A/V Switch Selectors and cables...

[TIbrO]

My brother sees me (my monitor) at this forum all the time, and figured I could solve a problem for him. He wants to hook up his computer's TV OUT (from my old Voodoo 3 3500 TV AGP) so that he can record to his GO VIDEO Dual Deck VCR. That's ofcourse, very simple. Then he wants to be able to capture from the GO VIDEO, again, very simple. This has already been done by him. Now he wants more... He wants to be able to capture audio from his Component Stereo System to his computer. And he wants to be able to listen to his computer's audio from the Stereo, instead of the little TV speaker like how it is now. So I explained to him "Yeah, I can do it, but it's going to cost money because we need to buy more A/V Cables and a A/V Switch box. So he asked me "How much are they?" And I couldn't answer him. I knew the components he needed to complete his task, but not the price of the components. So we figured we would call our local Radioshack and ask the salesperson for the prices. After about a half hour trying to explain the appearance and functions of the components I need, the man on the end gave up and said "Look fella, why don't you come down here and see?" Quite rude, don't you think? Oh well, I wasn't offended... I was actually laughing... but oh well. So my brother got pretty mad that he didn't know IF they had what we needed, and nevermind a price. Anyway, I went to the Radioshack site, which I should have done in the first place, and looked up what I needed. Seems that Radioshack carries two A/V Switches. One model is pretty nice-looking and has a remote control. This costs fifty dollars. The other model, looks like a black box with four huge buttons on it, and this costs fifteen dollars.

Now for my question. Sorry if my long post made you sleepy. We almost bought the fifteen dollar one, but I told my brother to "wait until I let my VCDHelp thugs loose on this mofo." because I know you guys are highly knowledgable and I just like hearing the input of you all. So really now, on to my question:
Where can I get the cheapest A/V Cable Switch Selector and A/V cables, that aren't made from cheap materials, and are shielded from interference. My brother is on like a fifty dollar budget here, so we're looking to save money on all of the cables AND the switch box. If shipping causes the price to exceed fifty dollars it doesn't matter, because I can convince him this is the best deal and we shouldn't count shipping in the budget.

Well... thanks for any replies.

[d4n13l]

I dont use any swith boxes. I just have a phono lead going from my line-out of my PC to the tape-in input on my amp. Then I have another phono lead going from my amp tape-out output to a line-input on my PC. Simple(!) This lets your computer act as a recording/output device, much like a tape recorder acts. I dont know what connections you use in the US and I dont know what connections your stereo/computer has either. So its hard to tell you EXACTLY what you need. By phono leads, I mean a twin cable with 2 round red and white at either end - However, most PC's only have 3.5mm stereo sound connections, you can buy 3.5mm stereo to phono leads if your PC uses these. I also have a Sound Blaster Platinum PCI card which has every type of connection available, so its easy for me to do.
Does his amp have a tape loop? Eg. Spare connections for a tape recorder (line in and out)?
Do the US use phono leads?

[TIbrO]

Hmmm... one man's phono cable is another man's sound thingy. Personally, what I call A/V cables are the RCA cables, which have a yellow, white, and red head on either side of them. We're looking to buying two of those for as less as possible, while having them be of the utmost high quality possible. Also a splitter for the output from the GO VIDEO to the stereo, because that needs to output the sound to the stereo and both video and audio to the PC. And then a cheap switch box, so he can select whether he wants to get PC's Video/Audio, or stereo's Audio as the input for the GO VIDEO. So I already know what I need, and how to do it. What I am looking for is prices. Like I said, I found a cheap switch box at Radioshack for fifteen bucks, and cables cost five bucks or whatever. But those are the consumer level ones that are more for watching than dedicated recording ones that should be shielded from interference.

[d4n13l]

Sorry, missed the video part of it. hehe.
Phono cables = RCA (The Red and White ones) - Same thing.
The thing is, a PCs sound quality isnt that high anyway. It gets a hell of a lot of interference from the fans, and all the other componants that are inside your PC. I would just buy basic shielded RCA cables, with gold plated plugs, for my PC audio connections (I use a £200 RCA cable for my Hi-Fi!). They should only be costing around £8 at the highest (Probably $8 in US). Anything too fancy is wasted. As for the switch box, Its really up to you. If you buy the one for $15 and its lameass, just take it back and get the $50 one. Personally, the $15 one should suffice as PCs A/V output quality isnt that good anyway. It picks up far more interference inside your PC than it does from outside.

[TIbrO]

Alright. Thanks, man! The only difference as far as I could tell from the $15 and the $50 one is that the $50 one has a wireless remote control for switching between the four RCA A/V Cable inputs, and it looks pretty sleek, almost like our Toshiba cable modem. The fifteen dollar one is like an unperfect cube with crazy indents and just four huge ugly buttons on it. I bet they work exactly the same. Hehe... Well, I guess I'll tell my brother that we're set, and we should order the pieces. Thanks again!