VGA switch choice?

[jandrogo]

I am considering in buying a VGA Switch to use with my x360, I have the console connected to the CRT cabinet monitor through VGA wire to play tate shmups, but when I want to play something yoko it's painful to rotate the cabinet monitor, so I plug the VGA wire in the LCD desktop monitor.

Due to the desktop monitor has the DVI and DISPLAYPORT entrances occupied I am forced to swap the vga wire between the 2 displays and I am tired of moving it

The fact it's that I have seen 3 type of VGA Switches, and would like to know which is the best option, as I don't want to have one with power alimentation but I don't want to compromise the image quality. Any issues or recommendations?

1- The typical mechanical one



2- Also mechanical but different mechanism



3- Feeded power



Crap scheme:

Code: Select all

   ________________                                                     ________________
  |   DESKTOP      |                                                   |               |
  |   MONITOR      |                  XBOX 360                         |    CABINET    |
  |________________|                    |                              |               |
                 |                      |                              |               |
                 --------------------VGA SWITCH------------------------|               |
                                                                       |_______________|

[shmuppyLove]

The third one is a powered splitter, whereas the first two are simple switches, so it just depends on how you want to do things.

The splitter will definitely require power, as it's taking the input signal and duplicating it on two outputs. Doing it this way means you won't have to switch anything -- the 360 will output to both displays.

The switches work by directing the input to only one output at a time, so do not require any signal amplifying. But you will only be able to see the output on one display at a time.

Edit: Hey you changed the last one lol so what I said doesn't make sense now.

The "new" third one is kind of the reverse of what you want to do, though. That's designed to choose from 1 of 3 inputs to output to a single display. Though I think practically speaking you can use any of them "bi-directionally".

I suspect the third one is designed to sense which input is active and automatically switch to it, or do some other magic behind the scenes that would require circuitry and thus power.

[jandrogo]

Edit: Hey you changed the last one lol so what I said doesn't make sense now.

Sorry! I took the wrong link

The switches work by directing the input to only one output at a time, so do not require any signal amplifying. But you will only be able to see the output on one display at a time

I don't have any problem with this, as when I play I only want to do it in one screen, furthermore if i throw higher resolutions than 640x480 to the cabinet monitor I could damage it, so it's safe to only show yokos in LCD, then when I want to play tates, reduce resolution and use the switch to play them in the cabinet.

My only concern was about power feeding and knowing if the image quality will be drastically reduced. Furthermore I would like to add a second vga switch to choose the cabinet image entrance: Mame computer / X360

More crap scheme

Code: Select all

   ________________                                                     ________________
  |   DESKTOP      |                                                   |               |
  |   MONITOR      |                  XBOX 360                         |    CABINET    |
  |________________|                    |                              |               |
                 |                 ______________    _________         |               |
                 ------------------|VGA SWITCH 1|----|       |---------|               |
                                   --------------    |  VGA  |         |_______________|
                                                     |SWITCH |
                                            ---------|   2   |
                                            |        ---------
                                            |
                                            |
                                       MAME COMPUTER

[shmuppyLove]

Chaining switches together like that is asking for trouble. With a single switch, you're already going to have a much higher than normal resistance across the link, and with two I think you might run the risk of seriously degrading the signal quality. Especially with a VGA signal, which is analog, you might be better off looking for powered switches that use some kind of circuitry instead of mechanical connections for switching.

But I'm not an electrical engineer or anything, maybe it will all work perfectly The mechanical switches shouldn't be expensive, so probably no harm in trying it out.

[BuckoA51]

I've found the push button type to be more reliable than the dial-switch type personally. Of course, a powered switch like a Startech one works the best. Luckily, VGA switching isn't the minefield of poor quality products that SCART switching is.

[ikaruga007]

If you're running at 640x480, those unpowered switches work fine. At resolutions above 800x600, I'd go for a powered switch.

I wouldn't chain switches.

[Ghetto Tate]

I have one of those, only tried it with my PC and it looks like garbage, blurry as shit.

[jandrogo]

I have one of those, only tried it with my PC and it looks like garbage, blurry as shit.

Thank for your opinion Ghetto Tate!

Taking in consideration all your opinion and advices, I think will avoid chaining 2 switches and go through the powered route.. also considering that I will only be using one display at the same time, I have seen this splitter from Startech that will do the job and doesn't need a separate a power supply, it could take power from the x360 USB... So I will be able to see HD games like Sine Mora and Akai Katana in the LCD without losing image quality and then when I want to play SD 640x480 verts in the cab, only need to change resolution in the x360 and turn on the cab.

http://es.startech.com/AV/Divisores/VGA ... SB~ST122LE Cheap as chips in Amazon

[BuckoA51]

You should be able to chain good quality powered switches without any trouble. Startech stuff is normally good though I've not tried that splitter personally.

[gray117]

On the note of blurriness [although not refuting the possibility the splitter may be shit for similar reasons] - be aware the sheilding on vga cables can be very important in avoiding ghosting. Also try auto adjusting screen calibration between switching sources.

[alamone]

I went with the same problems, started with a mechanical switch, upgraded to a powered switch,
but I was never happy with the image degradation - always blurry and smearing and forget about high res.

Personally I think it's better to just have a good quality VGA extension cord out to where it's easily swapped
with whatever inputs you need.

[BuckoA51]

I don't see any image degradation at any level through my Extron powered VGA switch vs connecting the cable directly.