Issues With HDMI Split of PS3 To 2 Sources...

I'm having an issue splitting an HDMI signal to go to both my 720p Plasma TV or my 1080p projector (one at a time). Due to the TV being lower resolution, I dropped the setting down on my test device (a Sony PS3) to 720p for now.

I've seen posts on this so I know it's possible, but just curious if perhaps I need a powered splitter from monoprice instead of the passive non powered cheapie I got off ebay.

Ultimately the splitter will leave from the OUT jack of my Onkyo TX-SR606, for now I just have it plugged right into my Sony PS3's HDMI out for testing purposes.

The devices: The projector is an Epson Powerlite 1080. The TV is a Panasonic 50" 720p Plasma. The splitter is a very basic 1F/2M HDMI splitter sold on ebay (looks identical to the one on monoprice). Passive, not powered.

When I plug just the projector OR the TV into one of the splitter's 2 OUTs, I can get a handshake and nice pic on either device. However, once I plug them both in, I can't seem to get the projector running. That's got a 25' cable running to it. The TV only has a 6' cable.

I have tried power cycling everything fresh, and do not wish to run both projector AND plasma at the same time, ever. Still, as soon as I plug two devices into the splitter, the projector will no longer get the signal, even with the Plasma off.

Am I missing a step, or do I just need a better splitter? A powered one maybe? I am not looking to spend big bucks on a splitter, and only care about getting to one of these two devices, one at a time.

If anyone has any thoughts I'd love to hear -- I noticed monoprice does have a powered 1 in, 2 out HDMI box for a reasonable cost that I may try once they come back in stock, if anyone thinks a powered splitter will make a difference.

Thanks.

By that logic though, as long as it is just the plasma running, or just the projector running, it should work, right? That's what I was hoping.

Unfortunately, when both are plugged in, the projector never seems to work, only the plasma -- If I unplug the plasma from the splitter the projector works again.

I have tried fully powering down everything including the ps3 and restarting each one at a time, in case of handshake issues.

From power off (Both plugged into splitter) - PS3 on , then TV on, works. PS3 on, then projector on, does not work.

From power off (projector only plugged into splitter) - PS3 on, then projector on, works.

From power off (plasma only plugged into splitter) - PS3 on, then TV on, works.

The projector is a much longer run, 25 feet vs 6 feet - So maybe the length of the run is why the projector won't work when in the splitter, even when the plasma is off?

I was actually looking at that item too -- That's a bummer to hear that the PS3 is giving you issues as I definitely would like that to route to both sources. I suppose the one solution would be dropping the PS3 down to 720p in its own settings but that sort of defeats the purpose of owning 1080p equipment. I suppose it could be a manual setting change all the time but what a hassle. It's too bad there's not a splitter that would be smart enough to downsample to 720p one one of its out ports, and keep it native 1080p on the other. Probably way too advanced though.

So probably in your case, the TV is getting 720p but at least you get a picture on both now. But it's pointless for me to even own a splitter if it's not going to be possible to send a 1080p signal to my projector with a 720p plasma plugged in. I'd want my projector to get the full 1080p.

Please do - I am using my PS3 to stream some other video types over the network as well so I'd love to keep it at 1080p. Bummer to hear it causes to many problems with HDMI and splitters. Of course if I had a 1080p TV along with the projector that might work as well but I'm not going to upgrade a perfectly good plasma just for that. The splitter SHOULD be able to split to both, especially if I set the PS3 at the lower resolution to adapt to the TV.