4X2 True Matrix HDMI 1.3a Powered Switch w/ Remote Controller - Page 16

Has anyone tried the new Monoprice True Matrix High Speed 4x2, product ID 6415?
The one with optical out on Output A.
Does this suffer the "Common Denominator" issue.
This is my setup:
Inputs:
TiVo Premiere XL
Oppo BDP-83
Onkyo TX-SR705
Outputs:
Sony XBR910 (HDMI to DVI Cable)
Epson HTPC 400 Projector

Will this setup be a problem?
Any limitations?

I am torn between the monoprice HDMI Matrix and this device....

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.29774

Has anyone here any experience with this one?

Jon

Anyone had any luck controlling the MonoPrice 4x4 with RS-232? I found the specs here

Jon

 

20090602102244_RS232-Command.pdf 260.193359375k . file

RS-232 control of the 4x4 matrix switch has been confirmed in this RemoteCentral.com thread. Unfortunately, there is still no discrete on/off command.

http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin...thread.cgi?114

Hello - new guy here. Both to the forum and to the idea of distributed A/V.

I think that I might be in the clear here with the ability to save a lot of money by using one of these units. From what I understand, the passage quoted above sums up most of the problems with these 4x2 and 4x4 units. Thus, if in my case, where all my displays are 1080p (even if 2 sources - comcast cable boxes - are 720p; does that matter?) and I'm processing my audio separately, I should be perfectly OK with these... right?

A 720p plasma came with the house, but it sounds to me like that'd be what throws a wrench into everything. But is that only the case if it's on? Because it'd become the guest bedroom TV and we rarely have guests. In fact, I wouldn't mind having it completely disconnected except when someone visits, at which time I'd just give them their own Comcast box directly.

All my audio gear is at least a decade old and thus doesn't even take HDMI, so I'd be just using optical digi out for audio (or analog!), so any effect this switcher has on audio is completely irrelevant to me. Whatever remote solution I use will just handle the input switching and whatnot if I want something in surround.

So if I've got:

1) Comcast Motorola DVR 1
2) Comcast Motorola DVR 2
3) AppleTV (for now - we'll see if I like it; got it mostly for music but then learned I'm better off using a HTPC with a USB DAC)
4) LG BR player

going to:

1) Panasonic 1080p plasma (50pz77u)
2) Epsom 1080p projector (8100)
3) [as yet unpurchased 65" plasma]
4) old old Pioneer 720p plasma - can be separate
[might make #4 a smaller screen above the jacuzzi or something if we find that we use it]

and I use my own combo of preamps/amps/multizone audio stuff, I should be OK?

Because that would be awesome. And I'd have a whole bunch more money to spend on speakers instead of video stuff. I care more about audio anyway.

I should note that I'm in no rush to do this - if I'm demonstrably better off with a higher priced unit I can wait til it's affordable to me. I'm fine with one cable box per TV and the BRD on the projector for now. It's what I'm used to anyway. But if this can meet my modest demands, that'd be great.

Picked up the HDX-402E from Monoprice recently. Setup is as follows:

- Splitting Samsung Blu-Ray BDP-2550 and Dish STB VIP 922 into an Onkyo SR-705
- First output from the switch goes to the Onkyo
- Signal goes from Onkyo to JVC RS2
- Other output from the switch goes to a future LCD to be installed in my bar area

Initial Observations:
- Works well with the Samsung and Dish equipment. Switching is prompt, no loss in audio or video quality
- Did not work with my HTPC; was shrinking the screen; I'm wondering if there are some ATI settings that need to be adjusted for this
- Set it up with a Harmony 880 remote. When selecting which activity you want to do, it automatically switches with the remote thanks to an attached IR output on the switch.
- Have not tested output to the second LCD and whether "least-common denominator" effect happens (am guessing it will do this).
- Am leaving the switch on all the time; am assuming there's not an issue in doing this

Thought I'd share.

my m'price 4x2 has been on continuously since sept '08, no issues. (crosses fingers/knocks on wood)

Sorry to bring this topic back from the dead, but I'm looking to buy one of these.

Has anyone used it to play 3D? I know the new rules with HDMI cables, and the old 1.3, 1.4 etc numbering is out. I know its just standard and high speed, and 1.3 should fall under high speed, but I don't know how that will work with actual components.

The thought is to have a 3D BD player (unpurchased as of yet), and a PS3 connected, and be able to route a 3D BD from either device to either source. As of right now, only one of my TVs support 3D (samsung pn50c7000), my other TV is a samsung LN-T4061f, which I hope to upgrade to a 3D capable TV during the beginning of 2011.

I'll also have 1 cable box (SA8300HDC) and an XBOX360 connected.

I'm also debating the 4x4 (product ID 5704) to hook up my other two TVs, but I'm not sure if its worth the extra money (one of those TVs will be in the spare bedroom, which maybe gets used once or twice a year, the other is in my office, which I don't really need access to all my components).

You may run in to the "least common denominator" issue which is the switch will output the highest quality format that is accepted by ALL your displays. I'm not sure if that will affect 3D or not but I presume it's a possibility. If it is a problem you will not be able to watch 3D content on your Samsung without first physically unplugging the HDMI cable from your non-3D TV. Again this all speculation, I do not have any 3D display devices to test with.

It certainly would affect trying to run a 720p and 1080p display at the same time, the format would default to 720p on both displays. The same holds true with audio, if one output is a receiver that supports Dolby Digital 5.1 and the second device is a TV (stereo) the outputted audio will be stereo PCM and NOT a 5.1 bitstream since one of the output devices (in this case the TV) does not support receiving a 5.1 bitstream.

You can thank our friend HDCP for all these issues

I could live with the audio issue, as this wont be feeding a AVR, I'm in a temp house right now, so I don't have my home theater setup. When I move, I could cross that bridge when I get to it.

But I'll probably be here for another year or two, and the 3D issue could be a deal breaker. Maybe I read this thread wrong, but I thought with the latest Rev, that only happened when both output's are using the same input. Did I misread?

Am I better off getting 2 4x1s and 4 1x2s (assuming there is such a thing), though that sounds like it would be a bit confusing to operate. Or better suggestion?

Piping out all my sources to two TVs is very important to me. I can't count how many times I've been in the living room playing XBOX and got kicked out by the wife so she could watch TV. Its more for the game consoles and cable, as far as movies go, I stream them over my network, and have cat5 where every TV is (if someone can point me to a box that supports streaming 3D blu ray, that might kill my concerns, but I don't think theres any such thing).

Hi, my new HDX-402E just arrived yesterday. I hooked it up like this:

Input 1: DirecTV TiVo HR10-250
Input 2: Panasonic BD60 Blu-ray

Output A: Sony 40EX500 TV
Output B: Sanyo Z3 projector

Testing out the 4 possible input/output combinations, I found that I could not view Input 2 on Output B (Blu-ray on projector), unless Output A was also set to view Output B. The other 3 possible combinations worked. If I tried to watch Blu-ray on the projector while the TiVo was showing on the TV, the projector screen was blank or a dull green color. In case resolution was an issue, I set the TiVo and Blu-ray to 720p manually, but that didn't solve the problem.

So, I swapped outputs to:

Output A: Sanyo Z3 projector
Output B: Sony 40EX500 TV

Now all 4 possible input/output combinations work properly. I can watch either or both inputs on either or both outputs.

Is this normal behavior or is this new unit defective?

It's basically working now, but I would have expected all inputs and outputs to function the same. The projector has no audio support, so I don't know if that would be an issue. I'm not sure why it wouldn't work on Output B, but it seems to work on Output A.

EDIT: Reading backwards through the thread, I found Legairre's post #349 where he mentions similar behavior on his setup (receiver on Output A, TV on Output B had handshaking problems, swapping outputs fixed it). So, it seems like this issue may be common on this unit.

I was just about to purchase either the 4x4 or 4x2 mono price switch and then I read this thread. What I was hoping to do was connect a plasma with hdmi on one of the outputs and use optical from the plasma to my Yamaha receiver (no hdmi on Yamaha). My setup would be:

Input 1. Bell pvr (hdmi)
Input 2. Pany blue ray player (hdmi)
Input 3. Apple tv (hdmi)
Input 4. Not in use

Output 1. Home theatre hdmi to Yamaha receiver (7.1) with hdmi out to pany projector
Output 2 plasma with hdmi to plasma and optical out from plasma to older Yamaha receiver. (5.1)
Output 3 and 4 not in use

My question is, would I not get the correct audio?

You will not get 5.1 audio from your Plasma, the TV downgrades the audio to stereo PCM. This will happen with any TV due to HDCP rules.

is this the most reccomend product for it's type ?

What else is good?

Will it downgrade the audio on the other input? In other words, will I only get stereo in the theater?

If you have both A and B outputs set to the same input it will downgrade audio on both. If you are watching different sources then the HDCP handshake will only occur between the one input and one output selected.

HDCP

All-in-all though I've been very happy with my switch. My Logitech Harmony remote takes care of the switching so everything downstairs in my home theater is only a button press away from my living room.

I have been using the Monoprice 4x4 matrix switch with pretty good results

the only issue I had was it does not repower on after loss of power: I connected it to a UPS to address this and leave it powered all the time

Hi I just bought one of these just before Christmas and had the same issue. I had my theater room (Receiver, projector) on output A
and my TV upstairs on output B. I had to rest it every time I wanted to use the TV upstairs. So just before I called them to ask if it was defective I tried switching them. Then everything started working just like I thought it should. I was so confused by this I came to make a post on here then read yours. So now I feel better and am very glad I didn't send it back.

I have a 550 and found that I had to set the delay as follows:

Inter-Key = 1200
Input Delay = 1500
Inter-Device = 1200

Since doing that I've had zero issues.

You're correct about the behavior, but it's not due to copy protection (HDCP). HDMI devices communicate with each other and negotiate audio/video settings so that you get an 'optimal' setting. The issue comes in when we split HDMI signals to more than one display/receiver/whatever. Since the source can only produce one output (audio and video), it will use the best settings that work with all connected displays.

The old example was hooking a 720p and a 1080p set to a matrix switch - the sources would all output 720p - since that's the resolution that works for all of the displays (with the 1080p display able to show 720p). But the more common example now is with audio - most TVs only support stereo (newer units will accept DD5.1 and downmix internally for the stereo TV speakers), and none (currently) support the advanced DTS-MA or Dolby codecs. So the audio is sent as 2-channel PCM (or best case, DD5.1).

So yes, while evil HDCP does cause issues, this one isn't its fault...

Jeff

Just posting another endorsement of Monoprices True Matrix 4X2 HDMI switch. I run it in the basement for my home theatre and TV directly above upstairs with an RF translater and harmony remote. Excellent capability and image quality.

Just got my monoprice 4x2 hdmi switch today...won't hook it up til the weekend. My setup is as follows;

Theater room:
Sharp xvz12000mkII projector (720p)
Onkyo tsx805 receiver (3-hdmi ins, 1 out)
Sony PS3 (set to output 720p)
Directv HR20 (set to output 720p)
Oppo dvd with DVI output
Roku

I just got a Sony 40" ex500 (1080p)for another room that won't be used too often so I decided not to get another Directv box. I picked up the switcher and 45' of 22awg hdmi cable along with a wall plate, some 8" hdmi patch cords and a 6' hdmi cable to go to the tv.

I realize that I'll have to keep everything set to 720p because of the lowest common resolution thing.
What are your best suggestions on how I should route the cables through the 4x2 switcher and the Onkyo receiver?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

The Onkyo will not be able to play 5.1 if your other output on your HDMI switch is plugged directly into a TV or projector. In order to get 5.1 through HDMI you need to have both A and B output connected to 5.1 capable HDMI receivers. HDCP.

Hmmm...
What if I run the ps3 and the directv box into the onkyo , then output the onkyo into the 4x2 switch, then run the 2 outs from the switch into the projector and the tv? You are saying the HDCP won't allow the onkyo to play the 5.1 from directtv or multichannel pcm from the ps3?

The oppo doesn't have hdmi and I don't use the roku that much and don't care if it's just running prologic IIx.

That is certainly worth a try, let us know what happens. So you essentially won't be using any of the other inputs on your switch, just the one from your receiver? And your goal is to output your receiver on two output devices I imagine.

Please report back with your findings

Cheers

That is my main goal. I'll try it this weekend and post my results.

I would like to give this unit a try in my in-progress Home Theater but now I am reconsidering. My configuration is as follows:

Input 1 - PS3
Input 2 - HD Cable Box
Input 3 - DVD player
Input 4 - unused

Output A - Onkyo 606 to Projector
Output B - 37" LG LCD TV

I would like to be able to display 2 different programs at the same time; ie PS3game on projector and HDTV on the on the LCD. Would I not get the good audio/video from the Onkyo with this setup? Whether they are both being displayed or not. Too many things to consider.

Thanks,
Luke

If both the projector and LG LCD TV are 1080p you will get 1080p video. You will only get stereo sound though on your Onkyo because your TV can only do stereo.

...unless you have a matrix switch that allows for EDID spoofing. There are a few out there and the one I'm using reports back a 1080p signal with multichannel audio capability. There is also an option to force 1080i with stereo audio.

But, most HDMI switches you get the lowest common denominator.

haha, then what is the purpose of the AV receiver?!?! Kinda takes it out of the equation.
Shoot, I thought this HDMI Matrix switch was my answer. I guess not.

Thanks for the quick response!