Still looking for an A/V distribution amp...

[Newc]

So I've been looking for the past few months for a device that can take an incoming HDTV signal from my 360 and send it both to my HDTV and my PC video capture device (analog inputs) at the same time (none of that switching retardation).

And I finally find one for less than $250 at Radio Shack.com

Trouble is, it's not available online, and it's not available to my local store.

I cannot be the only person on the face of the earth who wants something like this, can I?

[Newc]

Apparently, I am.

I found this on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Component-Video-Distribution-Amplifier_W0QQitemZ230143562299QQihZ013QQcategoryZ73390QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

and bought one about a week ago.

Before I bought it, I emailed the guy a very specific question:

Can this unit send both an HD signal to an HD TV and a Composite (analog Video + Audio L/R) signal to a Standard TV at the exact same time from a single HD source?

He replied that it could.

When I finally got the unit, it had no power supply, and no manual (as promised in the listing), so I had to buy a universal adaptor that could do 12v (I can live without the manual - it's labeled clearly and pretty simple to figure out).

However, it certainly does NOT do the one thing I need it to - send the signal to my HDTV and my PC at the same time.

Back in my early geetaring days, when I started gathering FX pedals of all kinds, I had to Frankenstein my own Y cables because no one made them. I built an ABY box out of an old MXR Compressor case and some spare jacks because the local music stores had never heard of such a thing.

I have even modded an older video selector so it can send to two of the four outputs at the same time for the same thing I need right now (although that selector and the systems I used it with were not HD-capable, so it was not an issue).

I can still use that box with my current setup, but the simple fact is that I want the full HD image going to my HD TV and the downgraded Composite signal going to my PC for less than $1000, and yet I'm so far ahead of everyone else that the only way to do it would be to build it myself.
This kinda crap gets really old after about 20 years.

[OnlineStageGear]

Why wouldn't you want the HD to go to your PC as well ??

[Newc]

My video capture box can only do S-Video/Composite, not HD.