I use this to switch back and forth from my xbox 360 and my computer so I can use my 22" monitor. I had to go on line to find this switchbox as no one had one even Radio Shack. I love it now I can play video games and watch TV at the same time.

I ordered one July 2008, it stopped working November 2008, its cheaply
made and wears out fast, I used it once or twice a day to switch
video going to a projector, and near the last I had to wiggle the
switch in order to get it working, when it works it works well.

use it between my pc monitor and xbox 360, works great, works everytime. does what it's suppose to for a good price, vey happy with purchase.

I have a Dell E1705 laptop hooked up to an external monitor in addition to the laptop screen, so that the ms desktop spans across both screens. I recently purchased a Samsung LN46A550 TV: Samsung LN46A550 46-inch 1080p LCD HDTV and use this simple AB box to switch between my desktop monitor and the TV. I haven't noticed any degradation of the picture quality with this switch in the middle, and I simply flip to A when I want to use my smaller desktop monitor and B when I want to use the 46" TV monitor.

You'll also need 2 M/M monitor cables if you are trying something similar: Tripp Lite P502-006 SVGA Monitor Gold Cable w RGB Coax HD15M/M - 6ft. You may need something longer for one of the cables, depending how far away the TV is from your computer. Whatever you get just make sure they are male on both ends, as all the monitor inputs on the TV/switch/computer are Female.

You'll probably also want a stereo cable to connect the pc sound to the TV: Cables To Go - 27412 - 12ft 3.5mm Stereo Audio Cable M/M PC-99 (Beige)

And a reliable remote keyboard/mouse so you can operate the computer from the couch when you've switched to the TV monitor: Adesso 2.4 GHZ WIRELESS SLIMTOUCH TOUCHPAD MINI KEYBOARD SILVER W/BLACK KEYS ( WKB-4000US )

The mousepad on the above keyboard works well, but there's a few games that I prefer to use a normal mouse with. I just ordered a Logitech bluetooth mouse for that purpose, but haven't tested it out yet: Logitech V470 Bluetooth Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks - Blue

This setup works for me for switching between my TV and another monitor on the same computer.

A more traditional use for this AB switch would be sharing one monitor with two computers, and I noticed a couple reviews mention that application as well. I didn't see anything specific on using it to switch to/from a HDTV and an external monitor on the same computer, and that's one reason I wrote this review.

The Switch itself is a very simple device and it's hard to imagine much going wrong with it. One minor issue I had was with the screws inside the box unraveling instead of the monitor connection screws. I wound up having to get a phillips screwdriver out to open the box and reseat the screws that had fallen off inside.

Edit 5/27/2008: After writing all this about using two monitors via one connection on the PC...my son pointed out that a vga splitter would be simpler and allow the tv and pc monitor to display the same image simultaneously. Cables To Go - 29550 - 2-Port UXGA Video Splitter Extender seems like it should do the trick, eliminating the AB switch from the equation. The cable that connects this particular splitter to the PC looks like it needs to be a non-standard M/F though (looking at the picture).

I used this VGA Switch box to connect my xbox 360 to my monitor, So i can easily switch between the xbox 360 and my computer which share the same monitor. I have only tried the xbox 360 switch which works perfectly and it was not signal degrading. I was not expecting much from this cheap 80's looking pile of dog crap but it did very well and I am proud of this purchase.

Godsend for anyone who has 2 computers and 1 monitor
(or in my case a computer and a xbox 360)
or
for anyone who has 2 monitors and one computer.


Works great, cheap, and does not degrade video quality....