suisidol has finally come up with the most important question: what, no CAT-5? Will you EVER do ANY other installation without running a CAT-5? EVER? EVER?

You probably have thought of this now, but don't EVER run cables to a display without having at least three leads for component and one for video. I usually run a five-conductor, where three are for component and two, with adaptors, are for S. The video is for video. Or I run two three-conductors and do the same thing. If it looks like there is a 2% chance that VGA will ever be needed, I insist on running that, as well. "The walls are open now, and if you decide in three years, or the technology changes, the cost to install this at that time will be prohibitive."

Here's what you do -- get yourself two Xantech CC-12 IR controlled switches, and install RCA jacks on them so that the two poles of their relays switch two hot leads. You are just going to have to put up with the fact that they are not shielded and are not 75 ohm, but dollars to doughnuts this won't matter. Put one at the display and one at the system.

Run the blue and red cable hot leads through the relay. Set up the wiring and the IR control so that when you are on a component source, the Blue and Red wires take Blue and Red to the component input. When you are on an s-video source, the Blue and Red become the two conductors of the S-video.

To do this more cheaply, go to Radio Shack and buy two of their IR-controlled antenna A-B switches. I believe the hot leads are simply switched from A to B with no resistors or other stuff in the way, so you can use this to switch a relay to do your signal switching. The only drawbacks to this are that you will have to do more fabrication and some old Sony DSS remotes would switch this piece, and maybe more recent ones will, too. I don't know.