What Is An HDMI Switcher
What Is An HDMI Switcher
As we slowly build our home entertainment center we eventually realize that the centerpiece of our system which is the high definition television can only be connected to one device. So we have to decide how to connect multiple devices which could be a gaming PC or a DVD player to the flat screen without doing it manually like unplugging the cable from one device and transferring it to the other. It is possible to do it this now automatically by using a device that sits between the TV and two or more sources. The device is called an HDMI switcher.
There are gadgets that allow one resource to be shared. In the old days of the PC, such a gadget was the A-B box. If you had had two computers that shared a printer, the A-B box was the most popular device that allows one computer to get exclusive access to the printer. The switch box is operated by selecting the active connection with a rotary switch. This switch has to be manually operated though.
The HDMI switcher is the current version of the A-B box. A basic unit would have two input ports and one output connector. The two devices that need to connect to the flat screen is connected to the input ports while the TV is connected to the output port. The big improvement of the the switch over the A-B box is that the modern gadget does not need manual operation.
The gadget is capable of auto-sensing which input port has incoming data. Auto-sensing makes for a seamless experience when using multiple devices that have to connect to the TV. There is no need to rotate a switch to select what input port is active because auto-sensing makes it happen.
Aside from auto-sensing, another important feature of the switch is being able choose what port has priority. What port priority does is it prevents contention when more than one device is sending data at the same time. The port that has priority gets full access to the output port when contention occurs. There is a manual override for this setting and it can be set using the remote control.
Most of us have more than one HDMI compliant device we want connected to the HDTV. The best way to do this seamlessly is to use an HDMI switch. The gadget increases our enjoyment of the entertainment appliances we have. Because manually transferring cables from one device to another is avoided we prevent inadvertently damaging the cables and the connectors.
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November 15, 2011
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Posted by Jam Man
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