All Your Electronics Devices Can Finally Get Along!

The television.  The DVD player.  The VCR.  The GameCube.  The stereo.  The DV-R.  These devices are all designed to provide entertainment at home.  Each has its own set of power and connector cables.  Most of them have to connect to the television in order to work properly. 

Unfortunately, even modern televisions don't have enough input ports to handle all these devices at once.  The end result is that somebody ends up swapping out connectors so that each device can be utilized.  If only there was a way around that dilemma.  And luckily for us, there is.

Companies manufacture a switch box that lets you connect multiple input devices (such as a video game player, DVD player, or VCR) to one output device (the television).  I picked up one of these beauties two months ago and it's the best $25 I've ever spent.  Here's how I set mine up:

Using an audio/video cable (the ones with the three ends colored red, yellow, and white), I connected our television (in) to our DV-R player (out).  Then I ran another A/V cable from the DV-R (in) to the switch box (out).  The box I purchased has four manual switches.  So for each of the devices we have, I ran an A/V cable from the device (out) to the switch (in).  (The stereo connects to the TV differently, so it's not included in this process.)  This setup turns the TV into a receiver, and makes the DV-R the controller for the other devices.

When I want to watch TV, or watch a show I've recorded on DV-R, I turn on the TV and the DV-R.  When I want to switch to the DVD, I press the AUX button on my DV-R remote, press switch 1 on the switch box, and turn on the DVD.  Bingo!  I put in a movie and go.  If I want to play a tape in the VCR, I hit switch 2.  Game Cube, switch 4.  I could add a fourth device if I wanted to.  When I'm ready to go back to the TV, I power off the device I've been watching and hit the AUX button on the DV-R remote again, and I'm set.

These switches come in many configurations.  Some have fewer connections, while others have more.  Some are manual, like mine; others come with a remote control.  My four-connector manual switch cost $25, and I paid around $9 each for the two extra A/V cables I needed.

Some may think this seems like an unnecessary expense.  Maybe so, but it's a lot easier remembering one step for any device you want to use as opposed to remembering a different series of steps for each device.  I know my wife loves the simplicity of it all.  I'm going to be hooking up our television in the bedroom in the same way.  I'm a firm believer in the maxim:  When you find something that works, stick with it!