Hey All,
Was surfing the net and found this forum. I purchased the Psyclone Source Selector PSC01 about a week ago and have been extremely happy with it. Like many of you have said, I saw it at Best Buy one day and thought it looked pretty cool, as it's hard to argue with brushed metal. Upon looking at the box I was amazed at the miriad of plug-in options available. I tried doing some research on it that night but could not find one review. Several days later I dropped the cash on it ($100 bucks) and haven't been sorry since. Unfortunately I was unaware that I could get it at a much lower price, but in light of that, I still think it's worth the price I paid.
Now for my review.
To begin with, in all honesty, the Psyclone Psc01 Source Selector is best tailored towards the folks with moderately deep pockets sporting High Definition televisions and home theater sound systems. I say this meaning that once you've invested in the unit itself, you're quickly going to want to outfit your console lineup with the best (read - expensive) cables available, ie. component video and optical audio cables. Anything less would be a missuse of the Psc01's full range of input capabilities. With that said...
Since there were only two units at Best Buy, I bought the one with the nicest looking box, meaning I bought the one that looked like it hadn't been drop-kicked to all heck and then sat on by those two guys on tiny motorcycles pictured in the Guiness Book of World Records. I also opted to pick up a set of Psyclone component cables and a Psyclone optical cable for use as my video and audio out. A bit pricey, but well worth it. Upon taking the unit out of the box I noticed the craftsmanship was above par, and the unit is nice and moderately heavy. In relation, the remote control included with the unit is lackluster and looks like it would fall apart in a stiff breeze. Fortunately the Psyclone Psc01 is programmable with most universal remotes, so feel free to toss the remote once this is done.
The unit is fairly straight forward in terms of inputs, albiet encompassing just about every media format available (the only one not appearing is an HDMI connection). Offering all formats ranging from analog video and audio (red, white, and yellow cables) to component audio and optical audio (Y/Pr/Pb and optical), where this baby shines is when the later is used.
As far as video quality, there is no noticeable difference between using the Psyclone Psc01 and using a direct connection into your television. Within 20 minutes I had my Xbox, Playstation 2, and cable box all running through the unit and each one looked perfect. It should be known that during this maiden voyage I was running said consoles on their factory supplied cables - analog audio and video (red, white and yellow) and connecting from the unit to my tv with the same.
It is at this point, however, where the men are seperated from the boys. If you are using a television that does not support High Definition, then installation is complete and you can begin to enjoy your new system setup. But for those of you who have High Definition capabilities and 5.1 (or above) channel surround sound, welcome to the world of gaming for which the likes of most not included in the top tax bracket have never witnessed.
You see, the beauty of today's consoles and the games produced for them is that along with regular analog audio and video, they support high definition and digital audio formats. Most of the time these formats are never accessed, simply because the general user doesn't think about it, or it's simply not in the budget. But if you CAN venture into the world of digital, brother, there is no turning back. Besides, the whole reason you got an HDTV in the first place was to enjoy HD, right? So...
Upon testing each port for functionality, I took a second to program the names of the consoles (xbox, PS2, etc.) to their respective inupt numbers on the Psyclone Psc01 display. It was very simple. After this, I went straight to Best Buy for the cables I would need to run my systems in HD. Psyclone offers a cable application for all major systems available to date, and in many formats. (*Note - for those of you not running a high definition signal but still wish to upgrade, Psyclone analog cables are the way to go because of their superiority over "pack-in" console cables) In my case, running both my Xbox and PS2 at optimum levels required me to buy component cables (Y/Pb/Pr) and optical cables. Here is where the beauty of the Psyclone Psc01 comes in, yet again. With each of four input channels, the source selector offers slots for component and optical at each one. It's arguable that one could pick up the corresponding component cables for their system and simply swap out one optical cable for all of them, but that requires hooking and un-hooking every time. You might as well go the whole way and make each system independent.
After getting my XBOX and PS2 plugged in with the new cables, my initial cable purchase along with the Psyclone cable unit came into play. (*Note - When upgrading your PS2 from it's factory analog cables to HD component cables, make sure to switch the PS2's video source from RGB to Y/Pr/Pb while the PS2 is still connected with it's factory cables. This can be done via the PS2's 'System Configuration' menu and is necessary because the PS2 will not auto-detect the new video format signal. If you bypass this operation, only a black screen will appear. Only XBOX will auto-detect the upgraded component signal.) I used the component cables and the optical cable to connect the Psyclone Psc01 unit to my television and digital receiver respectively. (Component video to the television, and the optical cable to the 'optical in' for my receiver) This is when the light was shown to me.
The jump in quality when utilizing component cables is so significant that it's almost unbelievable. Picture quality was crisp, clear, and I found myself noticing details in gameplay that I had not seen before. Same with optical audio. Playing Halo 2 in HD is great, but playing Halo 2 in HD with 5.1 Channel sourround sound is unprecedented. Actually hearing bullets screaming from behind you and hearing from which direction covenant may be coming from adds so much more feeling to the game, and simply puts normal televison audio to shame.
All in all, the Psyclone Psc01 Source Selector is a great unit. It's sturdy and transfers the signals wth precision quality. I absolutely would recommend this to anyone looking to be able to hook and up and play any number of their video game systems on the fly in all their glory.
Hope this was helpful, and Happy Gaming.
- Mike
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Topic: Psyclone Source Selector Psc01 (Read 77 times)