Confused about AV receivers' video capability

joshtbh

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HI all,

I am looking to set up all of my old games consoles (mostly RCA (Composite)) and thought that maybe an AV receiver could be the "hub" or "switcher".

Firstly, is this a good idea? I could be totally wrong.

Secondly, assuming the answer to the idea to the first question is yes, do AV receivers have matching video input (yellow) to the red and white audio inputs? As the one I bought seemingly wrongly on a whim seems to not have this, and only a few video inputs, so I can't figure out how the AV receiver would match the sound to the correct video

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Some AV receiver can accept composite and or analogue component video signal and then convert them to digital HDMI. On those receivers that lack this ability, you'd need separate composite and component video connections as well as an HDMI connection from the receiver to a display in order to convey the different types of video from the receiver to a display. Some AV receivers even have the ability to scale up lesser resolution analogue video to higher resolution digital video.

AV receivers will fascilitate you with the ability to input audio from stereo analogue sources as well as from digital sources. An analogue video inputs will have corresponding analogue audio inputs or you can reassign one type of audio input to a video input not commonly associated with it. Both inputs will be treated as though they are one single source.
 
Hi, thanks for the response but can you tell if my receiver I posted accepts video input alongside audio inputs? I don't understand the layout of the ports. I expected to see red white and yellow per input
 
I don't know that model but usually you can assign the audio inputs to the video inputs so I'd have thought the answer to your question is yes.
 
How many Consoles and which ones do you have?

What TV are you looking to connect them to?

The Amp you link to looks like it has a couple of Composite Inputs (along with Stereo Inputs).

Joe
 
I don't know that model but usually you can assign the audio inputs to the video inputs so I'd have thought the answer to your question is yes.

That sounds ideal! I hope so and am open to buying another AV receiver to gain more RCA inputs (Do you guys standardise on calling Red White and Yellow RCA or composite btw?)

How many Consoles and which ones do you have?

What TV are you looking to connect them to?

The Amp you link to looks like it has a couple of Composite Inputs (along with Stereo Inputs).

Joe

I have Sega Dreamcast & Mega Drive, Nintendo SNES, Gamecube, N64 and Wii, Sony PS1, 2 and 3. So that's 9 for now but I really want at least two more (NES and Atari Jaguar if you're interested) and possible a Sega Master System. I haven't decided on the TV but it will (unfortnaltey) be a modern affair, most likely a "Technika" 42" 3D LCD which has 3 HDMI inputs and one RCA and a few SCARTs I think.
 
I think that you will struggleto get that many analogue video inputs on a modern AVR - a quick look on Richer Sounds website shows that Onkyo TXNR525 (£169) has 4 analogue video inputs plus 2 component inputs.

The trend these days is to focus on HDMI digital connections as that is what most people want.

Something like 8 Port VGA & Audio Switch | LINDY UK may help.
 
RCA sockets can be used for analogue audio and video – the ‘norm’ is Red + White for Stereo audio plus Yellow for Composite video.

9 Inputs – forget about another AVR and look instead for a suitable Composite Video + Stereo audio Switch, you ought to be able to find something by the likes of Kramer second hand at a fraction of its new cost as even Pro and AV installs are now going digital.

http://www.kramerelectronics.co.uk/products/model.asp?pid=248&sf=28

Component video – another option in the second hand market would be a Component video Switch. Component video is normally carried on 3 x RCA so theses can be used for Composite video + Stereo audio too.

Video quality – whilst Composite video may be the only option for some of your Sources others may have the option of RGB via SCART and HD via HDMI so don’t ‘limit’ your options to Composite for all Sources.

Joe
 
Hi,

Thanks for the option of the Kramer, I can indeed seeing those going farily cheaply on auction now, but i have 2 fundamental issues with something like that, the first is that it's rack mounted so can not be made to look "bedroomy" and the second thing that if I'm going to have an AV Receiver and an other device for switching, I may as well go really basic and get some of these: http://i.ebayimg.com/t/3-Way-Audio-...sd/$T2eC16ZHJGEFFmzCfVIyBRvmsc1DhQ~~60_12.JPG for £3 each to bunch together consoles (E.g. nintendos together and sonys together).

However I took a look at a random older (Cheaper) AVR to see how many analogue (Composite) inputs they have and I really can't work out what you get with an AVR, I circled the audio inputs (it seems you get 8) in red and put blue squares around what seem to be the video inputs (it seems you get 5) , I can't figure out whether it would even be possible to connect 5 consoles up to this AVR, have I got it completely wrong?

Fw7YV6K.png


thanks in advance for the kind help
 
'I may as well go really basic and get some of these' - assuming you have no thought for maintaining signal integrity!

AVR - that looks like it has 4 Composite Video + Stereo audio Inputs.

Joe
 
'I may as well go really basic and get some of these' - assuming you have no thought for maintaining signal integrity!

Oh, these devices will degrade the signal more so than the larger switchers like Kramer I take it.....hmm good point thanks for mentioning that it'll certainly be a consideration. Even more so now this morning I've read that some of my consoles can benefit (as you pointed me in post 8) from RGB over scart, so I guess I'm going to look at the AVR market which has lots of different types of inputs including composite, scart and possibly even HDMI.
AVR - that looks like it has 4 Composite Video + Stereo audio Inputs.

Joe

I assume the video "matches" The audio by being positioned directly above the audio sockets, which makes sense and how I pictured it may work before I started looking. Just a shame there doesn't look to be an AVR with enough inputs for me. The search continues.
 
AVR's with SCART sockets are/where very rare!

A stand alone SCART Switch would be a better option - direct to the TV (with RCA Out to the Amp).

Look for a B-Tech Quintro second hand (from memory it has 3x RGB enabled Inputs).

Joe
 
I would have thought that with that many consoles the room would be more of an games arcade than a bedroom anhyow :D - can't you just hide the switches away - the LINDY isn't rack mount BTW.

It looks to me as if your best bet will be a mix of Composite/audio and SCART switches - I don't think tat you will find an AVR that will do the job - they are just not designed to switch that many video signals.
 

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