Some may wonder how to get television signals (like from a dvd player) to work with computer signals (like into a projector). It’s also difficult to find a way to switch between computer signals. There are many ways, but some are better than others.

Consumer devices that do this and switch between computers are few. You probably won’t be able to find one device that can do both. You can either use the DVD player software in the computer (that will be the cheapest and highest quality, but somewhat less reliable solution) or you can get a s-video to vga adapter. Those are usually advertised as “play your console games on a computer monitor” adapters. Add a vga switcher (usually made for business presentations) and you’re set.

Now, for the right way. Buy a scalar w/ multiple inputs from Kramer, FSR, Folsom, TVOne, Analogway, etc. You plug everything in and it scales it so they’re both better resolution and usually have some sort of transition other than a glitch (like the solution above does). It’s usually fade through black or freeze-cut, but that’s better than glitch.

Ideally, you’d get a switcher/scaler. I use the Analogway Octofade. It takes anything in (okay, not anything, but VGA, composite, s-video) and scales and switches between them seamlessly. It even does things like a key. The down side is that it’s much more expensive than the other two solutions.

Paul