A/V help

Okay, I don't know much about A/V equipment, so forgive me if this is poorly worded.

I have an old TV that only has an antenna hook up, and I don't have cable. Because of this I purchased an adapter that has a cord to connect to the TV and there is a connector on the adapter to connect to the antenna from the wall. Then there is the A/V input (red, white, and yellow) on the adapter. It also came with another cable to connect from the A/V inputs on the adapter to whatever device needs to be connected. In this case, a DVD player.

Keep in mind that my TV is old and I don't have the option of selecting the picture source, I have to resort to changing to channel 3.

Anyway, I want to be able to hook up multiple consoles as well as my DVD player. So, I want my setup to be the DVD player, one or two video game consoles, and whatever else I might put there (probably nothing else). However, I don't know what to purchase in order to have multiple A/V inputs (the adapter I bought only has one). I purchased something that had 1 row of A/V connections under the input and then under the output there were 4 rows of the same connectors labled A, B, C, and D. That didn't work, though, so I'm guessing it wasn't what I needed.

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Comments

Plantwiz

Have you asked at a local electronics shop? Circuit City or Radio Shack (the place I always forget but usually has something that will work).

I had a couple tv's from the 80's and I just need to unplug/plug in the thing I wanted to use. There was a time when graduating from Atari into Nitendo where we just had to break down and get a different tv to accept the new connections. There should be some sort of adapter that can work -just may not be worth the cost.

D-boy

Try http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=15-1983

Here's the manual to check it out before you buy!!!

http://www.radioshack.com/images/ProductCatalog/Manuals/OME15-1983.pdf

Hope this helps!

D-boy

/usr

I'm not sure if you can chain thatdevices or not. I've had a PS2/Gamecube hooked up to a VCR, which was hooked to the tv. However, not both at the same time. I literally had to plug/unplug whichever one I was currently going to be using.

Wait for someone who is a little more electronics-savvy to come along.

RussS

There are (or used to be) convertor boxes available for just that sort of thing. Plantwiz is correct - Circuit City or Radio Shack are the places to go for that sort of item.
I recently sold one that had hook-ups for about 4 different units.

entzilla

What I purchased is called an Audio/Video 4 Way Amplifier I believe. I wasn't trying to chain the systems together, but I was trying to have them all hooked up at the same time so I don't have to unplug and plug in different systems every time I want to use them. I believe I've heard what I'm looking for be called a console switch or a system switch before. It's something where you can plug everything in at the same time and just switch between them on the unit. I'm not sure if what I bought was the same as this and it was just faulty, or if I bought something completely different than what I needed.

entzilla

I think it was something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=49230&item=8177424251&rd=1

entzilla

I would have asked somebody at the Radio Shack I shopped at, except the Radio Shack in my town is very poorly managed and has a very limited stock, same with Circuit City. Also, I had already been waiting in line for a half an hour (there was only one employee working in the enitre store

) and I didn't want to stay any longer.

Plantwiz

entzilla wrote:

I would have asked somebody at the Radio Shack I shopped at, except the Radio Shack in my town is very poorly managed and has a very limited stock, same with Circuit City. Also, I had already been waiting in line for a half an hour (there was only one employee working in the enitre store ) and I didn't want to stay any longer.

Oh yes, I understand that (why I don't go to BestBuy), but sometimes you will find a knowledgeable employee who can at least show you things side by side, instead of trying to read on-line and look at marginal quality images (good when you know what you need, poor when not certain).

Perhaps, someone else will have already resolved this issue and point you to the best solution.

D-boy

entzilla wrote:

I would have asked somebody at the Radio Shack I shopped at, except the Radio Shack in my town is very poorly managed and has a very limited stock, same with Circuit City. Also, I had already been waiting in line for a half an hour (there was only one employee working in the enitre store ) and I didn't want to stay any longer.

Did you take a look at what I posted???

You can have 4 S-Video inputs or 4 pairs of Video(Yellow)/L/ R Jacks!

Then you just press a button to switch between them all...

If your TV has no input/output jacks "TV that only has an antenna hook up" you will need to buy one of these... An Antenna to Phono converter (I got mine from Meijers the retail store) I have one at home as my TV is old school too and has no Phono jacks! Hook this up first then the thing i posted in my orignal post.

It should work...

D-boy

entzilla

D-boy wrote:

Did you take a look at what I posted???
You can have 4 S-Video inputs or 4 pairs of Video(Yellow)/L/ R Jacks!

Then you just press a button to switch between them all...

If your TV has no input/output jacks "TV that only has an antenna hook up" you will need to buy one of these... An Antenna to Phono converter (I got mine from Meijers the retail store) I have one at home as my TV is old school too and has no Phono jacks! Hook this up first then the thing i posted in my orignal post.

It should work...

D-boy

I guess that is what I need to have. I will check RadioShack today and see if they have it. I think I already have an antenna to phono converter, but could you link to one or describe what it should look like? I couldn't find one on the RadioShack web site. I might even just return everything I purchased and then buy a new TV. That seems a lot easier and I don't want to have cables going everywhere, that's a pain.

Thanks for all of the help!!