A/V. vs Composite hookups

[HyruleHero]

Hey guys need some advice.... Just moved out, bought my first home finally. With that I bought a LED flatscreen.. My old flatscreen had crazy amounts of inputs....4 hdmi, 4 A/Vs...3 Co-ax.... It was awesome! New TV just has 2 HDMI and 1 spot for AV/ component Well I have A/V selectors, but I want to hook up my PS2 via the component cables. Well I bought a component switch and tried hooking up the Wii,Dreamcast, N64 and PS 2. After hooking to my TV the only thing working good was the PS2. All the other systems displayed in black and white? Any suggestions? For now I just ditched the component and just wen A/C. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

[Jorpho]

1 spot for AV/ componentCould you clarify this?

"A/V" or "composite" is three connectors: yellow (video) plus red and white (stereo sound), right?
"Component" is five connectors: red, green, blue (all for video) plus red and white (stereo sound), right?

If you're trying to plug composite video into component jacks, that's not going to do very much, even if the cables fit.

[wiggyx]

Hey guys need some advice.... Just moved out, bought my first home finally. With that I bought a LED flatscreen.. My old flatscreen had crazy amounts of inputs....4 hdmi, 4 A/Vs...3 Co-ax.... It was awesome! New TV just has 2 HDMI and 1 spot for AV/ component Well I have A/V selectors, but I want to hook up my PS2 via the component cables. Well I bought a component switch and tried hooking up the Wii,Dreamcast, N64 and PS 2. After hooking to my TV the only thing working good was the PS2. All the other systems displayed in black and white? Any suggestions? For now I just ditched the component and just wen A/C. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

What are you asking? A/V means 'audio/video', so I don't get the "VS" part of the thread title. You've got "composite" in the title, and then "component" in the body, not to mention "A/C", which means nothing in this context. What exactly are you trying to do and with what switchbox?


Here, what systems are you trying to hook up with which A/V output?

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k99/wiggyx/av-illu.png

[Rickstilwell1]

you can plug yellow into the green slot, i think. But all you end up with is black & white if you do that

[HyruleHero]

What are you asking? A/V means 'audio/video', so I don't get the "VS" part of the thread title. You've got "composite" in the title, and then "component" in the body, not to mention "A/C", which means nothing in this context. What exactly are you trying to do and with what switchbox?


Here, what systems are you trying to hook up with which A/V output?

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k99/wiggyx/av-illu.png

Sorry I meant RCA red,yellow,white versus component. This is my trouble

[HyruleHero]

What are you asking? A/V means 'audio/video', so I don't get the "VS" part of the thread title. You've got "composite" in the title, and then "component" in the body, not to mention "A/C", which means nothing in this context. What exactly are you trying to do and with what switchbox?


Here, what systems are you trying to hook up with which A/V output?

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k99/wiggyx/av-illu.png

Sorry...I was tired why writing this. I am trying to hook up 4 systems to a component switch cause I want the PS2 to have some sort of HD quality. With that also the dreamcast,n64, and Wii but those consoles in only have the standard yellow, red, and whit. When I hook everything up to the switch the pS2 is fine but the other 3 are in black and white. Can i fix this?

[Cornelius]

Sorry...I was tired why writing this. I am trying to hook up 4 systems to a component switch cause I want the PS2 to have some sort of HD quality. With that also the dreamcast,n64, and Wii but those consoles in only have the standard yellow, red, and whit. When I hook everything up to the switch the pS2 is fine but the other 3 are in black and white. Can i fix this?

You need to clarify what inputs you have on your TV. What you say in the OP doesn't make sense: "1 spot for AV/ component". It sounds like you have 2 HDMI and 1 'other' input, but from what you've said we can't tell what this other input is. Since the PS2 seems to be working on component, we can infer that the 1 'other' must be component. You cannot easily hook up your DC or n64 using component (and you can't just shove a composite signal into a component input). For the wii you could just get some component cables for it.

[wiggyx]

OK, I'm pretty sure I catch your meaning now.

What I would do is pick up a composite switch box with 3 inputs (RCA just refers to the type of connection, which component also employs). Hook up the DC, N64, and the Wii to the composite switch and the PS2 to the component input on the TV. If you need to hook up more than one component video connection, then just use the switch that you're using right now. Composite switches like the one that you need can be had for less than 20 bucks. Check amazon or whatever online retailer you prefer.

I hope that helps.


edit: there aren't many PS2 games that make use of the progressive scan mode that the component video connection affords, but the titles that do look markedly better. Shadow of the Colossus looks fantastic in progressive scan. Totally worth it for the games that use it, especially if you don't plan on picking up a PS3 any time soon.

[Razo00]

Sorry...I was tired why writing this. I am trying to hook up 4 systems to a component switch cause I want the PS2 to have some sort of HD quality. With that also the dreamcast,n64, and Wii but those consoles in only have the standard yellow, red, and whit. When I hook everything up to the switch the pS2 is fine but the other 3 are in black and white. Can i fix this?

You need to get a composite selector for your wii, n64, dreamcast. You can't plug composite into component. I strongly recommend picking up a component cable for your wii, a s-video cable for your n64, and a vga adapter for your dreamcast, because its going to look like complete crap on a hdtv running composite for those 3 systems. If you really want to get technical, you could get yourself a Rgb modded N64 and run component with a scart to component adapter, and with the dreamcast a vga to hdmi upscaler and run hdmi via your hdtv.

[stalepie]

I play my Yobo FC Twin with the composite plugged into component. The red and whites go into the first two red and whites and the yellow goes into green. I think the components may double as composite on this TV (Sony BX420).

[wiggyx]

I play my Yobo FC Twin with the composite plugged into component. The red and whites go into the first two red and whites and the yellow goes into green. I think the components may double as composite on this TV (Sony BX420).

Hmm, I'll have to try this out on my TV(s). I've never even thought to try something like that since component inputs are limited on modern TVs, whereas composite ins are usually plentiful.

[markusman64ds]

Hmm, I'll have to try this out on my TV(s). I've never even thought to try something like that since component inputs are limited on modern TVs, whereas composite ins are usually plentiful.

On my TV the yellow composite cable goes where the green component cable goes. The plug-in is green with a yellow circle around it.

[Jaruff]

On my TV the yellow composite cable goes where the green component cable goes. The plug-in is green with a yellow circle around it.

Many newer TV's are like this now. Composite and component are being combined. The TV we have downstairs is like that.

[HyruleHero]

Many newer TV's are like this now. Composite and component are being combined. The TV we have downstairs is like that.

Yeah my only problem is I wanted to hook my PS2 via the component wires and 3 other composite consoles through a component switch.. It didn't work, all I got was black and white except for the ps2 which was color. For now I just sacraficed the better ps2 visual and went all composite for everything.

[wiggyx]

If you're insisting on using one switch for them all, then they DO make switches with both set of inputs/outputs.

[Duke.Togo]

Just upgrade to component for the Wii, and use one selector for it. Then get a VGA box for DC, most new TV's have a VGA input. For N64 get a S-Video cable and plug that into the S-video input. Best quality you're going to get by doing it that way.

[Jorpho]

Many newer TV's are like this now. Composite and component are being combined. The TV we have downstairs is like that.In that case, it probably switches to "component" mode if there's a cable plugged into the blue and red inputs, I'm guessing – hence the black and white problem described by the OP.

By the way, Codejunkies.com has new off-brand Wii component cables for pretty cheap. (Apparently the official Nintendo ones are the way to go, but those will cost you big-time.)

[Leo_A]

Just upgrade to component for the Wii, and use one selector for it. Then get a VGA box for DC, most new TV's have a VGA input. For N64 get a S-Video cable and plug that into the S-video input. Best quality you're going to get by doing it that way.

He listed what inputs his tv has. No s-video or VGA inputs.

And s-video inputs have virtually disappeared on most new televisions. And VGA is not too far behind due to PC manufacturers moving away from that technology leaving television manufacturers little reason to still include a VGA input. The days of even component inputs is drawing to a close due to the shift away from analog to digital.

Won't be long I bet until tv's start popping up just with HDMI inputs and a composite input for legacy support of earlier analog devices.

[kedawa]

That switchbox could be used as either composite or component.
I'd just use it as a composite switchbox with the composite cables, and hook the PS2 directly to component inputs.

[wiggyx]

In that case, it probably switches to "component" mode if there's a cable plugged into the blue and red inputs, I'm guessing – hence the black and white problem described by the OP.

By the way, Codejunkies.com has new off-brand Wii component cables for pretty cheap. (Apparently the official Nintendo ones are the way to go, but those will cost you big-time.)

The Nintendo-made cables aren't bad at all. You can pretty easily find them new for about 30 bucks and around 15 used.

On the other hand, the Gamcube cables are mondo pricey (for a reason).

[Rickstilwell1]

Ok, basically older HDTVs circa 2008 and earlier don't have backward compatibility for composite in their component inputs because those TV's have separate inputs for composite instead. If I try to do that trick of plugging a yellow into the green, all I get is black and white video.