Who here is using a Crosspoint for their switching duties?
What do you think of it, is it worth breaking out everything into BNC? The switches are cheap, but the excess cost of cabling may not be worth it.
Thoughts?
I use a different BNC switch but the implementation is the same as an extron.
For my setup, however, I use a Scart Switch and a component Switch separately. I then input each of those into the BNC Switch to allow for easy selection of formats. It’s cheaper than converting a bunch of Scart cables to BNC.
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I’m using an Extron Crosspoint with 12 inputs and 8 outputs. If you have a bunch of systems and 3 or more outputs I think it’s worth it but only if you can get or make the phoenix connectors to directly input/output audio. The cost of Scart-to-BNC breakout cables will also add up rapidly but maybe you have the know-how to also make those yourself. I just spread out the cost by gradually buying cables as I needed them to have everything connected to the one switch.
I also recently connected a Scart switch to my Extron with a cable that has a sync stripper – the Scart switch can therefore contain all my non-Composite Sync systems (the Crosspoint requires CSync). There are individual breakout cables with sync stripper but they cost quite a bit more than the regular ones. Until the Scart swich solution I had been swapping PCE, N64 and PS1 with the one sync strippping breakout cable in my possession.
Once you’re all set, I don’t think anything else beats a matrix switch or comes close in terms of flexibility. Keep in mind, the back of the Crosspoint will have a lot of cables, which can look insane, but on a positive note all of these are very short adapter cables connected to your consoles’ Scart cables. It’s manageable and you rarely have to fiddle with it. Here’s an old pic of my old 12/4 unit (current 12/8 unit pretty much looks the same).
There’s at least 3-4 large industrial electrical shops here that would sell them, I’m sure. I’ll look into that before I decide to buy or not.
Yeah I would be looking for something like a 12x4 or a 12x8.
I’m not too worried about the cable costs because I would be gradually doing all that as I convert my consoles to RGB. The thing that really makes me want to consider a Crosspoint is being able to plug all my consoles into one place instead of having a scart switch, component switch, and 1-2 s-video connections.
Only downside I can see is that I won’t be able to use composite or RF at all, but the goal is to get away from that anyway.
You can absolutely use composite and, I’m willing to bet, RF as well on a BNC matrix switch.
There are multiple inputs and outputs. One of those outputs can be a dedicated composite out. Just don’t cross your signals by assigning an input to the wrong format output and you’re golden.
Wouldn’t you have to break those out before passing them through anyway? I guess it would work, but it would be silly.
No. You don’t. Composite doesn’t even have a “break out.” Just convert RCA to BNC (basically via a little metal connector piece).
I’m willing to bet there’s such a thing for rf as well but I haven’t had a need to look into it.
As long as you don’t need to extract the audio from RF separately, you should have no issues with it.
I thought the Extron’s required a separate Csync line
They don’t. They’re labeled for it, but they’re basically “dumb” mechanical ports that simply output the same thing being input. You can ignore the labels if you so choose.
I got that info from here:
Does the switch require csync (all Crosspoints do), or can it accept composite video and luma as sync?
Are they talking about a different version of the crosspoint?
If that’s the case, then not all BNC switches behave the same. Mine works as I described.
What’s the brand and model of yours?
This one:
http://www.ivojo.co.uk/component.php?pid=Kramer_VS-88HCB
Got it for 50 bucks on eBay.
Edit: here’s a more informative link:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/431575-REG/Kramer_VP_88ETH_VP_88ETH_8x8_RGBHV.html
The CSync requirement is in reference to RGB input signals. You absolutely can input Composite (1 BNC), S-Video (2-BNC breakout), Component (3 BNC), etc. You just need exact-matching outputs to complete the chain. This is where having an 8 output switch comes in handy. I’m using like 6 at the moment. Like @Peltz said, they’re just simple ports. Example: you connect your Composite cable to an input’s Green (second row), the Composite cable output must also be on Green.
In the pic I posted before, you can see input 4 is using R and G for S-Video. On the far right, one of those outputs (probably #4) is using R and G for S-Video to one of my PVMs.
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Ah you beat me to it! I just found this in the manual.
The CrossPoint Series switchers can also switch RGBS, RGsB,
RsGsBs, component video, S-video, or composite video by using
four, three, two, or one BNC(s).
If switching a video format other than RGBHV, ensure that the
same video planes (R, G, B, H/HV, and/or V) are used on the
switcher output as on the input.
This is really cool though… that would allow me to run everything through it, even if I don’t have all my consoles on RGB/SCART or Component yet… I just utilize multiple outputs.
I’d just like to add, the only reasons why I went with the model I went with were for the nice backlit LED display on the front, and the fact that it’s 8 inputs and outputs which provides me with a lot of room to grow on both ends of that spectrum.
I was also looking at extrons, but all the ones I was seeing were either too small or too big at the time. But I really don’t think you could go wrong either way. All these devices appear to be largely the same as far as brand is concerned.
Everything looks and sounds the exact same to me as if going via a direct connection. I’m sure there’s some signal loss, but I personally can’t see or hear it.
I’m probably missing something super obvious, but what would the advantage be to a BNC switch over a SCART switch?
It takes both Scart and component inputs, then outputs them both to the same ports on your PVM so you don’t need to physically swap cables when switching from Scart to component consoles. Plus you can output to many more displays at once. (Mine allows for 8 different outputs).
You wouldn’t think I’d need that many, but I actually use quite a few:
- my PVM’s RGB/component input
- My pvm’s Composite input
- My hdtv’s Component input
- My framemeister’s Scart input
- My framemeister’s d-terminal input
Yes, but you still need two outputs if I’m understanding the manual correctly. One for all your SCART connections and one for the Component connections.