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Blackbird matrix or other?


drmark12pa

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I'm looking at upgrading my current matrix to a 4k matrix that will be based in a rack for in home distribution.  Basically up to 8 rooms total.  My current situation I have a few AVPro baluns which work quite well over in home cat5 cabling.

Does anyone have experience with the Blackbird matrix line from Monoprice? Seems you can't go wrong on the price which also includes the baluns.  Just wondering how solid this is as well as how it plays with Control4.  http://enews.emails.monoprice.com/q/5yHrDILbErzeULWL0XdhWEtHhciwKrEyt5EPZcOJZHJtYXJrMTJwYUBhb2wuY29tw4hGQSBBbGVydHNcUHJvZHVjdCBMaW5rIFVSTMOJaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubW9ub3ByaWNlLmNvbS9wcm9kdWN0P3BfaWQ9Mzk2NzDDiAHyUNDi48cKzfBCM-dUZlYBchDw

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1 hour ago, drmark12pa said:

I'm looking at upgrading my current matrix to a 4k matrix that will be based in a rack for in home distribution.  Basically up to 8 rooms total.  My current situation I have a few AVPro baluns which work quite well over in home cat5 cabling.

Does anyone have experience with the Blackbird matrix line from Monoprice? Seems you can't go wrong on the price which also includes the baluns.  Just wondering how solid this is as well as how it plays with Control4.  http://enews.emails.monoprice.com/q/5yHrDILbErzeULWL0XdhWEtHhciwKrEyt5EPZcOJZHJtYXJrMTJwYUBhb2wuY29tw4hGQSBBbGVydHNcUHJvZHVjdCBMaW5rIFVSTMOJaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubW9ub3ByaWNlLmNvbS9wcm9kdWN0P3BfaWQ9Mzk2NzDDiAHyUNDi48cKzfBCM-dUZlYBchDw

I have no experience with that model.  I had a previous 4x4 Matrix from Monoprice when I first started out with C4 circa 2013.  It was junk.  Monoprice swapped it out for me 2x, and same issues.  Good support, bad hardware.

A lot could have changed in 2022, but if cost is a concern, I'd look at BYOHardware solution of Video Storm, or go look at AVEdge Pro or Binary MOIP if money isn't the concern.

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like prior post, we had a blackbird when we first switched to C4 (not this particular model but same idea) it worked fine on its own but there were no drivers that worked with it and the lack of any control at all for integration was a deal breaker.  I sold it and replaced it with a C4 video matrix and it was one of the best upgrades we've made.

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2 hours ago, TFlury said:

I have not used that on either. But with AV you get what you pay for. AVPro is great hardware and support. Monoprice is a bit iffy on both. That being said I have this matrix in my house acting as a HDMI and audio matrix https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=24180

How do you like the 8x8 Blackbird?

I did have the original 4x4 Monoprice long ago and it would drop signals occasionally where I'd have to disconnect the HDMI and restart to apparently overcome handshaking issues

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23 minutes ago, drmark12pa said:

How do you like the 8x8 Blackbird?

Honestly I love it, it was low cost and fits the role I needed. It will some times have handshake issues with my Xbox One X using a fiber HDMI but all other sources have no issues ( Fire TV 4k, chrome cast, spectrum cable box, normal Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Retro Pie, EA5 HDMI for streaming audio no OSD). Analog and digital audio extraction, matrixing, and volume control all work great.

But as Dueport said they have no drivers so I had to build one for it.

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10 minutes ago, TFlury said:

Honestly I love it, it was low cost and fits the role I needed. It will some times have handshake issues with my Xbox One X using a fiber HDMI but all other sources have no issues ( Fire TV 4k, chrome cast, spectrum cable box, normal Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Retro Pie, EA5 HDMI for streaming audio no OSD). Analog and digital audio extraction, matrixing, and volume control all work great.

But as Dueport said they have no drivers so I had to build one for it.

What baluns are you using with the Blackbird?

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Just now, LollerAgent said:

What baluns are you using with the Blackbird?

I only have 1 for my master bedroom TV. My house is not to large so everything else is home ran HDMIs. I used a cheap Monoprice 70m kit for the bedroom. Its a 1080 TV that does not get used to much.

70m kit - https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=21609

For future use I ran 6 element fiber all over the place and plan to use these when I have time https://fibercommand.com/collections/hdmi-extenders/products/8k-fiber-plugs

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/24/2022 at 10:20 PM, TFlury said:

Honestly I love it, it was low cost and fits the role I needed. It will some times have handshake issues with my Xbox One X using a fiber HDMI but all other sources have no issues ( Fire TV 4k, chrome cast, spectrum cable box, normal Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Retro Pie, EA5 HDMI for streaming audio no OSD). Analog and digital audio extraction, matrixing, and volume control all work great.

But as Dueport said they have no drivers so I had to build one for it.

I have the serial driver for it, I also have an HDbaseT Blackbird and it’s fine with me, I have it hooked into a power recycling socket, which when the going gets tough (once every 3-4 months) I just ♻️ power and it’s back to normal!

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  • 11 months later...
On 10/24/2022 at 3:20 PM, TFlury said:

Honestly I love it, it was low cost and fits the role I needed. It will some times have handshake issues with my Xbox One X using a fiber HDMI but all other sources have no issues ( Fire TV 4k, chrome cast, spectrum cable box, normal Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Retro Pie, EA5 HDMI for streaming audio no OSD). Analog and digital audio extraction, matrixing, and volume control all work great.

But as Dueport said they have no drivers so I had to build one for it.

Good morning.... I have the same equipment (Blackbird 4k 8x8 24180) and I have been looking for a Controller to integrate it into Control4 and it does not exist, so I would be very grateful if you could share your Controller so I can integrate it into my system... in advance Thank you so much

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