Video switcher

[Gyro Gearloose]

One thing I've found that seems like a good thing to have but no one seems to make these days is a video switch box.

One Amiga 1080 monitor connects to a C64, a 64C, a 128D and maybe the SX-64.

I'd love a 4 to 1 s-video or composite switch box like this one



https://www.unisquare.com/sale/rca-crf9 ... r-1624190/

Sure, I managed to snap one up for cheap but now the ones left on eBay end up in the 50$+ zone with shipping.

It's nothing more than a stamped sheet metal box with a passive switch array. If you remove the RF modulator it would be even cheaper.

Am I really the only one who thinks this is useful?

[Zippy Zapp]

I find them useful and I am glad I still have a few. A few years back I bought one that was for Component video and it was a current product then and pretty cheap. S-Video ones are around but yeah I would never pay eBay prices for that. One of the ones I have is from Pelican and I think I bought it years ago at a GameStop. Come to think of it I have seen them used in GameStops.

Amazon is the place to buy these for under $30. There are still quite a few for sale there.

[motrucker]

The only switch boxes I found on Amazon were four or eight unit boxes that had RCA only in/out for $10.99 (USD) or $20.99 plus shipping





I'm glad I bought some years ago, to take care of the C-64, PS 2, and Genesis clutter.

[Gyro Gearloose]

It's also hard to find quality s-video cables. I found some random cables locally at one of those unbranded dollar stores that pop up here and there. Found 3 foot cables for 1$.

The cardboard package is worth 50 cents, the plastic cover another 50 cents.

That makes the cables worthless. The mini-DIN is so poorly made it doesn't fit into a jack.

I have little to no hope that the cable itself is anything more than just 4 thin wires instead of two coax.

[Gyro Gearloose]

I'm wondering if these boxes can be used "backwards": use the two "audio" jacks for the Y/C video and the "video" for the mono audio.
The box is just a mechanical switch. I doubt very much they made a switch section with lower bandwidth just for the audio.
That way even the non-S-video boxes could be used with 8 pin C64s and 128s, etc.