This is a great switch at a great price. Most 5-port switches cost twice as much or do not fully support v.1.3 - a standard which Blu-Ray and some games consoles require to work properly. I have seen some where Blu Ray or PS3 will only work on one port. I have successfully tested my own PS3 on all ports.
Some do not auto-switch, and this alone is worth the asking price. I have mine set up without having to use the included remote. I simply have my Harmony universal remote switch each device off before switching on the one I want to use. The switch automatically finds the active port and moves to it. If you have a DVR or other device that is required to be "always-on", simply put it on port 5 - this way, if another port becomes active, it will prioritize a lower numbered one.
I should mention that the product page still claims to ship a mains adapter with this unit, which is supposed to enable the auto-switching functions. The mains adapter is not included anymore, but since auto-switching now works without it anyway, it is not required.
Something else to mention. The unit is about the size of a pack of playing cards. This is good since it is meant to be hidden away. Included is a remote receiver connected with a short cable which you can position in a place to receive commands from the included remote, keeping the main unit out of sight. Since you can use the switch without the remote, you can get by quite easily without hooking this up also.
Switching between two sources on this switch takes about a second, whether using auto-switch or the remote. While I'm sure there are some that are faster, I do not think this worth paying extra for. You may disagree.
There is a manual toggle switch on the top of the main unit. Since I use auto-switching and do not have remote connected, I have had to use this only once, and only when I unplugged my PS3 and then reconnected. For some reason the priority did not work. However, I have had this for 2 months without this happening a second time so did not see a reason to dock a star. 5 Port Smart HDMI Switch (Auto switch among 5 input sources, IR remote and AC Adapter included)
This cheap and tiny hdmi switch works great. It looks flimsy and cheap, and came packaged in a bag of plastic... but it works very good.
Did not have to use the power adapter to make it work. Just plugged the hdmi cables and when I power on a device the switch activates and makes the autoswitching between the devices.
The IR controller also works without the power adapter.
Great little device. Works perfectly. I did not need to plug it into power, it just works all by itself. Just plug in your HMDI imput sources, and hook its output to the HDMI on the back of your tv, and that is about it. It just plain works. Sits behind my TV and no one even knows its there. Great buy.
Pros:
Separate IR dongle means that the switch itself can be buried behind components, which makes the wiring much easier.
Cons:
Very confusing owner's manual, ports for power and IR dongle are so close together on the unit that they require some "persuasion" to plug in, IR receiver has a very narrow field of view. Auto switching doesn't seem to work.
This is a relatively inexpensive way to add HDMI ports to a home theater system, and it's working OK so far for me (after only 3 days). There are three ways to switch between inputs
1. a button on the top of the unit that toggles between the 5 inputs.
2. A remote control that has a button for each of the 5 inputs.
3. automatic switching, which will switch to the next active input port when the current port goes inactive.
The swtich will work without power, but the manual is unclear if all three of the switching methods will work without power. (It contradicts itself on that point, and appears to have been badly translated from another language.) You definately need power to use the remote control.
The IR dongle is a nice feature, but I have my system on a high shelf, and I find that I can't operate the switch while sitting on the couch -- I have to stand up and get right in front of it for the remote to work. I don't have this problem with any of my other components.
One of my sources is a Roku box, which has a "screen saver" feature that kicks in if the box isn't used for 10 minutes. This results in "snow" on my TV screen, even after the Roku box starts sending a picture again. (The switch does not auto-switch to the next source.) I usually have to select the source 2 or more times (with the remote) before I get the picture back.
There is no manufacturer information anywhere on the package or in the user's manual. This same product appears to be listed in Amazon's database under several sellers/manufacturers.
A side note: it took a little extra work, but I was able to get this switch to work with a Logitech Harmony Remote. I could not find the switch in their database, but I was able to "teach" the Harmony with the included remote control. I also had to manually edit the activities to incorporate the appropriate switch controls.
I have hooked up to 4 devices(Tivo HD, Wii, camera, Samsung blue ray) and the auto-switching is flawless and quick. However, after several days of use, I did notice a quirk with my TivoHD. I use the S-Video output on my Tivo to connect to another TV. This worked great until I put in this switch. Now, when the TV is off, Tivo gets the dreaded "HDMI connection not permitted" on HDMI AND my S-Video output. Unplugging the Tivo HDMI cable from the switch fixes the problem. What is happening is the Tivo thinks an HDMI cable is still connected and disables all video output (I know this is not an optimal implementation from Tivo, but it is what it is). When the TV is off, the switch should make the Tivo (or whatever device is connected) think the HDMI cable is not connected, or at least handle the HDCP handshakes correctly.
I tried using the supplied power adapter, but it did not help the problem. I also tried manually switching to an unused input, and this just give a stuttered video and audio from the Tivo. - Great Price - Auto Switch - Hdmi - Hdtv'
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