Customer Reviews

5-port HDMI switch with Remote Control (5-in 1-out)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If only all manuf. would post their compliance ratings...sigh.

Well, the HDX-501 is only HDMI 1.2a complaint. (As of ver 2.1 of the product) Just so you know!

It took me a while to find this detail and I'll save others from the madness now with this post.

(The rating is given only because Amazon forms requires it regardless of relevancy. I of course don't own it given what I only just found out. It does get rave reviews at AVS forums )

I've been living with this product for about 8 months now and it works great most of the time. In my system I have an Apple TV, Comcast Cable Box and up-converting DVD player. Since my TV has only one HDMI port I routed these devices through the HDMI switcher then to my TV. From my TV I have digital audio out going to my receiver. I use a Logitech Harmony programmable remote to turn on and off all my device and it works great with this box.

Now for the negatives.
1) Occasionally when switching to Cable TV or DVD the unit doesn't recognize the signal change and the light for that port blinks red and green. This is usually remedied by switching to my Apple TV, letting it get recognized, then switching back.
2) In addition... very rarely audio will not work with a certain device/port. This has happened 3 or 4 times since I've owned the device. It takes switching around a few things and turning things on and off again to get this working. Audio seems to have totally stopped working for my dvd player, so I had to route digital audio from my dvd player directly to the receiver (instead of going through the HDMI cable and out from my TV).
3) Finally some devices only seem to work on port 5. My Apple TV only seems to work on port 5 and I've read the same for PS3 units.

Despite this unit being low priced and generally working well I cannot recommend something with this many flaws for a home theater set up. It's frustrating when it fails and even though I know how to work around the failures... my in laws, wife and kids etc... do not have the debugging skills. I'm going to try another hdmi switcher (with the apple tv form factor) and see how that goes.

The box works well for what I use it for - switching video. All audio goes to a separate receiver with optical or coax so I can't vouch for audio quality.

The unit is very simple to set up (plug stuff in), is very small, and does the job. The included remote, a universal remote or the litle button on the front can be used to switch inputs. The included HDMI cable seems to be fine as well, I saw no picture degradation.

Attached Devices: Samsung 46" DLP @ 720p, DirecTV HR20-100, DirecTV HR10-200, and Samsung DVD-HD841 upconverting DVD player. I also use a Logitech 688 universal remote which works great with it, and is the only way to fly with multiple devices.

Hi everyone.
I purchased this "5-Port HDMI switch" from Monoprice, model # HDX-501 And man it has made my life so much more easy! I have so many products with HDMI connections on them but only 1 HDMI port. I have a Vizio 32" HD LCD TV with only one HDMI Port, DVD player with HDMI, Xbox 360 Elite with HDMI, Cable Box with HDMI and PS3 with HDMI. All products have worked very good no matter what slot I plug them in to and every products video Looks so good. (No bad effects from going through the switcher.) At first I tried a "PACE" cable box from Time Warner Cable because it had HDMI and that did not work with the switch so I went back and got the HD DVR because that was the only other box that had HDMI output on it. That one worked very good. It was a "Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000HD DVR ". I also never have seen anyone say if the Xbox 360 Elite works good with the switch so I wanted to add my party and say it does ! YES !!!! Now on to a new stereo and Logitech remote. I have seen where people have been able to program the Logitech remote for use with the switch so I am going to give it a try on the "Logitech Harmony 670 Universal Remote" and I'll let everyone know how it went when I am done testing.

First off it worked great and is very nice looking (small). This is the cheapest HDMI switch with 5-port I found, but also the most expense video switch I ever bought also. Component switch only run between 20-50 buck. I use this to switch between the PS3 and DVD up-converter and it is very responsive. Got quick delivery from lusopc.

The manufacture is Monoprice and HDMI Switcher is just the product name. A couple of other manufactures use this same hardware, just slapping their own brand on it. My TV is a 32" Vizio displaying 1080i and see no image lost at all. HDMI 1.3 cable and switch are compatible with older version. Only the devices (PS3, stero reciever) that output that need to be 1.3 compatible. This is not like the USB upgrade to USB2.

Performs exactly as advertised. Remote works easily. It allows me to input my dvd recorder, my blu-ray dvd with wireless and my HD Directv receiver into my older Magnavox 50" TV which has only one HDMI input, with absolutely no problems. What more can you ask?

So far this switch has worked great. One nice feature is that if there is no signal on one port it goes to the next good signal. So if you turn off your Blu-ray player it will automatically switch to your set-top box or whatever.
I recommend this and a few 6 ft. and 15 ft. HDMI cables from Amazon, and you are all set!

This HDMI switch is flaky. I knew it was a bad sign when the enclosed manual specifies that the DC power supply must provide 2A of current, but the supply that was included only supplies 0.5A. :( That's just the beginning.

My PC's HDMI output does not work 95% of the time through the switch. The switch will convert the signal into an odd static pattern, with no discernible image or sound. The other 5% of the time, it works perfectly. Works perfectly 100% of the time when the PC is plugged directly into the TV. I tried replacing all cables, to no avail. It's definitely the switch.

My Xbox360 HDMI output is flaky when used through the switch. Sometimes the video becomes horribly garbled after it's been working properly for a while. When that happens, the only solution is to power cycle the Xbox360. Very annoying.

My Oppo DVD player and PlayStation 3 work reliably with the switch, so it's not a total loss. Also, the remote is nice. But when half my devices won't work with the switch, there is something wrong with the switch.

It makes me wonder if the switch would work right if I found a 2A power supply, like the manual requires. I don't have one lying around, and I don't want to have to buy one, so I'll probably never know.

this is a great thing to have i have had it since august and it is now december it is great to have but the remote isnt great i only had 1 hdmi and now i have 5 the graphics through ist are great and i thought that it wouldnt have good ones over all good to have

they sent in on time

it works just the way it should

the price is half what my ditribtor wants