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You can connect multiple HD sources to your HDTV, such as your:
* Blu-Ray player, HD-DVD player, DVD player with HDMI output; * PS3, Xbox360, Wii with HDMI output; * HTPC, or computers with HDMI ports; * HDTV box, satellite dish network, HDTV recorder; * HD camera, or HD Cam recorder; * Any other devices that are capable of outputting HDMI signals.
There are a few things you should consider before you buy an HDMI switch.
1. How Many Ports Do You Need?
An n-port HDMI switch receives HDMI signals from n HDMI sources.
A 100-port HDMI switch might be the best one in the world, but if you don't have 100 HDMI devices to be plugged in, it's a waste. Know how many devices you have that outputs HDMI videos, and buy the ones that best suit your needs.
It turns out that the most common, and therefore most affordable, ones are 3-port HDMI switches, maybe because most people only need 3 ports.
2. Supported Video and Audio Specifications
An HDMI switch has to support 1080i/p, 720p and all the standard-definition (for example, DVD) resolutions.
It has to support DTS / DTS-HD, Dolby Digital/Dolby TrueHD, Linear PCM (LPCM).
These are the basics of the basics, because these formats are frequently used in HDTV broadcast, HD gaming, and HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players. If an HDMI switch doesn't support any of these specs, it is not worth buying at all.
Also, it should not convert, upscale, downscale any video/audio contents at all, because any conversion probably brings loss of quality.
Now let's move on to some more advanced features that you should consider.
3. Automatic v.s. Manual HDMI Switching
A good HDMI switch should have both automatic and manual switching functions.
Automatic switching
. Each time you turn on an HDMI source, the HDMI switch will automatically select this source. If you decide to turn on another one, the HDMI switch will switch to this second source. If you turn on another, it'll jump to this third device.
In most cases, this is intelligent enough to work out just fine and take care of most, if not all, of your switching needs.
Manual switching
. Auto-switching may not always work when there is one or more HDMI sources "always on", such as an HDTV recorder (HD PVR) or a satellite network box, which you probably dont turn off that often, and is, therefore, always turned-on in the background.
In that case, you will need to manually choose your desired HDMI source.
An HDMI switch with manual overriding function would usually have a button on it, which allows you to manually choose your desired HD source by pressing it.
