Do you have a FOMO issue? There’s a pill you can order for that on one of the audiophile YouTube channels, but I digress. The Monoprice Blackbird 8K HDMI Splitter/Switch is only $89.95 and I’m very tempted to bite for a few reasons.
The Monoprice website is full of interesting audio/video accessories; the 24-inch Monolith loudspeaker stands that I just purchased to use with the Monoprice Monolith M518HT THX 5.1 Loudspeaker System have proven to be an excellent value and beyond useful during the review process.
I’ll have a lot more to say about the M518HT THX system next week — it may be one of the best values in the category right now and it is definitely staying in my office system to be used with a last generation Panasonic ZT-50 Plasma HDTV that is installed on the wall in front of my desktop.
It is slightly more expensive than some soundbar options that would have been easier to install, but none of them offer the spaciousness or coherency of the Monolith M518HT THX system.
The location of my office system in the basement has caused me numerous Wi-Fi and video issues over the years and with all of my reference home audio/video components in the living room that sits above my desk area in the dungeon — I’ve always wanted a proper HDMI splitter to run a 20-foot HDMI cable through the floor and down through the drop ceiling to the aforementioned TV on the wall.
My deck suffered enormous damage during SuperStorm Sandy, but we managed to rebuild it with some upgrades including outdoor loudspeakers and an Elite 100-inch Yardmaster Projection Screen for those summer outdoor movie nights.
We made a huge mistake of not running HDMI cables from the living room video sources to a receptacle on the deck where it could have been connected to a rather abused Epson LCD projector that still works.
Instead, we have to schlep multiple components outside and place them on the table and pray it doesn’t rain or that someone doesn’t spill their drink all over them.
An HDMI splitter/switch would really come in handy with a run of cables.
The Super Bowl is happening soon and I really don’t want to be the guy to miss the moment that the Bills finally win.
Have you ever missed part of the game because you’re on grill duty or G-d forbid — siting on the toilet. Some of us have a crazy spouse who insisted on installing a 32-inch LCD TV inside a wall-mounted cabinet so they could watch TV as they get ready.
Have I ever locked myself in the bathroom to stream the NHL Network at midnight while I sit in the bathtub and a bucket of wings? Perhaps.
This splitter/switcher serves double duty as an HDMI switch for two sources — that means that you can switch between two content sources, or seamlessly split the game (single source) to play on two TVs (living room and outdoor TVs).
Delivering up to 40Gbps video bandwidth, this 8K Dual Function HDMI Splitter/Switch allows you to switch between either of two HDMI inputs and distribute the signal to two HDMI displays.
It supports HDMI video resolutions up to 8K@60Hz with the YCbCr 4:2:0 color space, as well as multichannel compressed and uncompressed audio streams. It complies with the HDMI 2.1 and HDCP 2.3 specifications and includes DIP switches to manage the EDID setting.
Features:
- Switches between two HDMI inputs and splits the signal to two HDMI displays
- Supports video resolutions up to 8K@60Hz 10-bit with the YCbCr 4:2:0 color space, including 8K@30Hz 10-bit with YCbCr 4:4:4, and 4K@120Hz 10-bit with YCbCr 4:4:4
- Complies with the HDMI 2.1 and HDCP™ 2.3 specifications
- Excellent for gamers, this thing supports Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Fast as Possible V-active (FVA), and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) HDMI features
- Supports HDR, HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision™, and Hyper Log Gamma (HLG) passthrough
- Supports multichannel compressed and uncompressed audio streams, Including LPCM, Dolby Digital™, Dolby Digital Plus™, Dolby Digital EX, Dolby TrueHD™, DTS®, DTS:X®, DTS 96/24, DTS High Res, DTS-HD Master Audio, and Direct Stream Digital™ (DSD)
- Supports the Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Fast as Possible V-active (FVA), and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) HDMI features
- Built-in signal equalizer with retiming
- Advanced EDID® management
Where to buy: $89.99 at Monoprice | Amazon
