What are the benefits to a powered splitter? And if Im using say a GV USB-2, I would plug the system (PS2, N64) into the input of the splitter, and then the TV and GV USB-2 into the outputs correct? Im very new to capping, and am still trying to finalize my setup before purchasing anything.
[quote]What are the benefits to a powered splitter?[/quote] I guess less static and/or avoiding delay? don't quote me on that - not sure.
[quote]I would plug the system (PS2, N64) into the input of the splitter, and then the TV and GV USB-2 into the outputs correct?[/quote] Yes, Console -> Splitter -> TV & Capture alternatively you could forego the splitter, and play on pc with the display from your capture.
A powered splitter provides a 1-to-1 split of the audio and video coming out of the console. Without it, you may find that the audio or video become slightly delayed/out of sync or the quality is lesser than if you hadn’t plugged the console directly into the TV or capture card.
I think I got my powered splitter for $30 so they aren’t terribly expensive and are worth the extra money over buying 3 standard Y splitters (one for each audio channel and the video channel).
Okay good to know Timmiluvs thanks you! And yes I've managed to find some powered splitters on Amazon for fairly cheap, so I'll probably go that route. I'll just need 2 seperate male/male av cables to hook up the tv and card to the output of splitter right?
Yup! The console will go into the splitter like you already knew, then one male/male will go from one of the outputs to the TV and the other male/male will go from another output to the capture card.
If you're planning to capture s-video and your splitter supports it, you'll also need an s-video cable to go along with the male/male cables (just look for ONLY s-video, no need for an s-video combo or anything). In this case you'd use just the audio channels from the male/male cable and use the s-video instead.
EDIT: for some reason I can't hyperlink to Amazon URLs so I can't provide you links to the cables if you needed them -_-