V selectors a while back before I was using A/V receivers

I've played with all kinds of brands from all kinds of stores. Not one seem to really be any better then others. I had at minimum 12 systems hooked up at any given time across multiple different input types. And I even daisy chained them as well in different connections just to try out all possibilities.

Problems I witnessed:

they break, they break really freaking easily. I never had one that lasted more then a year. Not like just stopped functioning working, but the connectors just get loose over time and the signal for different inputs got weak and fuzzy or not come in at all. Further more the buttons sucked.

The remotes were useless. They usually tended to be garbage little things that break easily, get lost in your couch or bed, poor reception, eat batteries up like no other, and in the end you had to get up and walk up to where the box is anyways to turn on the console in question anyways.

Don't have more then one device on at a time despite there being a switch box. The signals bleed over, and over time the bleeding gets worst and worst as the device wears out (problem 1).

The things weigh like nothing, so when you have one that accepts like 6 inputs the wires weigh down the back end throwing off its center of gravity. So your switch box is always sitting tilted backward or forward depending on the direction the cables are pulling it. Which is probably one of the lending forces to their short life spans.

Unavoidable loss in picture quality. No matter what. Unless you get a powered one (and the ones with power adapters due to a built in RF modulator don't count).



The powered ones are the high end ones. And if you plan on buying one of those, don't waste your freaking money. They range from 200 to 2000 dollars US and at that price you could just get a A/V Receiver that also processes audio and even could have built in upscalers and the sort. All your consoles use RCA composite A/V jacks, but if you ever decide to mix match connectors your going to have to consolidate them all to the lowest one on your daisy chain, a A/V receiver fixes this.

These problems aren't here to try to stop you from getting an A/V selector. As I said, I used them for years. Probably about 10 plus years. They do the job, and they do the job fine as long as you don't care about your picture quality all to much... shit that really doesn't matter with most retro consoles anyways. I loved my A/V selectors and for the price it was well freakin' worth it. You'll just might have to replace or repair them semi-frequently. But you should be able to locate brands of them for 20 dollars or so.

My main point is, don't throw the extra 20 bucks for a slightly more expensive one that does the same basic job because you're just going to end up replacing it in about the same amount of time. I found the Pelican ones did the best job, they were really cheap and had an average life span.

I actually have a stack of them still in my closet from my days of using them. They are all 5 and 6 input selectors. If you're interested that is.



Some of you out there might say you got longer life spans out of yours. And you may have. But I'm throwing the 1 year life span out there as an avid gamer. And anyone on this forum, I'm going to assume they are just as avid. In the days I used these I was in high school and spent all my time doing 3 things:

drugs, fucking, and video games.

note sleeping and school weren't on that list. So there was a whole lot of gaming going on.

[ott0bot]

I used the radio shack one mentioned first (by GSZX1337) before and wasn't really happy with it. It automatically selects the source which sometimes it doesn't do a good job of and cuts out during the middle of a game. It happened quite a bit on my snes and genesis, but worked fine with my ps2 and dc. I swapped it out twice and had the same problem both times. Plus I hate that it uses an ac adapter and not a 2 prong plug. That's just what you need more ac adapters. I wasn't impressed.

Now the second unit mentioned (by mr popo), with the remote, looks like a much better unit, but I've never tried it.

I use two of these guys.
http://www.partsguysusa.com/m5_view_ite ... GE-AV23294
It's got av and s-vid and 2 audio outs, which is really handy. I can run audio to my tv and my reciever and use whatever source I feel like for sound. I actually put them on there side and they stand up just fine without leaning over. The picture quality is quite good, especially when using decent cables.

[Hatta]

4 inputs isn't really that many. I've been looking for one of those pelican ones with 8 inputs, but I can't find them anywhere.

I've got an old gamestop switcher with 5 inputs, and an AV receiver with 4. Still not enough. The gamestop switcher was cheap, and has held up well. 5 years later and only one input is flakey. It's mechanically switched too, so it doesn't need power.

That first Radio Shack switcher linked here, anyone know if it requires power? It sounds like it would.

I may just end up building one, a bunch of RCA plugs, a few wires, some switches and a project box, can't be too hard.

[ott0bot]

I've been looking for one of those pelican ones with 8 inputs, but I can't find them anywhere.

The had some at Circut City when I checked a few months back. It was near the Gamecube stuff and the closeout items. Now that they are closing you may be able to score a deal.

That first Radio Shack switcher linked here, anyone know if it requires power? It sounds like it would.

Indeed it does, and an ac adpater no less.

[Scooter]

I really like this one. The cheap plastic ones you can get at electronic stores and Radio Shack just can't measure up. This one is only 4 channels but it can accept S-video input and output and can convert one to the other (not sure why you'd want to do that, but...). It has an all metal chassis and case and the switches are very solid and positive. The box does not appear to degrade the video or audio signals in my direct connect vs. through the box connect tests. I have everything but the Genesis going in and out via S-video. It was also relatively inexpensive (I recall it was $30-$40 regular price, I got mine on sale somewhere). I don't think even LoD could break this one.

It does generate a small amount of heat so I would suggest mounting it above or below a system that make a fair amount of it's own heat.

http://www.audiovox.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... &langId=-1

[Hatta]

That one looks real nice too. Doesn't automatically switch inputs, but that's ok, I have to get up to insert a new game anyway. Also does RF conversion, for those of us still using cable-ready tvs. It's available for cheaper elsewhere too, but amazon has more info. I think I'll get one of these and see how it is.

Only problem in my eyes is that it requires power to work at all. But it's just a cord, instead of a brick adapter so that's not such a big deal.