Customer Reviews

Sony DMEX DMXSW1 HDMI BRAVIA Input Link

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4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Sony DMEX DMXSW1 HDMI BRAVIA Input Link is a great addition to my Bravia TV. It has added five additions HDMI inputs to my TV and I am using them all. Before I had another HDMI selector and yet another remote on the coffee table. The Sony DMEX DMXSW1 HDMI BRAVIA Input Link works seamlessly with the TV's remote. Simply hit HOME select the input and hit ENTER, just that easy! And the wife likes that there is one less remote!Sony DMEX DMXSW1 HDMI BRAVIA Input Link

I'm writing this review to help anyone who's interested in this product. I've gotten help from other reviewers before, so this is a "pay-it-back" effort.

I've had a Sony KDS-60A3000 60-inch projection TV for almost 4 years now. I love the set (I even bought a 50-inch model for the bedroom when I learned Sony was discontinuing the model in early 2008). This model has three (3) HDMI ports and two (2) component ports for a total of five (5) HD inputs. I've managed to fill all those ports with a variety of devices: a PS3, Bose 3-2-1 Home Theater receiver, Dish Satellite DVR, Sony DVD/VHS recorder, and a Panasonic DVD recorder. So, when I wanted to add a Roku or a Sony streaming box or anything else (like my laptop which has HDMI), I had to unhook one of the HDMI cords to open up one of the three ports. Not terribly inconvenient, but it sure made me wish for 1 or 2 (or 3 or 4!) extra HDMI ports.

I could have bought any number of off-brand HDMI switchers on the market (with or without remote control), but I remembered that Sony at one time (3-4 years ago) was still selling an accessory for most of its higher-level HDTVs that fully integrated with the set's built-in input selector. So, I went looking for it again. I found that Sony no longer sells it (it was $150 originally, then $99 and finally $69 when I last saw it on Sony's outlet site a couple of years ago). I remember deciding not to buy it back then because I thought that three HDMI ports would always be enough. Well, I was wrong. Because I fully expect my Sony projection TV will last for many more years (it still draws comments from visitors who ask what kind of an LCD it is as the image is so smooth, bright, and film-like), I went looking for the device on Amazon. I found it from some other vendors, but Amazon's policy to guarantee its 3rd-party sellers is a powerful incentive to buy from/through Amazon.

I found (as will you, most likely), several vendors that will sell a new one for $100 or more. Fortunately, there were also some used ones for a more reasonable price. I am not a stranger to buying refurbs, open-boxes, or "outlet" products as long as I can return them if they don't work or are not as advertised. I made a great choice in buying from a small vendor who had the foresight to write a very clear, detailed description of the open-box product he was selling. That description sold me on him over another vendor who was asking $9 less for a used one that was not so clearly described (so, in sense, the clear description was not only a selling point but it also brought the seller an extra $9 return).

OK, so how does the thing WORK?. In short, it work exactly as Sony says it will work. It adds 4 HDMI ports to the set for a total of 7. I can use the TV's remote control to switch between all the ports, including the new, external ones (they are named "Input Link" on the screen). The only caveat is the Input Link ports do NOT appear when I press the Input button on the remote (this button still works for all the "native" ports on the TV). I have to press the Home button on the remote which immediately brings up the entire list of all active ports, including the 5 Input Link ports added by this device. It's strange that the TV has two ways to access its inputs (i.e., the Input button and the Home button), but that oddity is the gateway to extending the input functionality of the TV. The HDMI Control feature (a standard supported by almost all vendors) is also fully implemented by the Input Link device which means that when I turn on my Sony DVD/VHS recorder hooked to a port on the Input Link device, the TV comes on and it automatically switches to the correct external input port, just as it did when the recorder was hooked to one of the TV's 3 native HDMI ports. Neat.

One caveat: unfortunately there's no way to rename the ports on the Input Link. The name used is specified by the device (there's some logic going on in there) to either the name assigned to and reported by the device (such as the Sony DVD/VHS recorder) or to a fixed name matched to one of the Input Link's port numbers (e.g., Recorder, Input Link-2). The documentation (which is still available for download from Sony's support website) explains these naming oddities. All in all, it was not too hard to get things working smoothly and clearly. However, I do wish the Roku2 XS box allowed me to change it's HDMI Control name, but heck, it doesn't (imagine that--a feature not included in this otherwise top of the line device). I also bought a refurbished "N100" model of the Sony streaming box which works much like the Roku and it hooks up fine to the Input Link device and reports its name correctly.

Oh, oh, I almost forgot a VERY IMPORTANT THING...not all Sony TVs support this device (by "support" I mean the TV has to have the logic built into its firmware to recognize and use this Input Link device). Most newer Sony TVs (and all non-Sony TVs) do NOT support this device, so don't think you can buy one to increase the number of HDMI ports for one of the 2010 or 2011 LCD models from Sony. It took some digging for me to verify that the KDS-60A3000 (and its smaller siblings) support the device, but I found a mention of it on Sony's website and one an external site.

One thing that disappoints me: although my TV "supports" the device, the device cannot mount directly to the back of the TV using the included bracket and clip hardware. There are just no open holes or mounting area for the device (the documentation shows it being mounted to the back panel of an unnamed LCD TV). But, the GOOD THING is the device is designed to look like an attractive black box with very sturdy rubber feet. The box itself is handsome and obviously very well made (heavy and finely detailed). It sits nicely on top of another box (my Bose) and its power adapter (kinda big) is well out of the way as the cord is long. I mention this point just because I had fantasies of mounting the device to the back of the TV. I'm sure I'll get used to it being more of a "set-top" box rather than a "piggy-back" box. I'm just very pleased that the thing works with my TV. I now have a means of connecting a crazy number of devices to my old, reliable, beautiful Bravia SXRD projection set. The Input Link also came shipped with a very high-quality HDMI cable (worth as much as I paid for the device). I've seen some pretty shabby HDMI cables shipped with Sony DVD players, so I was pleased to see a top-tier cable included with the device.

One more purchasing comment: by waiting for a few years, I actually paid a lot less for this device than I would have if I'd bought it years ago before I felt I needed it. That's the miracle of modern merchandising (such as Amazon's) of used products, and I for one am grateful for their efforts. I should mention that the "other" big website-based vendor (it has the letter "e" in its name) also had some people willing to sell this device. But, the cost was much higher and there is, of course, no guarantee like Amazon offers (have you ever tried to get the "e" to pay off on a vendor that fails to perform....I have and so I know it's a crazy mess compared to the big "A"). I skipped the "e" and went right to the "A".

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them here and I'll try to answer. I wish you good luck if you are looking to buy this device for an older Sony TV (LCD or projection). I hope reading my experience has been helpful to you.

My Bravia has only three hdmi inputs and I wanted to connect five hdmi devices. The unit has five hdmi inputs and uses one of the tv's hdmi inputs to plug in. So I ended up with seven hdmi inputs. It works very well, the inputs are all accesable with the tv's remote in the tv's menu. The only thing I don't like is you can't program labels describing what device is plugged into each one. Other than that It seems to work great.

This product is essentially an HDMI hub that you can control with your TV. As such, you might think that this gizmo would do the obvious thing: let the devices plugged into it authenticate with each other so that your TV can decrypt your cable box's precious encrypted signal. I'm hear to tell you that you'd be wrong. After my hopes and dreams for this product failed, I returned the unit to the seller, coughing up shipping and a restocking fee in the process. I can't explain this much better than the seller did in his refund message:

"hi. the HUD works fine. if you read operating instructions, you will know it clearly states not compatible with HDCP on the trobuleshooting section.therefore, i will charges you 25% restocking fee of the purchase price plus the shipping fee I paid. thanks"

Side note: The menu access sucks even when everything does work. It did its job, but it was awkward.

Just don't buy this thing. You'll be happier. Trust a random dude on the internet.

got this in record time and was exactly what was expected. think Amazon undersells sellers like this!