Source Device Selecting Apparatus

A source device selecting apparatus, comprising:

• a plurality of connecting sections to be connected to respective source devices, each device outputting at least one of an image signal and a sound signal and reproducing at least a part of plural types of contents whose watching/listening modes are different from each other;
• an outputting section that is configured to output the image signal or the sound signal being input from the connecting sections;
• a candidate device storing section for storing source devices that are connectable to the connecting sections and including a watching/listening mode table for storing the watching/listening modes of the contents that the respective source devices can reproduce;
• a selection accepting section that is configured to display a list of the source devices stored in the candidate device storing section, to accept a selection of any one of the displayed source devices, to display a list of the connecting sections, and to accept a selection of the displayed connecting sections to be connected to the selected source device;
• a connecting device storing section for storing a correspondence among the source device and the connecting section which are selected by the selection accepting section, and the watching/listening modes stored in the candidate device storing section;
• a watching/listening mode selecting section that is configured to accept a user's choice of the watching/listening mode;
• a reproducing device selecting section that is configured to display a list of the source devices stored in the connecting device storing section and corresponding to the selected watching/listening mode to accept a selection of any one of the source devices;
• and
• a connection switching section that is configured to search the connecting section to which the source device selected by the reproducing device selecting section is connected, from the connecting device storing section, and to connect the searched connecting section to the outputting section.