Quote Originally Posted by DogP View Post
I recently hooked up a LOT of systems in my gameroom... I went a little overkill w/ automation and stuff, but automated or not, I think this information should help. Of course I'd be glad to go into as technical of details as you'd like, but here's a quick overview.

All hooked up at the same time are: 7800, Odyssey 2, Intellivision, 5200, Colecovision, NES, Genesis, TI-99/4A, TurboGrafx-16, Master System, N64, Jaguar, Saturn, 3DO, Dreamcast, SNES, PS2, and xbox. I have a remote control to select which system I want to play, and it sets the switchboxes and TV to the correct input.

For component, s-video, and composite, I use a bunch of these switchboxes: http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2 ... You can use those for S-Video by getting S-Video to 2x RCA adapters (like: http://www.amazon.com/Hosa-S-Video-F.../dp/B0037MZAKS , which break S-Video into Y and C), and for composite by using just the Y port. I've found that I can daisychain those switchboxes at least once without noticably losing quality.

For RF, I wouldn't daisychain (the quality loss is pretty bad after a few systems), and I wouldn't use a switchbox, but instead just use an RF splitter/combiner. When you use one of those RF splitters in reverse, it works as a power combiner... so use something like one of these: http://www.av-outlet.com/en-us/dept_507.html , depending how many systems you need plugged in. You just have to make sure you only turn one system on at a time, or the signals interfere (if they're outputting the same channel). You should use a terminator on any unused ports.

For lightguns, any standard definition CRT should work, but a lot of them have comb filters, which will interfere with timing. Mine has a 3-line comb filter, which in simple terms tries to remove artifacts from the lower quality composite and coax signals. On composite, my lightguns shoot down and right of where I'm actually aiming... but comb filters aren't used on S-video, so if possible, you'll want to use S-video or better on any system you're wanting to use a lightgun on (except NES, since that basically detects hit or miss). You can use a composite to S-video adapter, but my experience has been that the picture quality of those is really bad. I converted my Master System and Genesis to S-video, so they work great.

And yeah, I'd recommend a newer TV for the new systems... I keep mine hooked up in my living room, and they look much better in HD widescreen, but the classic systems look much better on my 32" CRT.

DogP

I've actually had excellent results with a particular composite to svideo converter. I forget the make and model, but it's a powered unit. It's a tiny device and all it does is that one conversion. It's a bit pricey at a little over a 100 bucks. I recall picking that one after doing some research on the diff types/quality of svideo.... Something about 2 stage and 3 stage filtering. I use it on a Sony PVM RGB CRT monitor and it looks nearly as good as a true svideo source.


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