Hi People, i am sure one or two of you have come across that problem, so i would like to get some advice -- lets assume the following: You are rebuilding your games room with a massive collection of consoles, that you actually want to connect them all up. You have approx 15 RGB style cables, a few video/audio leads and a few old RF modulated ones -- and you have a beamer that you d want to hook them all up to. This is my situation right now. Historically, I have used a cascade of 5 way switches, and used up all the inputs of my telly to make it kind of work, but it was always a mess, not to mention the loss of signal in the cascade. What I'd really like to have (maybe except for the RF output machines) would be one humungous switch that allows me to wire up all the boxes, and that i could select the machine i want to play. It needs at least 20, better 30 inputs though, to be future proof. What are your solutions in your game rooms? I have looked around all kinds of stores, and could not find any decent switching equipment to fit the purpose, so if all fails, i may design my own PCB and solder me a box - but if anyone has done this before, i would be eternally grateful for advise... cheers tubo
My solution is to use only 2 consoles at a time I'm working however on a electronic 8 input 1 output switcher to select my stereo amp's source for when I make the switch from television to Pro monitor and amp. Wouldn't be hard to modify it for RGB/other inputs. The only downsides to my project is that it'd take 6 transistors for each RGB source with stereo audio and the switcher needs to be powered as long as you want a picture on the screen. I think what you wanna do with 30 inputs is a little excessive. If you were to buy a professionally built SCART switcher with that many inputs, I think it'd cost 5000 euros or more. You could always build your own for the cost of parts. if you want each input to switch composite/stereo/rgb, it'd require 210 discrete transistors, a lot of PCB space even if you use array!
hm, i thought i could propably find simple ICs that handle the job, and not have to resort to switch the leads completely. As i want to do a SCART switcher, the situation is even more out of hand, as a scart lead carries 21 pins. http://utopia.knoware.nl/users/eprebel/SoundAndVision/Engineering/SCART.html anyway, i ll dig into this a bit more. If i can find ICs fitting the bill, it should not be so hard to build it - even with a ATMEL controlled front plate that displays the name of the machine being used or something nice like this But i would still rather build something that has been done before, or even buy such a device within reasonable pricing, so thanks for the input -- lets see if anyone else joins in on the thread. cheers tubo
So you want every pin available on SCART? The grounds/status don't need to be switched and you don't need audio in etc do you? you'll only have to switch R,G,B,S,L,R,Y,C,Comp if you plan to use S-video as well. I like your idea of the display in the front. My design has a 7 segment LED display lol (yes, I am cheap) that displays the input signal. I'm debating whether or not to use toggle switches or a pushbutton and counter with debouncing circuit to select the input source. My actual circuit is simply a 8:1 selector and 7 segment driver. So the total cost is like $2.
This Joytech Multi AV box is probably about the best you can actually buy in the shops. I don't suppose there's much call for anything over 5 way. The majority of people have their DVD and PS2 running through RGB Scart, it's only us crazyfool gamers that want to have a DVD and several consoles hooked up.
thanks for all the answers so far. Should i look into designing a PCB for a bigger switch, i ll let you know of the schematics. cheers tubo
This is the best consumer scartswitch I found... Monster Cable MV3 AVSC *sry its in German.. its the only shop I found having it listed. Well some time ago i found big scale video switchers (scart) on ebay. Having a look at professional broadcasting stuff sometimes helps! Anyway: I have kinda the same problem as Tubo - and an affordable (selfmade) solution would be awesome! Is there some kind of layout for this on the internet?!
i could not find any so far, but i am looking. As i said, should i decide for building this on my own, I will post the schematics. tubo
hmmm maybe i am simplifying this too much, but a PCB with a stack of these plus a bit of control logic that ensures only one is ever turned on may actually do the trick. http://www.analog.com/UploadedFiles/Data_Sheets/34346341663340ADG714_5_B.pdf I think. Though i must say i am not terribly experienced in the field. I ll get some of these in and make a test board with my ATMEL kit as a controller.
