Acoustic Research 5-DEVICE Component Video & Digital Audio Switcher
By: Acoustic Research Average Rating: 2.5 Total Reviews: 4
More Information
 On: 2007-10-14
I bought this unit after an unfortunate experience with the Sima VS502 A/V switch. Its been a happy change.
The AR5000 A/V switch has five inputs. Four are located on the back panel, the fifth is on the front panel. There is one set of Audio/Video outputs on the back panel.
All five inputs have a connector for S-Video. Three inputs (1, 2, and 3) also accept component (RGB) video. Two inputs (4 and 5) accept composite video via the yellow RCA-type phono plug.
There is no accommodation for RF video input.
Inputs 1, 2, and 3 accept audio input via digital coax and digital fiber optic connectors. Inputs 4 and 5 accept audio only via stereo L/R (White/Red) phono inputs.
The output connectors consist of one set of RGB component video connectors, one S-Video connector, and one RCA-type composite video connector.
Video Handling:
The AR5000 automatically upconverts composite video and S-Video to component video.
That is, if S-Video is presented to any of the five inputs, there will be an upconverted video signal available at the component output connectors.
And composite input presented at inputs 4 or 5 will also be available at the component output connectors.
For convenience, composite video presented at inputs 4 or 5 will be available at the S-Video output connector.
If upconversion isnt required, the video output connectors will always reflect the type of video input presented.
So composite video connected at inputs 4 or 5 will be available on outputs as composite video, and S-Video presented to any input will always be available at the S-Video output connector.
There is no down-convert from video component input to S-video or composite video. So component video signals at inputs 1, 2, or 3 will only be available at the component output connectors.
My major requirement for an A/V switch was to be able to present inputs in a mixture of both component and S-Video.
I wanted to have just one type of video connection to my monitor -- component video. So I needed to have the switch upconvert S-Video to component.
The quality of the upconvert from S-Video to component is quite good. At least, I was not able to see any noticeable difference between an S-Video input connected directly to my monitor, and the same S-video input connected through the switch and output in component video to the same monitor.
I wasnt expecting any video improvement, just wanted to make sure there were no artifacts introduced in the upconvert. There did not appear to be any.
This is the area where the SIMA unit failed miserably, and the reason I had to return it.
The upconvert quality is such that I would not consider using a separate upconvert device costing more than the price of this switch alone.
Audio Handling:
The AR5000 switch will automatically upconvert stereo L/R audio inputs. (Those audio inputs are only available on inputs 4 and 5). The AR5000 will make the audio available to both the digital coax and digital fiber optic outputs on the output side.
Obviously, this L/R audio is also passed through and available at the audio L/R output connectors.
There are not many A/R switch units that will also do audio upconvert, and this is a really nice feature.
Strangely, however, the unit does not cross-convert digital coax audio to digital fiber optic audio.
Its strange because this is one final feature that would allow the switch to be able to present video and audio to an external device as one type of video input and one type of audio input.
So, if you have mix of devices that can only output audio in digital coax or digital fiber optic, then youd have to have those two types of audio output connected to your external device, e.g. a receiver.
Your alternative is to use an external audio coax-to-fiber optic or fiber optic-to-coax cross-converter.
In these days of easily programmable universal remotes this isnt such a big deal, but it would have been nice if AR had just gone the extra yard and made a digital coax audio input also available on fiber optic audio output, and vice versa. Then it truly would deserve the title of an A/V switch. The SIAM VS502 did offer this feature -- but unfortunately that was just about the only feature I liked that worked.
Cosmetics:
The unit is well built, fairly compact, and looks smart in its silver case. There is decent switch "feel", and the A/V connectors appear to be fairly solid.
The switch does require power, delivered via a regular power cord.
And the unit does generate a little heat, and that is dissipated through a grill on the top of the unit. So obviously you should not put anything on top to block that air flow.
Switching Inputs:
You can switch inputs manually or via remote control, but there is no remote control provided with the unit.
Instead, the unit allows you to use any remote that you choose and "teach" it how to switch inputs. That "teaching" process is very easy.
In my case, what I did was to choose an old remote from some defunct piece of electronics, and I chose 5 buttons at random on that remote to switch the five inputs on the AR5000.
Then, I also taught my Logitech Harmony universal remote what those five codes were, again using the old remote, and after that switching inputs was simple.
I actually like the fact that no remote is included. For me, it would be just another piece of electronic flotsam lying around doing nothing, since Id always want to use a universal remote to control all devices anyway.
Not providing a remote also keeps the selling price down, and Im sure it eliminates some support problems.
Conclusion.
Yes, Im very happy with it and would recommend it to a friend.
Im not unhappy that digital audio is not cross-converted, because for me it isnt a problem. But I do think that its a negative on the selling points side.
 On: 2006-03-16
It appears it cant convert from digital optical to coaxial, so all the devices you want to use with the switch have to be the same, or whatever you connecting the output to has to be willing to accept coaxial audio sometimes and optical other times.
Im also not a big fan of the way it switches devices. You have to teach it an IR command, but what if you are using it with a device that doesnt have a remote (say a game console, for example). Now you have one more device to adjust because they didnt want to include a remote.
I havent noticed signal degradation, though I havent used it much yet. Over all Im pretty disappointed because what I got doesnt match the description very closely. I should have done more research.
Though I
by: astorr On: 2006-02-23
I was not impressed at all. I have more components than jacks on my television, so I eagerly awaited the arrival of this switcher. After following the directions and installing the unit, I noticed severe degradation in video signal. It is now sitting somewhere in my closet.
On: 2006-02-22
I was not impressed at all. I have more components than jacks on my television, so I eagerly awaited the arrival of this switcher. After following the directions and installing the unit, I noticed severe degradation in video signal. It is now sitting somewhere in my closet.
 On: 2006-01-11
I have only used this for a few days, but it gets the job done. However, the description is VERY misleading. Heres why:
1. Only THREE component inputs, the rest are S-Video and composite
2. Component inputs only allow digital audio in, and S-Video and composite only allow L/R RCA. Be wary, as I had something that was component video and analog audio, you will need to get an analog to digital converter to plug it in.
3. There are two outputs, 1 component with digital audio out, and 1 S-Vid/composite with analog audio out.
4. Only S-Vid/composite/analog will come out the analog out, the signal does not go out both outputs at once. I wanted to have digital going to my stereo, and analog out to my TV if i just wanted TV sound, this DOESNT WORK. This system does not do digital to analog conversion.
5. The optical audio out plug was loose on mine and had to tape the cord on the back so it would stay in.
All in all, it did the trick, I luckily only needed 3 component ins, but I will never be using the S-Vid/composite in. I would say go for something cheaper that doesnt have up-conversion since you cant have component in with analog audio (one of the reasons I wanted the upconversion).
On: 2006-01-10
I have only used this for a few days, but it gets the job done. However, the description is VERY misleading. Heres why:
1. Only THREE component inputs, the rest are S-Video and composite
2. Component inputs only allow digital audio in, and S-Video and composite only allow L/R RCA. Be wary, as I had something that was component video and analog audio, you will need to get an analog to digital converter to plug it in.
3. There are two outputs, 1 component with digital audio out, and 1 S-Vid/composite with analog audio out.
4. Only S-Vid/composite/analog will come out the analog out, the signal does not go out both outputs at once. I wanted to have digital going to my stereo, and analog out to my TV if i just wanted TV sound, this DOESNT WORK. This system does not do digital to analog conversion.
5. The optical audio out plug was loose on mine and had to tape the cord on the back so it would stay in.
All in all, it did the trick, I luckily only needed 3 component ins, but I will never be using the S-Vid/composite in. I would say go for something cheaper that doesnt have up-conversion since you cant have component in with analog audio (one of the reasons I wanted the upconversion).
|
|
