Originally posted by: Pariah
If you have an extra $20-70 to throw away, by all means go ahead and get a component switcher. I can guarantee you though, that there is no benefit over getting a $30 composite switcher from BB or where ever and using that.
You can't use your receiver like that, because your receiver is not a simple switch and will likely send the inputted signal through its audio processor. For obvious reasons, that is not a good idea.
Why the hell did they ever bring out Componant anyways then if composite connections are the same thing
It's not the cable that matters, it's how the signal is sent. Composite sends all the video in one cable, and the right and left audio channels in seperate cables. Component takes the video signal and splits it up into three different signals that each use a different cable (Y,Pb,Pr). There is no audio sent with the component signal, so all three cables are used exclusively for the video signal.
A composite switch might have issues with the bandwidth required to pass an HD component signal. Hooking up the Green cable from the component connection to the yellow on the composite switch would probably be your best bet.
No, it won't. Unless it is the cheapest piece of garbage switch available. Every switch I have seen has a circuit board on the inside, not cables, which won't have varying sized traces. So it doesn't matter which you plug in where so long as you are consistent on the output cabling.