[Al2x]

Hi, I have a Westinghouse 47" 1080p Monitor. I currently have my Westinghouse's HDMI input occupied with my digital cable box. I have a PlayStation 3, and I have it hooked up through A/V Component Cables.


I'd like to have both my Cable box and PS3 connected simultaneously through HDMI, since it's better than component cable (1080p on my components comes out a bit grainy, HDMI comes out crystal clear). I do not want to keep switching the HDMI cable from Box to PS3, PS3 to box, because I know it'll eventually ruin either the male or female connector.


What would be your suggestion or answer to my needs?


I've been recently looking, and I found this -- an HDMI Y cable: 1HDMI Male x 2HDMI female.
EDIT: SEARCH GOOGLE REAL QUICK FOR "HDMI Y CABLE," CLICK THE 1ST PRODUCT RESULT LINK...I THINK IT'S CALLED TRIANGLE CABLES OR SOMETHING...


Now my real question is:

Will this Y cable produce ANY DELAY OF ANY SORT when I'm playing PS3 on my Westinghouse Monitor? I could really care less about the TV part. Because, when I plugged in my component cables to my cable box, and played my PS3 through my box's auxiliary function, there was about a half-second delay. And, in First Person Shooters like Resistance, it is just not due able. So I really need a thorough answer here.


Please help Audio/Videophiles!

 

[wkearney99]

You need an HDMI switch box, not a splitter cable.

 

[FiberOpticDude]

A Y cable will not work for DVI or HDMI because the signal frequency is too high and the loading will be wrong.


Octava has a nice 3:1 box that will autodetect which source is active and send that one to the TV. And it is reasonably priced.

 

[HDMI_Org]

The signal on HDMI is an eye diagram waveform that represented the digital data, which simply can not be split like an analog signal. In addition, the HDCP requires that devices perform a point to point authentication, which is why a simple Y-splitter will also cause the HDCP authentication to fail.


There are quite a few HDMI switch boxes on the market, and they are getting to very reasonable prices. Some things to consider should you buy a switch box:

- how many HDMI inputs do you need? Do you think you might one day want to plug in a HDMI laptop or media PC, or perhaps a portable device like an HD camcorder? 3 or 4 inputs is probably a good number for most people.

- 1080p support: since one of your sources delivers 1080p resolution, you will want to make sure the electronics in the switch box can handle that full speed.

- powered: in general, if a switch box has no provision for a dedicated power source (i.e. getting plugged into an outlet), it's likely not compliant and may have issues.

- remote control: do you need RS-232, or is IR control only good enough? do you need discrete IR codes for each input, or are you ok with sequentially toggling the inputs?

- automatic input selection: some switch boxes will automatically select the active input for you, which can be nice since you don't always have to use your remote to select a different input. In the case where multiple inputs are active, most of these boxes will prioritize inputs with a lower number.


Hope this helps- good luck.

 

[Paul_PDX]

You need something like this to split HDMI with simultaneous output to both displays-- it isn't cheap or foolproof

http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=2514


Note -- both displays must support HDCP -- and I am pretty sure output will be at the highest shared resolution of the two displays (eg if one is 720p and one 1080p you will end up with 720p on both).