An HDMI video switch (a.k.a. HDMI video switcher, HDMI switch box) gets HDMI signal from different HDMI devices and sends the signal from one of these to your HDTV. That way, it acts as an agent to receive numerous HDMI data for your favorite HDTV, though your HDTV has only one or two HDMI port(s).
You can actually connect multiple HD sources to the HDTV, such as your favorite:
* Blu-Ray player, HD-DVD player, DVD player with HDMI output;
* PS3, Xbox360, Wii with HDMI output;
* HTPC, or computers with HDMI ports;
* HDTV box, satellite dish network, HDTV recorder;
* HD camera, or HD cam recorder;
* All other devices which are able to outputting HDMI signal.
For the leisure of hooking up many HDMI gizmos, how much should you really invest on an HDMI switch?
The Right Price for An HDMI Video Switch
You’ll find branded HDMI switches at around $250 in a nearby BestBuy retail outlet, or perhaps $150 if you check around a little bit. Your favorite feelings probably quickly tells you this won’t sound right: HDMI switching is such a simple function, how come does it need to cost you that much? And, with some 42-46 inch HDTVs priced in the region of $600-700 lately, $150 – $250 in fact would seem to be ridiculous, we might as well add a few hundred dollars to get a different HDTV.
Then Why Not Just $20?
Yup, a person only really need to invest $20 on a 3-port HDMI video switch, which will have the work done literally flawlessly as those $250 ones: they will have the same goodies such as support for 1080P FullHD, DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD, Linear PCM (LPCM), automatic and manual HDMI switching, HDMI v1.3b and HDCP pass-through.
Number of Ports Matter. More ports have to have more parts and cost a little more. A 2×1 HDMI switch, with 2 HDMI inputs and 1 output, would probably cost around $10-15; whereas a 5×1 HDMI video switch could cost you for probably $30-40, but not $400.
Do They Genuinely Work The Same?
Part of you inside maybe keeps telling you those pricy ones have to have significantly better audio/video quality, for the reason that cost much more, right?
But, in the digital universe, it’s either 1 or 0: signals either get transmitted and transmitted in its 100% full quality, or it will get lost with nothing transmitted at all —- there is nothing in the middle.
The HDMI video switch is not going to convert the data at all, HDMI signal are passed over from the input port to the output port untouched, this guarantees that whatever in the HDMI source will be delivered to your favorite HDTV as if the HDMI source hooks up to your favorite HDTV directly.
That’s precisely the reason why a $20 HDMI video switch will have its HDMI switching job done just as well as $250 ones.