Topic: System Selector...

[UncleBob]

Well, as some of you know, I have a few systems to hook up to my TV.

With my old TV, I had everything routed through a switch box (one made by Pelican which worked well) and then into my VCR for conversion to RF/Coax.  Pretty crappy quality, but hey.

Now I have a purdy TV and I want to get everything hooked up.  My TV's got some inputs, but not enough, so I've been eying some of these new fangled System Selectors that include S-Video and Component Video, in addition to the good ol' RCA jacks that my original NES/SNES-mini will be using.

Here's the problem I've got though - if I feed two sets of RCA jacks, two sets of S-Video/RCA Audio jacks and two sets of component video/RCA audio jacks all into a switch box, what exactly am I going to end up having to run to my TV?  Is there a (cheap) switch box out there that will let me hook all of this up and then just run one set of component cables to my TV? (I know it wouldn't magically make the RCA/S-Video picture quality into Component quality...)

See, here's the issue - if I have to run a set of Component, an S-Video and a RCA video jack to my TV, I'll have to hook these into three different sets of ports on the back of my TV.  Not a problem there, except that each one of these sets of ports require their own audio connection - there's not just *one* audio connection for all of the ports.

Any ideas?

[Bloodworth]

Buy a home theater and run the audio to it.

[UncleBob]

I have a home theatre... Sometimes, I like to listen to music in that and have the Video Game sound on the TV...

[Bloodworth]

Well it's definitely the easiest way to deal with it.  Plus most CDs only have stereo sound while most games have surround sound.

[Ceric]

UncleBob I have a JoyTech switch.  It does Component, RCA, S-Video, and Optical and Ethernet on some.  I like it for the most part BUT you have to hookup Component, RCA, S-Video and Optical up to your setup.  It does no conversion.

I actually sort of wish I had a switch that would just up convert everything to Optical and Component.  Then it just be one setting for everything and switch the switch around.

Also I haven't noticed any degradation with this switch.

[UncleBob]

I've been doing some reading around and it would appear that pretty much every switch box requires having each type of connection that is going to be used to be plugged into the TV as well.  You wouldn't think it'd be difficult to take a lower quality video and run it through higher quality video connections (at the lower quality, of course), but, I guess it is harder than it sounds.

Anywhoo, I've also been reading that it's reccomended to get a system selector with an external power supply, as, apparently, these have a signal booster built in to help prevent signal degradation -is this BS, or what?  Ceric, does your switch box have an external power supply?

[Entroper]

If the unit were actually doing upconversion to component, I would believe it would need an external power supply.  Something is always "lost in the translation," so it would make sense for that scenario.  But if it's a simple pass-through switch, I don't think an external power supply is going to help the signal much.

[Bloodworth]

My switch is unpowered and it looks fine, but I am still using a standard def set.

[Ceric]

I'm fairly sure that mine is internal.  I'll take a gander tomorrow.  I have to do some tidying up anyway.

[BlackNMild2k1]

PELICAN S-1037B Universal System Selector Pro 2.0

6 seperate inputs(5 in back 1 in front) and 2 ethernet switches(I think). I haven't noticed any signal loss, but the inputs are a little close together. The remote is pretty bare-bones and youcan only select from pre-determined names for your inputs. But other than that is works perfect.

read the comments they tell it better. But I reccomend it if you don't mind it calling your Wii a Gamecube.

[KDR_11k]

I just use a SCART hub. Oh, wait, you people don't have SCART.

[Nick DiMola]

I use the Pelican Hi-Def System Selector. It can be found at Best Buy for a little over 20 bucks. I see no loss in quality from the signal, however you only have 3 rear hi-def inputs and one composite input on the front. I think it also does S-Video, but as you were saying UncleBob, all used connectors need to be plugged into the TV, so you would need to plug an S-Video, Composite Cable and Component Cables into your TV which sucks if you can't keep them all in at one time.

[BranDonk Kong]

You can't just use the component for the output. It's not a quality issue that you need to use each output, it's because each output uses a completely different type of signal. If you have any inputs that use S-Video or RCA, then you'll need the RCA and S-Video going out to your TV as well. I have a Pelican System Selector Pro, it's beautiful - it's the same size as a DVD player, but it does require AC power, since it lights up the name of input that you're using. It has 8 inputs, all with composite, component and S-Video, and I believe 4 have optical audio as well. I got it at Best Buy for $100 about 2 years ago.