I have an Apple TV and Blu-ray player but only one HDMI port on my TV and I was getting tired of manually swapping the HDMI cable between the them. I was also worried that over time the HDMI cable/port would degrade from the constant handling so I began hunting for a HDMI switch.
After comparing HDMI switches, I finally decided to go with the 3 port HDMI smart switch from Mediabridge. My main reason was based on price and the reviews. I'm very happy with this device (I don't usually go through the trouble of writing reviews so that says something)! It's not as expensive as a lot of the others I found and does exactly what I need it to do. It's compact and silent so I can discretely tuck it behind my TV with the rest of the cables and doesn't require an external power source (yay one less cable).
It includes an IR receiver and remote to manually switch between the 3 ports but it's a 'smart' switch so I was happy to discover that I didn't have to bother with using those accessories since it switches between my devices automagically. Apple TV owners will discover that it constantly outputs a signal (even if you put it to sleep), so the switch will constantly make the port the Apple TV is plugged into the active port. I put my Apple TV on port 3 and my Blu-ray player on port 1. When I power up my Blu-ray player, port one automatically becomes active without any intervention from me. After I power down my Blu-ray player, the Apple TV resumes making port 3 active. I love how it seamlessly switches between the two without me needing to do anything. The only caveat is I have to power on/off my Blu-ray player, which I do anyway so not a big deal. The switch also has a button on it you can press to cycle between the different ports if you need to, but as I already mentioned it switches automatically for me so I don't use that feature.
I'm also very happy with the video and audio quality I get with using this switch. It claims to have full HD 1080P Support and supports HDMI 1.3 which I can't verify since my TV only supports up to 720p but I can say that I have not noticed any degradation in video or audio quality while using it.
Keep in mind that you may need to purchase additional HDMI cables as none are included with this switch. You need one cable from the switch to your TV and an additional HDMI cable for each port you use on the switch. I picked up 2 Mediabridge HDMI cables for about $10 each with my order and they work great with my setup. Mediabridge - 3 Port Smart HDMI Switch
I purchased this switcher because of the set up I have at my house. I have my 52 inch Sony wall mounted with my Verizon Fios and Blue Ray about 35 feet away from the TV. I wanted to get a switcher to eliminate pulling a new HDMI cable and fishing the walls again. This product is very easy to install and is very user friendly.
I strongly recommend this product to anyone that wants a quick and easy solution that produces great results!!
Checking out and Shipping were great also!!
Hello I'm a PC Enthusiast/Gamer for most of my life and the reason I purchased this switch is because I own a 32" Samsung LCD TV that has 3 HDMI inputs but for some reason beyond me Samsung decided to make it so that you can only use this television's native resolution which is 1360x768 on HDMI input 1. On the other two HDMI inputs you can only use the conventional resolutions such as 480i/p or 1280x720. So I already had my PC using up HDMI slot 1 but I wanted to run my Xbox 360 at the tv's native resolution instead of 720p because I'm so picky about the image quality being perfect.
So I just received the switch from shipping a few hours ago and so far I'm absolutely loving it. I just plugged my PC and Xbox 360 into slots 1 and 2 on the HDMI switch and then ran my third cable to the tv from the output slot and it was ready to go. I can be on my PC and if I decide I want to play some Xbox I just turn on the console and the switch automatically jumps right over to my 360. Then when I power off the 360 the display goes right back to my PC, I love that I don't even have to bother getting up to press any buttons and if I do decide that I want to switch back over to my PC while I still have my 360 powered on I can just grab the handy little remote that comes with it and switch back and forth to my hearts content, lol. Oh and I haven't even mentioned how impressed I am with the picture quality, everything is pixel perfect as if you're doing a straight HDMI connection to the television, no signal loss or problems whatsoever and audio through the switch is perfect.
I also want to mention that before I purchased this switch I bought the same thing except Philips brand at Walmart for $35 that did not have a remote or auto switching and it was junk. It only had the button switches on the front and when I switched through sources it would sometimes leave artifacts on my screen and if I had my PC and Xbox 360 plugged in at the same time my PC would only display if I had my 360 turned on which made no sense at all so I returned it to Walmart and ordered this switch and I couldn't be happier, $10 cheaper and works 10x better.
I highly recommend this switch to anyone that just needs more HDMI inputs or on the rare occasion has a tv like mine and is picky with their resolutions and needs it for that reason. I wanted something like this ever since I bought my TV a couple years ago but every time I shopped around for one they were always priced so high at $100 and over, I think I actually saw some for around $200 which I think is ridiculous. I can't believe how amazing this one performs considering it's only around $20. I'm seriously thinking about ordering another to put up for later. - Mediabridge - Hdmi - Hdmi Switch - Highly Recommend'
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