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Posts Tagged ‘hdmi switcher’

An HDMI switch (a.k.a. HDMI switcher, HDMI selector) receives data from multiple HDMI gizmos and sends the signals from one of them to your HDTV.

Many HDMI switches can automatically find the latest turned-on device, and that is usually the one you want to watch on; others let you pick your desired HD device by using a remote.

So which one to purchase? Well, it depends on what HD electronics you have and then your budget.

1. How Does Automatic HDMI Switching Work?
The easiest switching is achieved by, obviously, a “select” button on the switch, and as you press on it, it cycles through the different inputs.

Then there comes along automatic switching. Every time you start an HDMI device, the HDMI switch will automatically select this device. At any time you start another one, the HDMI switch will change to this second device. As soon as you start another, it’ll jump to this third device.

Generally, the switch is intelligent enough to work out just fine and take care of most, if not all, of your switching needs.

2. Drawback to Automatic Switching
Auto-switching would probably not always work if you have a number of HDMI devices “always on”, which include an HTPC, which you probably do not shut down that frequently. Another example can be an HDTV recorder (HD PVR) or maybe a satellite network box, even if you “turn it off”, it is actually not completely off but in the “sleep” mode which may be woken by, for instance, a scheduled recording.

Since these HD gadgets are always turned-on in the background, they will probably confuse an HDMI switch and prevent automatic switching from working as expected, because now the switch cannot easily tell which device is just turned on.

3. HDMI Switch having a Remote
When automatic switching doesn’t work, surely you can always go to the switch and press the “select” button to switch to your desired HD device. But that is not easy, you will need to physically stand up, walk up there, probably bend down a little and press a tiny button. Imagine you have to do that repeatedly each day when you switch back and forth.

So at any time you own an HD recorder or an HTPC where automatic switching may not work, and you need to switch fairly frequently, then chances are you need an HDMI switch with a remote control.

By having a remote control, you can just relax on your sofa and select your desired HD source. Plus, most, if not all, switches with remote controls already support automatic switching to begin with.

An HDMI switch with remote probably cost a little bit more, however , the convenience is worth it. In fact, my HDMI switch features a remote, because I have both an HD recorder and an HTPC, and remote is the only way to go for me.

Summary
If you have HD devices which can be truly, completely powered off when you turn them off, like BluRay, PS3 or Xbox360, you may get a simple HDMI switch without remote; it is less costly and is smart enough to manage your switching needs.

However,If you have an HD recorder or an HTPC, which may be always on in the background, or if you are not sure, get an HDMI switch with a remote control to be safe; it’s simple, it’s lazy, plus you’ve got everything in control from your couch.

An HDMI switch (a.k.a. HDMI switcher, HDMI selector) receives data from various HDMI electronics and sends the signals from one of them to the HDTV.

Some HDMI switches can automatically pick the latest turned-on device, which is typically the one you would like to watch on; others let you choose your desired HD device using a remote.

So which one to buy? Well, it depends on what HD gadgets you’ve got and then your budget.

1. How Does Automatic HDMI Switching Work?
The simplest switching is achieved by, of course, a “select” button on the switch, and when you press on it, it cycles through the different inputs.

Then there comes along automatic switching. Each time you turn on an HDMI device, the HDMI switch will automatically select this device. Once you activate another one, the HDMI switch will switch to this second device. If you start another, it’ll jump to this third device.

Generally speaking, the switch is intelligent enough to work out just fine and take care of most, if not all, of your switching needs.

2. Drawback to Automatic Switching
Auto-switching possibly will not always work if you have a number of HDMI devices “always on”, that include an HTPC, which you probably do not turn off that often. Another example can be an HDTV recorder (HD PVR) or perhaps a satellite network box, even when you “turn it off”, it is actually not completely off but instead in the “sleep” mode which may be woken by, for example, a scheduled recording.

As these HD electronics are always turned-on in the background, they will probably confuse an HDMI switch and prevent automatic switching from working as expected, because now the switch cannot easily tell which device is just turned on.

3. HDMI Switch having a Remote
When automatic switching will not work, surely you could go to the switch and press the “select” button to change to your desired HD device. But that’s not easy, you will need to physically stand up, walk up there, probably bend down a little and press a small button. Imagine you have to do that several times each day whenever you switch back and forth.

So as soon as you have an HD recorder or an HTPC where automatic switching will most likely not work, and you want to switch fairly frequently, then chances are you need an HDMI switch with a remote control.

By having a remote control, you can just relax on your sofa and choose your desired HD source. Plus, most, if not all, switches with remote controls already support automatic switching to begin with.

An HDMI switch with remote mostly cost slightly more, however , the convenience is worth it. In fact, my HDMI switch has a remote, because I have both an HD recorder and an HTPC, and remote is the only way to go for me.

Summary
If you have HD products which can be truly, completely powered off when you turn them off, like Blu-Ray, PS3 or Xbox360, you can get a simple HDMI switch without remote control; it is lower priced and is smart enough to handle your switching needs.

However,If you have an HD recorder or an HTPC, which may be always on in the background, or if you’re not so sure, get an HDMI switch with a remote to be safe; it’s simple, it’s lazy, and you’ve got everything in control from your couch.

The very first time I needed to hook up my Xbox 360, HTPC and BluRay player to my old HDTV which had just one HDMI port left, I didn’t know what device I should be looking for. I knew what I wanted it to do for me, but I didn’t know how to call it for me to google it. In fact, I put together “HDMI hub”, which I borrowed from a network hub which could split network signals for a few different computers. I was also considering “HDMI adapter” and “HDMI splitter”. Unfortunately, none of them were the popular names.

This kind of product is in fact commonly called an HDMI switch or HDMI switcher. Of course, there’s no official name for it, but you will find names more commonly used than others by most of the users. So knowing the right names help you research them better and find better prices before you decide to get one.

After reading this article, you’ll get a much clearer picture of the common names of the many HDMI gadgets and what they do.

1. HDMI Switch, HDMI Switcher, HDMI Selector

They are the names of an HDMI input switch, which receives data from a few HD devices, and output to only 1 HDMI port on an HDTV, lcd screen or projector. This is what you need if you wish to connect your PS3, BluRay, HD PVR, etc all to a single HDMI port on your HDTV as your HDTV only has one port left.

A 3×1 or 3 port HDMI switch receives 3 HDMI signals and outputs to 1 port. So on and so forth.

Although they are also sometimes called “HDMI splitters”, they shouldn’t be, because they do not split signals but rather they converges data into 1 port.

2. HDMI Splitter or HDMI Amplifier

In contrast, they’re the names of an HDMI output switch, which draws signal from just 1 HD device and outputs to 2 or more HDTVs or monitors. This is just what you’ll need when you want to output the same HD signal to two or maybe more HDTVs. In this way, they split or amplify the signal into different streams, hence the names.

A 1×2 or 2 port HDMI splitter draws HD signal from 1 device and outputs to 2 screens.

3. HDMI Matrix or HDMI Distributor

They are combining the functions of input and output switches, they receive many different HD signals and output to different displays. These are rarely used by average consumers but more commonly used by electronics stores or exhibition hosts who need to display many screens simultaneously with HD data coming from several devices.

A 4×2 HDMI matrix receives HD signal from 4 input sources and output to 2 HDTVs.

4. HDMI Adapter or HDMI Converter

These are very general names, which, however, typically mean a much simpler device that connects HDMI port to another video port which include a VGA or DVI port.

An HDMI to DVI adapter means it draws HD signals from an HDMI port and outputs to a DVI port.

Summary

So how can you find the appropriate product you need? Try these simple recommended keywords when you are doing your research:

HDMI Switch: Connecting various HD electronics to 1 HDMI port on your HDTV.

HDMI Splitter: Connecting 1 HD device to more than one HDTVs.

HDMI Matrix: Connecting a few different HD electronics to many HDTVs.

HDMI Adapter: Connecting HDMI port to another kind of video port.

Now you know the magic words, it’ll be much easier for you to find your desired HDMI accessories, enjoy.

Earlier HDTVs are likely to include only 1 or 2 HDMI ports, and this puts the early adopters in a little awkward position today, as there are so many HDMI gadgets to be plugged in, yet so few HDMI ports available.

In order to connect your multiple HDMI products to your HDTV, one of many ways, surely, is to upgrade to a new HDTV which these days mostly has 4 or more HDMI ports, but that also ends up in much, much lighter weight of your wallet.

A more economical way is to take advantage of an HDMI switch, which can connect various HDMI gizmos to your HDTV via a single HDMI port.

What Is an HDMI Switch, and What Does It Do?

An HDMI switch (a.k.a. HDMI switcher, HDMI selector) receives HDMI signals from various HDMI sources and directs the signals to your HDTV, occupying just 1 HDMI port. It serves as an agent to take many HDMI signals for your HDTV, even when your HDTV has just 1 or 2 HDMI port(s).

Having an HDMI switch, you can connect numerous HD sources to your HDTV, such as:

* Blu-Ray player, HD-DVD player, DVD player with HDMI output;
* Playstation 3, Xbox360, Wii with HDMI output;
* HTPC, or computers with HDMI ports;
* HDTV box, satellite dish network, HDTV recorder;
* HD camera, or HD Cam recorder;
* Any other products capable of outputting HDMI signals.

See How Easily It Works

There are 3-port, 4-port, and 5-port HDMI switches, and those rare ones with more ports. The most frequently used and most competitively priced ones (due to mass production) are 3-port HDMI switches.

On a 3-port HDMI switch, there’ll be 4 HDMI ports: 3 input ports getting data from 3 of your HDMI sources, and 1 output port transmitting signals to the HDTV. There is commonly a LED light on each input side to display which source is chosen.

An HDMI switch most likely offers automatic switching, and allows you to override and manually choose your source; some enhanced HDMI switch can have a handy remote control to help switching HDMI much easier.

Automatic HDMI switching

A good HDMI switch will have this automatic switching function.

When you switch on an HDMI source, the HDMI switch will automatically select this source. If you choose to turn on another one, the HDMI switch will switch to this second source. If you turn on another, it’ll jump to this third device.

Usually, this is intelligent enough to work out perfectly and take care of most, if not all, of your switching needs.

Manual HDMI switching

The above-mentioned auto-switching function may not always work when there is one or more HDMI sources “always on”, such as an HD PVR or a satellite network box, which you perhaps don’t switch off that often, and is, therefore, always turned-on in the background.

If so, you will need to manually choose your desired HDMI source.

An HDMI switch with manual overriding feature would commonly have a button on it, which makes it possible for you to manually select your desired HD source by pressing it.

For instance, if the switch is currently on Input 1, your pushing the button once will let you pick Input 2, pushing it again allows you to go to Input 3.

HDMI switch with remote

A remote control would be a lot more helpful when you could just sit back and relax on your sofa, and select whichever input by pressing on the remote, than walking over to the switch and push a button on it.