HDMI Connectivitiy

[jon]

My Dad just bought a sweet new LCD TV with an HD Dish Network receiver and an HD DVD player.  The guy at Best Buy told my Dad that the TV had 2 HDMI inputs but he was wrong, there is only one.  How can I connect both the HD Dish Network receiver and the HD DVD player to the TV at the same time?

[Dan]

If I were you I'd take the TV back but there are some options that will work for you if you don't want to do that.

The quickest answer is that you need an HDMI switch. Does it need to be HDCP compliant? Accell has a 2-port HDMI switch that is HDCP compliant and comes with a remote control. It's probably the cheapest switch available for your particular problem.

You could also use an HDMI adapter to switch either your HD receiver or DVD player to a different type of input. We have pretty inexpensive solutions for that.
HDMI to DVI Adapter - This is the best option because it keeps the signal digital and so you can expect little to no loss in quality but then you need something to handle audio. If you can run a separate audio line from your equipement outside of the HDMI this is a pretty cheap solution.

More advanced solutions would be something like the DVDO iScan VP20 HDMI switch this is a lot more advanced and probably overkill for your problem. It handles three HDMI inputs with a single output and provides advanced resolution/display control along with numerous audio inputs and automation options.

If I were you and I had separate audio lines that I could use I would use the second solution (assuming you have DVI input on your TV) otherwise I'd go with the first solution.

Hope that helps.

[Dan]

Actually, I just found a cheaper HDMI switch, try getting the four Port HDMI switch with remote ($79.95) it's a little bigger than Accell's 2-port switch ($98.95) but it's 20 bucks cheaper and gives you two extra ports to grow into should you decided to add some more HDMI devices to your system.

[Jordan]

Personally I like the Accell. It's just so cute. Plus the remote on it is just so handy. But to be sure, most other switches are much more expensive. Chek out the Accell HDMI switch.

[Ryan]

One other cool thing about the Accell switch is that it comes with an IR extender cable so you can place it in a cabinet and route the cable so that it is just in view so that you don't even have to see the switch at all.  Its a great switch for the price.

[Jordan]

I'd buy it purely for the ir extender. You can hide the switch behind the TV so that only the IR port is showing. By the way, this post got me out of New kid status.

[Ryan]

Jordan, I believe that I just said that.  By the way this made me the 3rd real member of the SewellDirect forum.