HDMI Port Switcher: Good Idea?

Imagine my excitement at getting home after work today with my brand spanking new Wii U in my arms! Now imagine I unbox everything nice and neat, getting all the cables ready to go. And now imagine looking behind my receiver only to find that all the HDMI Ports have been swallowed up by my current consoles.

So, in thinking about maybe buying a new receiver, I hit Amazon, and got a bunch of results for HDMI switchers. My question is, do these diminish picture or audio quality in any way? Would I have to change how everything is plugged in now? And ultimately, would you guys recommend I get switcher? I really like the idea of not buying a whole new receiver...

I've been wondering about this as well.

I don't think they will. Since HDMI is a digital signal.

As with everything cable related, stay away from overpriced stuff. This one

http://www.amazon.com/Ultra-High-Performance-Switcher-Switch/dp/B0015YWKYY/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Has pretty good reviews and is less than 10 dollars.

I've used the switcher linked above for about a year and it's been absolutely fine. I didn't notice any drop in quality.

@jorojoserojas said:

Imagine my excitement at getting home after work today with my brand spanking new Wii U in my arms! Now imagine I unbox everything nice and neat, getting all the cables ready to go. And now imagine looking behind my receiver only to find that all the HDMI Ports have been swallowed up by my current consoles. So, in thinking about maybe buying a new receiver, I hit Amazon, and got a bunch of results for HDMI switchers. My question is, do these diminish picture or audio quality in any way? Would I have to change how everything is plugged in now? And ultimately, would you guys recommend I get switcher? I really like the idea of not buying a whole new receiver...

No they will not reduce the picture or audio. These signals are 0's and 1's (Binary). Either there or not there unlike analog where you can have a vague signal. If the switch says auto then cycling the power of the dice from off to on with cause it to switch to that device. This saves you from getting up and having to press a manual switch. Go for it.

@gumdealer said:

I've used the switcher linked above for about a year and it's been absolutely fine. I didn't notice any drop in quality.

What about in responsiveness? I play fighting games and it would be nice to upgrade to HDMI on my PS3 and 360 (still using composite on a CRT) but I don't want any delay, or as little delay as possible.

@SoldierG654342 said:

@gumdealer said:

I've used the switcher linked above for about a year and it's been absolutely fine. I didn't notice any drop in quality.

What about in responsiveness? I play fighting games and it would be nice to upgrade to HDMI on my PS3 and 360 (still using composite on a CRT) but I don't want any delay, or as little delay as possible.

No delay since it is hardware only and not going though any kind of conversion or software to make it happen.

@SoldierG654342 said:

@gumdealer said:

I've used the switcher linked above for about a year and it's been absolutely fine. I didn't notice any drop in quality.

What about in responsiveness? I play fighting games and it would be nice to upgrade to HDMI on my PS3 and 360 (still using composite on a CRT) but I don't want any delay, or as little delay as possible.

I've encountered no lag at all using it. Even games like Rocksmith that have widespread lag issues have worked great.

You'll get no change in quality.

You'll need another HDMI cable to lead from your switcher's output to your receiver, it's length dependent on where you want the switcher to sit (assuming it comes with a remote).

Just run the Wii U's and your other "chosen one's" HDMI cables into the switcher input, put the aforementioned third cable from the switcher output to your receiver, and you'll be good to go. A lot of HDMI switchers, even the sub-$10 ones, auto-detect input, so you'll likely never even have to think about it once it's set up.

Best of luck!

Go for it, they work great. Nothing really is wrong with em. They are very handy, I know a lot of people who use em and I'll probably pick one up this weekend because I just started playing my 360 again and we only have two HDMI ports on our reciever, and no fuckin way am I using TV sound for freaking Halo 4.

I literally just ordered two of theseOnkyo TX-NR414's through Newegg's pre-Black Friday sale thing here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882120195.
 
I figure if they last at least two and a half years, at that price I'll have got my money's worth.

Same thing happened to me when I got my Wii U but I just bought component cables for my Xbox.

So does it have a physical switch on it or is it just know what one is on, what happens if they are both on at once.

I also used that switcher for a while and it was fine. I don't use it anymore as I wound up buying a receiver that had more hdmi ports but it never gave me any noticeable problems.
Well I actually did have one problem with it now that I think about it. It was so light and hdmi cables are so stiff and heavy relative to it that it didn't stay where I wanted to put it unless I weighted it down or something. But that's it.

This is all great information. Thanks a bunch guys! I think I'm grabbing one of these switches.

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

So does it have a physical switch on it or is it just know what one is on, what happens if they are both on at once.

It has a physical switch but it will also detect when a device is turned on. In my time using it, it seems that if more than one device is turned on, the second one will always have priority, leaving you to switch back using the button or the included remote.

@jorojoserojas said:

This is all great information. Thanks a bunch guys! I think I'm grabbing one of these switches.

Go for it, I have the one linked above and it works great.

Depending on the age of your receiver and TV, you can have issues with the copyright protection handoff between devices. My 2007ish receiver had only two HDMIs, so I bought a switcher after Xbox moved to HDMI and my original went RROD. It worked great for a long time, but about a year ago my receiver started losing the HDMI recognition when I'd switch between devices, or when the PS3 does a little soft reset when starting a movie or game. Long story, but I ended up just routing everything through the TV and going over to the receiver through an optical. Likely wont apply to you, but just make a note if stuff acts weird down the line or randomly won't recognize a connection.

I've been using a previous generation version of this:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011001&p_id=8147&seq=1&format=2

It's given me no issues and I cannot discern any lag or signal loss versus being plugged straight into a TV. If you want to cover your bases then check Monoprices' selection of powered HDMI switches. It seems a good powered one can be bulletproof. However I've had no issues with the simple mechanical switch.

@gumdealer: @gumdealer:

Thanks for the information. Looks like I might finally be able to start reading text in games again.

2 Recommendations:

1. Get a Switcher that is powered, as it will help prevent what little, if any, signal degredation you see.
2. Get a switcher that supports what features you need, as not everything will support 3D or HDCP passthrough.

The one I'm buying even has optical audio out, as the WiiU is a little restrictive in that it has no audio out besides HDMI, and I don't pass HDMI through my receiver anyway.