Advice on HDMI Switching

[chesterwilson]

James@diamonddesign installed the Snap av B-100 8x8 in my system over the weekend and I have to say for the price and ease of installed it works very, very good. At first we had an issue with 2 Legacy tv's,720p/1080i but James suggested Output 7 and 8 on the Snap switch and problem solved. I have not used the supplied Configuration cd yet. I would suggest to anyone installing this switch to make sure you pay attention to the Output chart on page 12.

Combine with the HC 800 James installed, the system is blazing fast. Switching between sources is very quick. I have to give James Kudos for the remote install of the HC 800 and the Snap AV.

VanKaren

Thanks James! The thing I like about this over the Gefen toolbox (aside from it not being available yet) is the fact that it isn't limited by the number of HDCP keys a source is able to provide. This is pretty big for the Comcast boxes.

Why specifically output 7/8, do you mean EDID 7 or 8?

[ILoveC4]

James@diamonddesign installed the Snap av B-100 8x8 in my system over the weekend and I have to say for the price and ease of installed it works very, very good. At first we had an issue with 2 Legacy tv's,720p/1080i but James suggested Output 7 and 8 on the Snap switch and problem solved. I have not used the supplied Configuration cd yet. I would suggest to anyone installing this switch to make sure you pay attention to the Output chart on page 12.

Combine with the HC 800 James installed, the system is blazing fast. Switching between sources is very quick. I have to give James Kudos for the remote install of the HC 800 and the Snap AV.

VanKaren

Thanks James! The thing I like about this over the Gefen toolbox (aside from it not being available yet) is the fact that it isn't limited by the number of HDCP keys a source is able to provide. This is pretty big for the Comcast boxes.

vankaren, would you mind shooting a quick video of you changing sources and post to YouTube or something? Also, do you have any issues if you add a display to a source already in use? Thanks again.

[vankaren]

James@diamonddesign stated earlier that he will do a complete review of the switcher and his comments probably will answer most of you questions but I will try to answer your question you just ask. Not sure what you mean about this question:

Also, do you have any issues if you add a display to a source already in use?

If you mean changing to a different display on the same Output, i tried with with a older 720p NEC Plasma display and a 1080p SamSung LCD display without any issues, As I stated, the Snap Owners Manual recommends Output 7 and 8 for older 720p/1080i display if you use it in the base configuration. Remember this switch can be configured per Output via the included CD. If the dsiplay can handle 1080p and you are using 1 thru 6 output i don't think you will have a problem but my answer is only based upon my connections .

Again, James has installed several units so far and he could probably answer your questions.

Checkout page 12 in the manual.

http://www.snapav.com/p-1074-b-300-hdmatrix-8x8.aspx

[Bud]

I have one of these going in (B-300-HDMATRIX-8x8) it was installed into the rack yesterday and only has 2 inputs and 3 outputs connected so far. The C4 driver and serial cable have not been put in yet.

I may have (hopefully) a gross misunderstanding of this so please feel free to correct and help.

I think I already may need to get rid of one tv. The EDID settings are set and meant to restrict the sources to the lowest common settings (looks like the edid learning tool just does that more specifically for each display) that they will be outputting to the displays. So if one intends to have all outputs assignable to all sources (why I bought a matrix) then the lowest common display capability will need to be set for all the sources.

I have a tv for a bathroom that only has two channel sound. It looks like if I have all the outputs set to the same source my three AVRs will not get multichannel sound output. I called SnapAV tech support this AM to confim this. This is probably just a factor in any matrix setup. I do not know but I think I remember reading that the hydraconnect included a workaround for this.

I am also concerned about 3D sources. Would all displays need to be 3D capable in order to use any of them? Or could one just make sure that 3D content was only sent to a capable display by only having that one active? If I have a 3D bluray, PS3 or whatever could I send 2D content to all displays but only sometimes send 3D content to capable displays without changing the EDID (they have a distinction for 3D on the EDID settings)?

Also no IP driver for Control4 yet but supposedly they are working on it.

I will try to test some of this stuff when I have time esp the multichannel audio. I need to get some 3D media and glasses to test 3D output.

[chesterwilson]

^I believe Gefen might make a audio splitter that will decode the audio to RCA and then leave the video on HDMI (I could also be wrong).

[vankaren]

Hey BUD,

I have several tv's connected to the switch and 2 of them output sound from the tv speaker(2ch). If all your tv's have hdmi, look at the chart in the owners manual and connect that tv to the output with 2ch. You should also connect your 3D source to one of the 3D OUTPUT on the switch. If your skills are good, maybe you can use the included software to set the edid per source. I installed the switch right out of the box without any configuration. Seems to work for me.

HDMI switching is very good on all connected displays but I notice that the Pioneer plasma and NEC plasma switch quicker than the two Samsung.

Hope this help

VanKaren

[Bud]

Thanks for the replies. The installer was over here today and put the C4 driver in. The dealer talked to SNAP and they said we can program it directly and force the output to multichannel with the EDID programming. That should work for me. I did not mention in my other post that all of my rooms have ceiling speakers connected to the two audio matrix switches so I am not planning on using the tv speakers. I guess we had just gotten a low end tv for the bathroom (no 3D in there ... ). As long as I can get it to just accept the audio signal even if there is no sound it will be fine for me.

If all your tv's have hdmi, look at the chart in the owners manual and connect that tv to the output with 2ch. You should also connect your 3D source to one of the 3D OUTPUT on the switch. If your skills are good, maybe you can use the included software to set the edid per source. I installed the switch right out of the box without any configuration. Seems to work for me

when I looked at that chart in the manual I thought it was referring to the EDID settings not which output the devices are connected to. I think you can set those for any input via the remote.

^I believe Gefen might make a audio splitter that will decode the audio to RCA and then leave the video on HDMI (I could also be wrong).

I was also wondering if it came down to it if there was some low cost solution that would take the signal with the 7.1 audio and just send the video to the tv (like an avr would).

Hopefully I will get a chance to play with it more this weekend.

[ILoveC4]

Anyone have any feedback on this matrix switch: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atlona-8x8-HDMI-Matrix-Switch-HDMI-1-3-AT-HD-V88M-/190706776469?pt=US_Video_Cables_Adapters&hash=item2c67027995

[1949live]

a couple of key understandings seem to be missing in this thread. first on EDID settings. Setting some EDID per output type pf arrangement works ONLY if you never plan to share sources. But since you bought a matrix to share sources, what's the point? For example, selecting a stereo display and then sharing in a multi-channel room will result in stereo in the multi room. Same applies to 3D settings. you cannot enable 3D in an EDID for one room only, as if a second 2D source connects you will see garbage on the screen. Also, you should understand that an EDID can only be changed to a source that is not producing video, and some sources even require power off.

The only real solution for the stereo/multi-channel problem is to seperate the two data streams. Use HDMI for multi-channel and a separate matrix for stereo fed directly from the sources ("stripping audio" from the HDMI stream does not work for many reasons including creating lip sync problems). This works in the case under discussion here as the TV speakers are not being used, something you can't do in a true matrix system (see our tech bulletin on this).

The only real solution to the 3D support issue is something like the dynamic 2D/3D support that we provide which modulates the 3D portion of the EDID based on the display's capabilities and the source's capabilities.

So in summary, yes you can get the system to work as has been discussed with the limitations that you need to understand and if you are OK with that, then great. Or you need to spend more for better gear. Either works.