Simple home theater question. Next week I will be getting satellite installed into my new home. The satellite receiver I bought has component video output (Y Pr Pb). The prob is, my TV (regular tv, not HDTV) has only one set of component video inputs, and they are presently being taken up by my DVD player. I guess I need an A/V selector, but since I am not exactly a HT fanatic, I don’t want to spend more for a selector or switchbox than I did on my DVD player
(I’ve seen a few on the internet from $90 to $350).
I went into Radio Shack, and the guy said that they did not carry a selector specifically for connecting two component video devices to one component TV input, but they did have a composite RCA Audio/Video switchbox that could do the same thing. It had a few sets of the standard three input “right audio,” “left audio,” and “video” connections like you see on your VCR. He said that the component video connections are the same size, just connect the “Y” to the “left audio,” the Pr to the “right audio” etc and then I’d be on my way.
Will this work? Or will the drop-off in video quality be so dramatic that I will have to either resign myself to spending $100 on a dang switch or just be happy using the S-video input and forgetting about the whole component video input thing?
I can’t imagine how running high-frequency video signals through the audio portion of a switch would work. Just look for blurring, smearing, color shift, etc. and keep your receipt. If it doesn’t work, just stick with the S-Video, or leave the DVD on the component inputs and put the satellite receiver on the S input.
Component video cables will not work by connecting it to RCA audio/video switchs. All THREE component video cables must be connected from a composite OUT source to a composite IN source in order to get picture, and separate audio cables are needed to get sound (which means a total of 5 cables if you use component video and RCA audio, or 4 if you use a fiberoptic audio cable instead of RCA).
The salesman you spoke to is either lying to get a sale or totally clueless about what he’s selling (I suspect it’s the former though).
Your best, cheapest option will probably be to just use the S-VIDEO connector instead of Composite…it has almost the same video quality (essentially S-Video is all 3 component cabes made into one with one connector).
Composite RCA AV selectors will not work for connecting Component video cables.
If it doesn’t work, just stick with the S-Video, or leave the DVD on the component inputs and put the satellite receiver on the S input.