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HELP! HDMI splitter, repeater, switch?

post #1 of 21
10/7/11 at 7:31am
Thread Starter 
Hi,

I was wondering if someone can help me out. I just purchased a DLP projector; plan on ceiling mounting it and want to buy a screen to ceiling mount in front of my Pansonic Plasma. All of my source components are connected to my Denon AVR-888 and fed to my Panny with the single HDMI out from the reciever. I use my AVR for source switching and never change the video input on the Panny. I also use a Logityech Harmony One.

What I would like to know is what device I need to split the HDMI cable so that I can feed one HDMI cable to the Panny (6 ft.) and one to the projector (approx. 35 ft.). Obviously I will not be watching the Panny and Projector at the same time. I have been reading that the (spliiter/ switch/ repeater) should be powered but my main concern is that I will not be watching simultaneously on both displays, so will the (spliiter/ switch/ repeater) still work or do both dispalys always have to be powered on?

I was looking at something like this
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16812270376

Purchasing another AVR with 2 HDMI's out is not an option at the moment...

Any help/ feedback would be appreciated?
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post #2 of 21
10/7/11 at 8:34am
You should check out the Monoprice HDMI splitter.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2
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post #3 of 21
10/7/11 at 9:13am
Thread Starter 
Mr. G.

I was also looking at that model yesterday while browsing online. Bought from them before, no problems. Do you know for sure that this will work. Do both displays need to be powered on or can they work independently?
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post #4 of 21
10/7/11 at 8:49pm
I bought this one to output my PC to both a monitor and my reciever (for the projector) and have had no problems with it. Both displays do NOT need to be on at the same time with this one. I frequently only use the PC monitor and occaisionally fire up the projector when I'm doing a lot of forum reading or something.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Rocketfi...224493&st=hdmi splitter&cp=1&lp=1
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post #5 of 21
10/7/11 at 10:07pm
check out Monoprice. I purchased a 1x2 splitter and works beautifully without a glitch. You can have both the plasma/lcd tv and projector on at same time if you wish.
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post #6 of 21
10/11/11 at 7:29am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for all of your replies. I ordered the Rocketfish HDMI Splitter that ss69camaro350 is using, will give it a try and report back.
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post #7 of 21
10/11/11 at 8:11am
isn't rocketfish bestbuy's brand? good luck, let us know.
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post #8 of 21
10/11/11 at 8:14am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by elmalloc View Post

isn't rocketfish bestbuy's brand? good luck, let us know.

Would you recommend something else?
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post #9 of 21
10/11/11 at 8:20am
I can research but there's a reason I replied asking if it works. I don't normally purchase best buy brands, but to each their own.

Since you have a harmony remote you can program it to work with this:
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/switches/index.htm

It doesn't look like it's auto sensing (as to why it has a remote).

Rocketfish looks auto sensing for double the price, but only 2 outputs, but bluejeans is only 1.3 compliant. Gotta be careful in future proofing yourself (3D/etc), but at these prices you can just return it and get your money back.
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post #10 of 21
10/18/11 at 7:38pm
Thread Starter 
Well, tonight I gave the Rocketfish HDMI splitter a try and it was a no go....

Could not get video on either my Panny Plasma or BenQ projector. Sound was working and the displays detected the resolution and HDMI signal but no video. I had a 6ft HDMI cable on HDMI 1 out of the splitter to my Panny and a 50ft HDMI cable on HDMI 2 out of the splitter to my projector. I tried power cycling, switching source inputs, switching inputs 1 & 2, etc. all to no avail.

Any ideas?

I will be returning this piece of crap tomorrow.

I can't imagine that it's this difficult to split and HDMI signal form the out port of my Denon AVR-888 to 2 separate displays which will never be on at the same time.

Do I need a 4x2 martix switch perhaps?

Please help!
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post #11 of 21
10/19/11 at 9:09am
I have a monoprice 2-port powered splitter. 35 ft to projector (on 22AWG cable), 6 ft to monitor, both from AVR, works great.
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post #12 of 21
10/19/11 at 10:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mechbeav View Post

I have a monoprice 2-port powered splitter. 35 ft to projector (on 22AWG cable), 6 ft to monitor, both from AVR, works great.

The powered monoprice was a no go for me. They allowed me to return it.
I bought their manual/passive HDMI spliter/switch, which is basically like a train track selector and it works fine. Does require that you get up and push a button.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

.
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post #13 of 21
10/19/11 at 10:58am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by 42Plasmaman View Post

The powered monoprice was a no go for me. They allowed me to return it.
I bought their manual/passive HDMI spliter/switch, which is basically like a train track selector and it works fine. Does require that you get up and push a button.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

.

That splitter has 2 inputs with one output. Are you hooking this unit up in reverse; HDMI output from AVR connected to the output HDMI port on splitter with HDMI 1 IN & HDMI 2 IN acting as outupts to 2 separate displays?
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post #14 of 21
10/19/11 at 12:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by guida74 View Post

That splitter has 2 inputs with one output. Are you hooking this unit up in reverse; HDMI output from AVR connected to the output HDMI port on splitter with HDMI 1 IN & HDMI 2 IN acting as outupts to 2 separate displays?

No. Two players to one output.
I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work the other way around.
Only one display could be selected/ouput at a time from a single source.
There are no electronics in this switch. It just switches wires/contacts between the input/output ports.
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post #15 of 21
10/19/11 at 12:42pm
Just get the monoprice one that was first suggested. Works perfectly for me.
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post #16 of 21
10/19/11 at 4:52pm
You can be chasing your tail with this one. First isolate that the problem is the switch. Do this by putting all your equipment near each other and use 6ft or less cables. If it works your problem is the 50ft cable and might need a signal restorer on it or use a balun system. It doesn't matter if the 50ft works plugged in directly without the switch. Try this test or you can be chasing your tail by continuously swapping equipment to get a combination that works.

If the system doesn't work with short cables check it on all of your sources. Each source has a number of 'keys' that determine the number of displays that can be connected. Some devices only have 1 key (some motorola cable boxes) and would need a splitter which can talk independentanly to each display and not let it communicate directly with the source. If the system works on one device and not the other it is likely a key issue.

If it doesn't work with any device I'd try another splitter. It is possible all your sources have only 1 key but that would be unlikely.

Hope this helps.
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post #17 of 21
10/19/11 at 8:26pm
I have a couple of monoprice powered splitters and they work great. You can have any combination of displays on or off and it still functions properly
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post #18 of 21
10/20/11 at 7:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KO Abear View Post

I have a couple of monoprice powered splitters and they work great. You can have any combination of displays on or off and it still functions properly

The monoprice active/powered HDMI spliters are NOT 100% compatible with all display devices or equipment. The guy at monoprice even told me this and that's wht they allowed me to exchange/retrun my active/powered switch.

It did not work with my Samsung TV with a Toshiba HD DVD player and Samsung blu-ray player. Others in this thread also could not get it to work.

Getting a passive circuit switcher is about close to 100% compatible you can get IF you are not running long extended cable runs to hit the HDMI limits since it just connects input wires to output wires via a switch.
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post #19 of 21
10/20/11 at 8:40am
As Plasmaman basically says, no amount of positive testimonial about any of these devices means that it works for you. Here is an example. Any kind of powered device like this has to set a "repeater" bit that tells the source that it will take longer for the handshake to occur to the display. Some do not set this bit. In this case, some source devices will time out because they don't wait long enough while others do anyway and work perfectly. Even if it does set the bit, the configuration of both the AVR and this Switch repeating the signal is probably never tested by any gear that you use now. So due to bugs in them, this may not work.

The general advice is to avoid these solutions. They might work now, but may stop next time you change your source or TV. Bite the bullet and get an AVR with dual output. If you still want to get one, be sure there is an easy return process as there is good chance you might need to use it!
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post #20 of 21
1/24/12 at 12:54pm
Thread Starter 
It's been a while since my last post in this thread and just wanted to share my findings/ experiences with respect to splitting the HDMI output from my Denon AVR-888 to my Infocus IN76 projector and Panasonic Panasonic TC-P58S2 plasma. I initially purchased the Monoprice manual/passive HDMI splitter/switch which require that you get up and push a switch between the plasma/ projector. It works fine for the most part; 1080p passes to both displays for Blu-Ray player except it maxes out my resolution to 720p on my Boxee Box for some reason; only while viewing on the projector.

A few weeks ago I bought a 92" Reference Tab Tension Elunevision screen from my buddy Dave over at Eastporters and noticed that he had an HDMI splitter in his demo room in a box which he was going to test out. It's a no-name brand, probably manufactured in China 1x2 powered switch with auto sensing.

Last night I hooked it up and tested it out and the switch works flawlessly, no handshake issues when switching sources/ display devices and it is also nice to not have to get up and push a button every time I want to switch between projector/ plasma.

Here is where it gets interesting with the newer powered HDMI switch:

Bell 9241 HD PVR hooked up with component to AVR-888 set to 1080i in resolution settings displays at 1080i for both displays
Boxee Box hooked up with HDMI to AVR-888 maxes out at 720p resolution on both displays, can't select higher resolution in resolution settings
Denon DVD-2500 BTCI Blu-Ray player hooked up with HDMI to AVR-888 maxes out at 720p resolution on both displays, can't select higher resolution in resolution settings

VieraLink is turned off on plasma.
AVR-888 internal scaler is turned off, tried with it on and set to 1080p and the only source it affects is the Bell 9241 which will output 1080p, I think this is because of the component connection and it up scaling over HDMI.

Is the switch talking to my projector even when it is off and telling the receiver that this is the highest resolution supported?

Is there something I am missing here? Can I force the 1080p resolution somehow or am I just out of luck?

Any help/ explanation would be greatly appreciated.
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post #21 of 21
1/24/12 at 11:11pm
I got the Monoprice 1->2 powered splitter to hook up from my Denon 4306 to my Pani plasma and my Epson 6500.

At first there were alot of lines showing up on the plasma. Then I switched the outputs on the splitter around and suddenly it was was peachy keen!

FWIW.
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