Audio/video switching?

[JimS]

I am expanding my A/V system. I am using a receiver for whole house audio and the TV area like others have outlined here. Even if I add more receivers for various zones, my issue is the receiver only has 3 inputs - pretty typical for low end units I think. I would like to have a few more inputs for CD player, DVD, Sat Receiver, PC (for MythTV and automation announcements), etc and also have more inputs for the TV (currently just composite/S-video). I had an Aiwa receiver with more inputs but it quit several times and I replaced it. An IR controlled A/V selector is one solution. I am ending up with a fairly complex system but I can make it simpler for the user (WAF you know ) with some macros on the HA PC or in the remotes. Just wondering if there is another way I should consider. For the TV inputs I am thinking of several modulators - I already have one and it works well. All my video is still composite and I have no plans to change that in the near future.

Any suggestions on equipment?

 

[oberkc]

Given your description of your system ("low end units") I am not sure why you would have a CD and DVD player. Would not the DVD player do all types of disks?

If you are unable to reduce the number of inputs to that equal to your receiver, there are certainly component video matix/switcher devices readily available. A quick google search yielded several options.

While I have not seen this for component, I have seen auto-switching HDMI boxes. They sensed which of the inputs was sending a signal and routed that to the output. This worked quite well. HDMI may also give you some control benefits (think HDMI-CEC). This may help the WAF. Perhaps you should consider upgrading to HDMI? I find it much easier to integrate and control components through HDMI that I ever did with other video cables and programmable remotes.