My mom has Panasonic S-35 dvd player hooked up to her tv via component for video and composite for audio but I also need to run another set of video and audio outs to a 3in1 video switcher and then into a LeapFrog.

The Panasonic also has a optical and S-Video out I'm not using can I use these. In other words can you use both the component and S-Video outs at the same time plus also the optical and composite audio outs at the same time?

My dad's got an S35, although he's been using my OPPO 971H for a couple years now. Yes, the optical and analog stereo audio outputs will both be active at once, as will the component and s-video outputs. The one possible problem I see is the optical - one of the devices you're connecting to will need to accept an optical digital input. I don't know about LeapFrogs, but there are a lot of TV's out there that lack an optical input.

Thanks Gonk both the tv and switcher box will accept optical input so sounds like it should work.

I'm just guessing here, but it's likely that the LeapFrog won't accept a digital audio input and I doubt the switch box includes a DAC. That means you will likely need to use the optical to the TV and analog to the switch box.

I was wondering about that I didn't know if you ran an optical into the switchbox if you could come out of the switchbox with analog but apparently not.

Anyway running optical to the tv sounds like a better way anyway. Do you think I will be able to run S-Video out from the Panasonic into the switchbox S-Video input but be able to run composite into the LeapFrog or do you normally have to keep it the same?

I'd have to know the specifics of the switch box to be 100% certain, but even without that I think it's reasonably to call it 99+% assured that the switcher doesn't offer any D/A conversion.

Receivers often provide composite/s-video transcoding, but I highly doubt that a switch box will do that. I'd expect to have to run composite video and stereo analog through the switch box and into the LeapFrog if those are the only inputs it supports.

Gonk the A/V switcher box is a SVAT SW200 which is a 3in 1out with a choice of S-Video or composite for video and either composite or optical for audio.

The way I currently have the tv, switcher box and LeapFrog setup (without the dvd) is this:

Sat receiver- using S-Video and composite audio to the tv. The only other video output is composite so thats going to the switchbox. If I remember right because the sat receiver is pretty old it only had composite audio outputs so I had to use y-splitters coming out of the sat for the audio so I could have audio going both to the tv and the switchbox.

Tivo (Standalone)- I used the S-Video output to the tv for video and composite audio outputs. It had another set of composite outputs (audio & video) so I ran them into the switchbox.

Dvd- it is hooked up to the tv using component and composite audio but of course I could use optical I just don't have a cable at this time.

So everything going into the switchbox is composite and the output of the switchbox is composite going into the LeapFrog. Yes you are right the LeapFrog only accepts composite and RF coax.

It kind of sounds like you are saying because I have everything ran to and from the switchbox with composite (only option) it's not possible to hookup the dvd because the only remaining video output I'm not using is S-Video and I couldn't use S-Video in this particular situation. Correct?

I think you are confusing analog stereo audio and composite video. What you refer to as "composite audio" is simply analog audio (left and right channels, typically red and white jacks). Composite is the name for a video connection, and is typically a yellow jack. The two can be used independently of each other. In the setup you described, the DVD player's composite video output is currently unused. You can run component and optical to the TV and composite video and stereo analog audio to the switch box.

I guess I always thought composite cables always stood for analog audio and video not just video so I guess I learned something.

You're right there should still be the dvd players composite video output unused, I didn't completely pull the player out of her cabinet but glanced at it and only thought I saw an optical and S-Video not being used. Thanks!