TheCoolDave Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Hey all, I have had a few threads here on my retro consoles that I am trying to setup. I was about to stick with US standard of S-video with everything possible but, as I am leaning towards a Framemeister for my setup, this opens the door to RGB and can upscale/line double up to 480p over HDMI, this is claimed to be one of the best pictures you can get from Retro consoles. This thread is not for comparing the Framemeister vs. the OSSC. I still will have some consoles that have S-video and will leave them like that for reasons. The OSSC cant do S-video with out a converter of some type, that I don't want to deal with. So the Framemeister looks like my winner here. This brings up another issue. SCART switching. It's been a long quest for a lot of people. For 8 or more, you only have a few options and the price seems to sky rocket from there. If I am going this route, I need to go all in, as much as possible within affordable range (not going tp spend $400+ for switching). My setup is going to contain 20 retro consoles from the Wii back. HDMI devices will be treated differently (and thinking about starting a YouTube channel on this subject). This could have more than 8 RGB type consoles. Also if S-video and Composite is treated natively with SCART (as I have read) with no conversion, running the switch into a SCART port on the switch could simplify things a little. What I would like is Auto switching but, would love and PREFER a IR override with it. IR gives me what I really want is to force control the change in a automated setup via remote. Something I really want and pretty much need. So looking for options... and see what others are using. This is the larger ones I have found... gRetrostuf - gscartsw 8:2 about $220.. http://www.gretrostuff.com/store/gscartsw/ Over all good quality from reviews. No IR control but, auto should do. Can be daisy chained but, to get 15, it's going to cost $440+ shipping. Big cost. Lotharek - Hydra series. https://lotharek.pl/products.php?id=35 A selection of sizes... 8 to 16 (OMG !) switchers.. Kind of eyeing the W-Hydra 2. It's 16:2 that does everything. INCLUDING IR control (something that seems hard to find). Price is not too crazy compared to other options 999.00 PLN or about $264.43 US. A little pricey but, for what it offers, I don't know of anything else that could fill the bill. I don't know much about this W-Hydra 2, anyone use their series of switches ? Any good or bad on them ? What are others using ? Anyone using MORE than 8 devices that can do SCART ? This is the type of thing I am losing sleep over so I wanted to start a MODERN discussion on options or MODERN switchers.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newsdee Posted December 18, 2018 Share Posted December 18, 2018 (edited) Only six ports, but I have one of these: https://otaku-games.com/index.php?_route_=6-port-rgb-scart-rca-component-switch-with-housing.html It saves some space because I can use it as a component switch as well. My setup orbits around an XRGB-Mini which takes conposite, component, S-Video and RGB as inputs and upscales to HDMI. Each input goes to a switch for that type, so, for example, all my conposite consoles come from one box into the upscaler. For HDMI I have two separate 5-port switches that go to different TV inputs. So I have room for 9 HDMI machines (excluding the upscaler), 5 composite/SVideo, 4 component (own switch), and 6 RGB/SCART. I printed a "cheat sheet" to remind myself what combination of buttons to push and TV inputs to use for each machine. Note, I only use HDMI input on the TV as the analogue inputs scale badly. XRGB is much better even for composite video. Edited December 18, 2018 by Newsdee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 I have the gscartsw v3.4. It has 8 input and two output ports, and one of those is VGA (still RGB). I like this option because the VGA part feeds into my Startech PEXHDCAP60 capture card without any additional adapters. I only wish that they made a 16 port version. http://www.gretrostuff.com/store/gscartsw-v3-4/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
str0m Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 I have two of the 5 port auto switch Bandridge boxes which then connect to a manual 3 way scart splitter then into my TV. This works quite well but obviously isn't what you want. Just replying to say that Hydra2 16 port looks good! I need more ports now so instead of spending another £30 on a Bandridge, I could get one of them and just ignore the extra £170 lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCoolDave Posted January 23, 2019 Author Share Posted January 23, 2019 I never saw that anyone replied to this. After doing a TON of reading on this and looking over what each console can do and what they cant.. I think I am leaning towards the W-Hydra 2, I don't want a Auto switch like 99% of them are, I want something that can be automated and controlled via IR. It seems the W-Hydra 2 is one of the very few that can. They make an 8 and 16 version. After looking at tons of models, IR control is VERY rare for something 8 or more. The W-Hydra 2 16 port is about $265.. as the gscartsw v3.4. is about $220 for an 8 with no IR support. $45 more with double the inputs and more features ? Sold... So my setup will have 12 Svideo/Composite switcher and a 16port SCART switcher... I will be running them directly into a Framemeister… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 I never saw that anyone replied to this. After doing a TON of reading on this and looking over what each console can do and what they cant.. I think I am leaning towards the W-Hydra 2, I don't want a Auto switch like 99% of them are, I want something that can be automated and controlled via IR. It seems the W-Hydra 2 is one of the very few that can. They make an 8 and 16 version. After looking at tons of models, IR control is VERY rare for something 8 or more. The W-Hydra 2 16 port is about $265.. as the gscartsw v3.4. is about $220 for an 8 with no IR support. $45 more with double the inputs and more features ? Sold... So my setup will have 12 Svideo/Composite switcher and a 16port SCART switcher... I will be running them directly into a Framemeister… What I really love about the gscartsw v3.4 is that one of the two outputs it has is VGA. This helps me tremendously with my Startech PEXHDCAP60 capture card, which has a VGA RGB port. With the W-Hydra, it has two SCART outputs, so I would need to buy an adapter. As for the W-Hydra having IR control, why would you need a remote for? It's an automatic SCART switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCoolDave Posted January 23, 2019 Author Share Posted January 23, 2019 (edited) As for the W-Hydra having IR control, why would you need a remote for? It's an automatic SCART switch. Well the W-Hydra 2 as 2 outputs as well, It is a 16:2 and can be expanded if needed (crazy). I will only be using RGB on it. My system is completely automated, one button does a bunch of stuff. I have a Pronto Pro(Philips TSU9800) that has a touch screen, it's setup with a home theater setup. My plan is to create pictures for each console, then put them on a menu, As the auto will work a lot of the time it can be overridden with the remote. I do that with current consoles (Xbox one X, PS4, 360 and WillU), as auto works 95% of the time, it can be ovewridden. Also every once in a while I want to pause a game and play another system, this would allow me to do this. So when I want to play a game, it will switch the AVR, the TV input, it will change the framemeister input and change the switch the console is plugged into. One button to do everything. Also, Other sources in this setup will use composite and S-video, no auto switching for those sources. I need them all in the menu. Edited January 23, 2019 by TheCoolDave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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