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5-port HDMI switch with Remote Control (5-in 1-out)
See it at Amazon.com for $44.89Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
HDMI compliance rating?
(4 out of 5) by Simon on Nov 22, 2007If only all manuf. would post their compliance ratings...sigh.
Well, the HDX-501 is only HDMI 1.2a complaint. (As of ver 2.1 of the product) Just so you know!
It took me a while to find this detail and I'll save others from the madness now with this post.
(The rating is given only because Amazon forms requires it regardless of relevancy. I of course don't own it given what I only just found out. It does get rave reviews at AVS forums )
Well, the HDX-501 is only HDMI 1.2a complaint. (As of ver 2.1 of the product) Just so you know!
It took me a while to find this detail and I'll save others from the madness now with this post.
(The rating is given only because Amazon forms requires it regardless of relevancy. I of course don't own it given what I only just found out. It does get rave reviews at AVS forums )
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Works great MOST of the time
(2 out of 5) by casual comic reader on Jun 8, 2008 (Washington, DC USA)I've been living with this product for about 8 months now and it works great most of the time. In my system I have an Apple TV, Comcast Cable Box and up-converting DVD player. Since my TV has only one HDMI port I routed these devices through the HDMI switcher then to my TV. From my TV I have digital audio out going to my receiver. I use a Logitech Harmony programmable remote to turn on and off all my device and it works great with this box.
Now for the negatives.
1) Occasionally when switching to Cable TV or DVD the unit doesn't recognize the signal change and the light for that port blinks red and green. This is usually remedied by switching to my Apple TV, letting it get recognized, then switching back.
2) In addition... very rarely audio will not work with a certain device/port. This has happened 3 or 4 times since I've owned the device. It takes switching around a few things and turning things on and off again to get this working. Audio seems to have totally stopped working for my dvd player, so I had to route digital audio from my dvd player directly to the receiver (instead of going through the HDMI cable and out from my TV).
3) Finally some devices only seem to work on port 5. My Apple TV only seems to work on port 5 and I've read the same for PS3 units.
Despite this unit being low priced and generally working well I cannot recommend something with this many flaws for a home theater set up. It's frustrating when it fails and even though I know how to work around the failures... my in laws, wife and kids etc... do not have the debugging skills. I'm going to try another hdmi switcher (with the apple tv form factor) and see how that goes.
Now for the negatives.
1) Occasionally when switching to Cable TV or DVD the unit doesn't recognize the signal change and the light for that port blinks red and green. This is usually remedied by switching to my Apple TV, letting it get recognized, then switching back.
2) In addition... very rarely audio will not work with a certain device/port. This has happened 3 or 4 times since I've owned the device. It takes switching around a few things and turning things on and off again to get this working. Audio seems to have totally stopped working for my dvd player, so I had to route digital audio from my dvd player directly to the receiver (instead of going through the HDMI cable and out from my TV).
3) Finally some devices only seem to work on port 5. My Apple TV only seems to work on port 5 and I've read the same for PS3 units.
Despite this unit being low priced and generally working well I cannot recommend something with this many flaws for a home theater set up. It's frustrating when it fails and even though I know how to work around the failures... my in laws, wife and kids etc... do not have the debugging skills. I'm going to try another hdmi switcher (with the apple tv form factor) and see how that goes.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Works great, good value!
(5 out of 5) by Brian La Rose on Jan 1, 2008 (Minnesota, USA)The box works well for what I use it for - switching video. All audio goes to a separate receiver with optical or coax so I can't vouch for audio quality.
The unit is very simple to set up (plug stuff in), is very small, and does the job. The included remote, a universal remote or the litle button on the front can be used to switch inputs. The included HDMI cable seems to be fine as well, I saw no picture degradation.
Attached Devices: Samsung 46" DLP @ 720p, DirecTV HR20-100, DirecTV HR10-200, and Samsung DVD-HD841 upconverting DVD player. I also use a Logitech 688 universal remote which works great with it, and is the only way to fly with multiple devices.
The unit is very simple to set up (plug stuff in), is very small, and does the job. The included remote, a universal remote or the litle button on the front can be used to switch inputs. The included HDMI cable seems to be fine as well, I saw no picture degradation.
Attached Devices: Samsung 46" DLP @ 720p, DirecTV HR20-100, DirecTV HR10-200, and Samsung DVD-HD841 upconverting DVD player. I also use a Logitech 688 universal remote which works great with it, and is the only way to fly with multiple devices.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Love it ! Love it ! Love it ! :-)
(5 out of 5) by Eric Champine on Jun 22, 2007 (Upstate New York)Hi everyone.
I purchased this "5-Port HDMI switch" from Monoprice, model # HDX-501 And man it has made my life so much more easy! I have so many products with HDMI connections on them but only 1 HDMI port. I have a Vizio 32" HD LCD TV with only one HDMI Port, DVD player with HDMI, Xbox 360 Elite with HDMI, Cable Box with HDMI and PS3 with HDMI. All products have worked very good no matter what slot I plug them in to and every products video Looks so good. (No bad effects from going through the switcher.) At first I tried a "PACE" cable box from Time Warner Cable because it had HDMI and that did not work with the switch so I went back and got the HD DVR because that was the only other box that had HDMI output on it. That one worked very good. It was a "Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000HD DVR ". I also never have seen anyone say if the Xbox 360 Elite works good with the switch so I wanted to add my party and say it does ! YES !!!! Now on to a new stereo and Logitech remote. I have seen where people have been able to program the Logitech remote for use with the switch so I am going to give it a try on the "Logitech Harmony 670 Universal Remote" and I'll let everyone know how it went when I am done testing.
I purchased this "5-Port HDMI switch" from Monoprice, model # HDX-501 And man it has made my life so much more easy! I have so many products with HDMI connections on them but only 1 HDMI port. I have a Vizio 32" HD LCD TV with only one HDMI Port, DVD player with HDMI, Xbox 360 Elite with HDMI, Cable Box with HDMI and PS3 with HDMI. All products have worked very good no matter what slot I plug them in to and every products video Looks so good. (No bad effects from going through the switcher.) At first I tried a "PACE" cable box from Time Warner Cable because it had HDMI and that did not work with the switch so I went back and got the HD DVR because that was the only other box that had HDMI output on it. That one worked very good. It was a "Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000HD DVR ". I also never have seen anyone say if the Xbox 360 Elite works good with the switch so I wanted to add my party and say it does ! YES !!!! Now on to a new stereo and Logitech remote. I have seen where people have been able to program the Logitech remote for use with the switch so I am going to give it a try on the "Logitech Harmony 670 Universal Remote" and I'll let everyone know how it went when I am done testing.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Solid
(5 out of 5) by Rich on Jan 6, 2007 (Seattle, WA)First off it worked great and is very nice looking (small). This is the cheapest HDMI switch with 5-port I found, but also the most expense video switch I ever bought also. Component switch only run between 20-50 buck. I use this to switch between the PS3 and DVD up-converter and it is very responsive. Got quick delivery from lusopc.
The manufacture is Monoprice and HDMI Switcher is just the product name. A couple of other manufactures use this same hardware, just slapping their own brand on it. My TV is a 32" Vizio displaying 1080i and see no image lost at all. HDMI 1.3 cable and switch are compatible with older version. Only the devices (PS3, stero reciever) that output that need to be 1.3 compatible. This is not like the USB upgrade to USB2.
The manufacture is Monoprice and HDMI Switcher is just the product name. A couple of other manufactures use this same hardware, just slapping their own brand on it. My TV is a 32" Vizio displaying 1080i and see no image lost at all. HDMI 1.3 cable and switch are compatible with older version. Only the devices (PS3, stero reciever) that output that need to be 1.3 compatible. This is not like the USB upgrade to USB2.