Suggestion for HDMI Splitter?

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I need a HDMI splitter for my TV, mine only has 2 and i need more, for all my consoles. A box with 5 or more would be nice, cheap, not expensive, has remote switch and works well. The one i have now works with only HDMI cables, but i noticed some require external power supply, I wouldn't want one of those but i will if i must, hoping is probably maybe USB or something. Also one of my devices have a function called CEC, not sure what it means or does but if that function is possible, i also like to have it. So i'll take any suggestions for one.

 

[FAST6191]

HDMI CEC also goes by a few other names and is the ability to send control signals (pause, play...) through the HDMI cable. When it works it is pretty sweet but when can be a problem as vendors kind of ruined it and it is much like old days when you can have your DVD, TV and VCR all on one remote if they are from the same vendor but good luck otherwise.

Do you want to also remove HDCP protection, say for capturing footage from those things that block it? Many of the cheaper Chinese splitters/switches also act as HDCP strippers,
Do you want any kind of audio amplifier as part of this? Many modern audio amplifiers have HDMI in and will allow you to switch and at the same time sort a surround sound system out. These cost a bit more than a cheapy Chinese one for obvious reasons but while you are considering all this I will mention it.

Do you need 4K or HDMI2.0 or something? Some switches might not be compatible with the newer revisions. If you are doing 1080p and CEC and don't need networking or anything like that you can get away with quite a bit more.

On remotes then OK. You can however buy ones with dominant ports (if this port is sending it will always use this), or most recently sent signal.

5 ports is on the higher end. Plenty doable and there are several 5 ports on the market (here is a cheap one on dealextreme http://www.dx.com/p/kitbon-5-port-5...r-remote-controller-black-445066#.WL_K9fq-c1I ) but if you have two inputs on your TV it might be easier to get an auto switching cable for one of them and a 4 port for another.
Do also remember that DVI and HDMI are related so if you have a DVI port on your screen you can get a HDMI-DVI cable and plug that in if you don't need sound through the screen (or maybe can go over 3.5mm or spdif for the sound for that device).

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I don't think most of my stuff has HDCP, well except for ps3 and ps4, i don't really use it for recording stuff since the system auto records gameplay anyway, but i guess if i bought a capture device like this one i can get 60FPS on 1080P signal.

I don't have 4K tv, and really lack interest in 4K at the moment. I need a splitter that is smart and has remote so i don't have to get up everytime i need to change input.

Do you want to also remove HDCP protection, say for capturing footage from those things that block it? Many of the cheaper Chinese splitters/switches also act as HDCP strippers,
Do you want any kind of audio amplifier as part of this? Many modern audio amplifiers have HDMI in and will allow you to switch and at the same time sort a surround sound system out. These cost a bit more than a cheapy Chinese one for obvious reasons but while you are considering all this I will mention it.

I never setup a surround sound environment. I tried once since i had multiple speakers, and noticed a HDMI adaptor unit i bought for the system had a audio port, i plugged it in, all it did was play the same music the tv already did, from my understanding just cause it has multiple speaker output doesn't make it surround sound. It's supposed to output specific audio through each of the speakers that isn't all combined through one output like if you had stereo or mono sound. Whatever i needed to do for surround sound i sure it would be expensive and not worth it to me at the moment.

Do you need 4K or HDMI2.0 or something? Some switches might not be compatible with the newer revisions. If you are doing 1080p and CEC and don't need networking or anything like that you can get away with quite a bit more.

4K isn't a concern, and i think all my consoles work without HDMI 2.0 (not sure if ps4 pro does or not in case i get one) But I never encountered any problems and i been using either the supplied HDMI or any generic one, with no issue.
Only my Nvidia shield tv has this CEC option (Maybe the switch but probably named different.) But i don't really use it, according to the setting, is supposed to switch to the output of the system when booting, again my tv has no advance options for managing such things as is from before 2008.

5 ports is on the higher end. Plenty doable and there are several 5 ports on the market (here is a cheap one on dealextreme http://www.dx.com/p/kitbon-5-port-5...r-remote-controller-black-445066#.WL_K9fq-c1I

I took a look at this product and it looks great, a few things i don't understand is the MHL mode, not sure what it does or why is not 60HZ at 1080P

1.Supports 1MHL or 5 HDMI input ports with dual mode capability.
2.It can connect the MHL-enabled mobile phone to HDTV and keep charging it.
3.In MHL mode, the switcher supports the resolution up to 720p 60Hz,1080p 30Hz.
4.In HDMI mode,the switcher supports the resolution up to 4Kx2K@24/25/30Hz.
5.Supports MHL 2.0 and HDMI 1.4b.
6.Supports 3D formats.
7.Ultra-low power consumption,can only powerd by USB.
8.Switch using a manual buttion or included IR remote.
9.Audio supportolby true HD,DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1ch.
10.Supports uncompressed audio such as LPCM and compress audio such as DTS Digital,Dolby Digital(including DTS-HD and dolby True HD).
11.Front-panel LED for input / output signal presence.
12.Ultra compact design.
13.Reserved external 5V power supply interface.
14.IR/Remote control included.

Specification:HDMI Version:HDMI 1.4bVideo Bandwidth:300MHz/10.2GbpsHDMI resolution:480i~1080p 50/60Hz, 4Kx2K@24/30Hz Dimensions:80*58*20mm(LxWxH)Power Consumption:1.5WWorking temperature: -15°C to 55°C

Based on the added information at the bottom, it says it supports up to 1080P 60Hz Which is fine. Also the power supply is a usb attached to a common 5V Which i guess wasn't expecting, i figured if it was a usb, the other end would also be usb related. The one you show me look much like This one except this is unbranded and don't support 4K/2K/3D and MHL After some questionable review, most mentioned it didn't require a power supply cause it worked through HDMI and many disappointed people with bad reviews. Anyway, I will consider this option you showed me. Unless a better one is possible.

 

[FAST6191]

HDCP is only really a concern if you want to overlay information, which most devices to do it will handle all itself, onto the stream or capture it on a card that respects HDCP.

HDMI versions get odd, even more so when you consider DVI but let us not do that. 2.0 is quite recent, and your TV if it is that old almost certainly does not support it, and allows, among other things, you to run 4k video at 60Hz, older versions like 1.4 also did 4K but only at 30Hz. 1080p is not a problem for anything you are likely to find.

MHL = Mobile High-Definition Link. Designed for phones and tablets and what have you. Not all of those will use that either and many will use and appear as normal HDMI.

Surround sound is not that hard to get set up. If you go into a shop and say give me a surround sound system my good man they will take you for all you are worth, if you know what you are doing it can be done very cheaply.

If you can't find a real amp to do it then get something like https://www.amazon.co.uk/ViewHD-Extractor-Decoder-Headphone-VHD-H2HADi/dp/B00L0XIHEC (UK listing I know but similar things exist everywhere) and a couple of sets of self powered speakers + centre and subwoofer (if you have or can get hold of a set of old speakers that is just fine) and you can do it from anything going over HDMI, or if your PC has a nice number of ports on the back then that is an option. A lot of devices will only have a stereo output on the back, or if they do have 5.1 it will be spdif/toslink (usually either an orange lead like the normal phono leads or a little thing with a red light behind it for the optical variety) and you will then need a decoder for that.

I am not too fussed by 5.1/surround sound myself but it is easy to set up with fairly basic gear. Also yes it means you have 6 independent speakers to place and that theoretically gets you more into things.

I was not really suggesting that model as much as giving you an idea of something that might work.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

HDCP is only really a concern if you want to overlay information, which most devices to do it will handle all itself, onto the stream or capture it on a card that respects HDCP.

I see, so having capture card, people would want to have HDCP disabled to do all the fancy video editing and capture they do with the live streams like on twitch. It seem like a good buy to be honest, I dunno if i can get much use out of that MHL but of course if i could is only a bonus, as having the 4K compatible bonus would also just in case, future plans. So far i like it, but probably will look for something within USA so i don't need to wait too long for shipping. I seen lots of unbranded ones on ebay and i usually get the idea that you shouldn't buy unbranded products since it doesn't supply enough information to the buyer clearly on what it possible of or if it even can work as intended.

 

[Armadillo]

IIRC stripping hdcp is not legal. So you are unlikely to find a branded splitter that advertises that feature. Even the unbranded/generic Chinese one don't often advertise it and you just take your chances and hope it does or look up what others are using and have confirmed strip it.