Can you hook av system selectors together?

[rlemmon]

I just bought a 8 port system selector.
http://www.amazon.com/MT-VIKI-Splitt...ystem+selector

Can you hook two of these together? It seems like you could just run an av cord from one to another. Thanks

[buzz_n64]

I have a 7 port selector connected to another 7 port selector, connected to a 5 port selector. It all works fine.

The two seven port selectors are powered, I'm not sure if that makes a difference or not.

[Gameguy]

You can, but there's always the chance that the video quality will degrade slightly the longer the cables are to the TV. Now running cables from your console, to a switcher, to another switcher, and then to the TV.

[NightBlader]

Sure, just don't go beyond connecting a splitter to another splitter.

Also, label all the buttons. So you know what connects to what.

[Tanooki]

I ran a pair of 4 poirt RCA connector switch boxes attached to each other for years, kept the cord between them short, never had an issue.

[wizardofwor1975]

Also, label all the buttons. So you know what connects to what.

You can say that again. I tried using the splitter without labels and it was a total pain in the A%$. However, my splitter is labeled now and life is good again.

[rlemmon]

Thanks guys, i'll have to grab another one after i get my sega saturn.

[Scotterpop]

Yeah, they call it "daisychaining" and if you have an abundance of systems (which I'm sure most everyone here does), it becomes a necessity if you want to have them all hooked up and ready to play. And yes, definitely label those inputs, that'll save you a lot of guesswork later. I even label the power cords on the power strip just so I know what is plugged in where. It's a lot of extra work but nothing beats the instant gratification of having all those systems ready to fire up at a moment's notice. I used to just keep everything in those Sterilite containers and would have to pull them out of the closet, unwrap all the cords, and plug it all in when I wanted to use them. As a result I found myself hardly ever playing them because of the setup hassle. But after getting all the switchboxes and shelving I needed I'm enjoying my collection much, much more now.

[MetalFRO]

I have a 7 port selector connected to another 7 port selector, connected to a 5 port selector. It all works fine.

The two seven port selectors are powered, I'm not sure if that makes a difference or not.

I can emphatically say "YES", it does make a difference. Powered switchboxes will always trump non-powered in terms of quality, because the signal loss from one connection to the next isn't as bad as a non-powered connection. If you're going to nest them 2 or 3 layers deep, then yes, definitely go with powered switchers all the way down the line if you can. I would say even for your endpoint switcher, go with a powered unit if possible.

[Rickstilwell1]

Hey there is also a way to reduce the amount of switchboxes daisychained into each other. For a 5 switch Pelican switcher most people would think to connect four systems into a box and use the 5th output to go to the next box, take up 4 more systems and daisychain another to that one's 5th output. You'll keep losing signal quality with each link in the chain that way.

You would be better off linking one switchbox to each of the 5 inputs so that way all devices would only need to pass through 2 boxes tops. Use good short cables. The default switch box I always get is labeled for Playstation 2, Playstation, Gamecube, Xbox, Dreamcast. This gave me the idea to use a different switch box for each generation that uses composite/S-Video.

Since generation 3 only natively has NES and Sega Master System available for composite I was thinking any overflow from the crazy amount of systems generation 4 has can just join that box. Or I can just use a cheaper 3-way switcher from Target. I'll re-label each system name to match what is actually being used.

[BlastProcessing402]

Hey there is also a way to reduce the amount of switchboxes daisychained into each other. For a 5 switch Pelican switcher most people would think to connect four systems into a box and use the 5th output to go to the next box, take up 4 more systems and daisychain another to that one's 5th output. You'll keep losing signal quality with each link in the chain that way.

You would be better off linking one switchbox to each of the 5 inputs so that way all devices would only need to pass through 2 boxes tops.

Yes, connecting them in parallel will definitely yield better results than connecting them in serial.

And if your TV has more than one set of composite inputs, make sure you use as many as you can. Like if you have three inputs on the tv but 5 switch boxes, attach a switch box to each of the three inputs first, before you go attaching switch boxes to switch boxes. Don't just hook one switch box to the tv and then the remaining switch boxes to the first switch box.