If there is something with which the developers of external interfaces are hitting a stone, it is to see how they will do it in certain devices to be able to handle bandwidths that in total can amount to not tens but hundreds of gigabits per second in bandwidth. band. On PC thanks to PCI Express this is easy to achieve, but not on TVs and monitors where you see many devices with few high-speed HDMI ports. Which leads us to have to buy an HDMI switch or Switch, but be careful, you have to know how to choose to be up to date.
Be careful when buying an HDMI switch to alleviate the lack of ports
The different versions of the HDMI port were created due to the fact that as time passed, new panels appeared that supported a greater range of colors, more resolution, and even a higher refresh rate. That becomes more information to be sent from the video output of your PC’s graphics card or game console. Unfortunately, there are a lot of HDMI Switches on the market that fall short in terms of bandwidth.
What happens when the receiving device does not have enough bandwidth? Well, the issuer understands that it uses an older version of the HDMI standard. It doesn’t matter if there is support for the same version between the PC and, say, the monitor, if an intermediate device supports less information, then the bit rate that will reach the monitor or television will be lower. And this isn’t just the case with an HDMI switcher, it’s also the case with many low-end soundbars that the device plugs into and they not only separate audio from video for playback, but degrade the latter.
Actually, when we think about it, an HDMI switcher is a watered-down AV receiver. That is, they are two levels of complexity after the same idea. Of course, the simplest is good enough for most users, that the only thing they have to overcome is the lack of video inputs.
Another added problem, HDCP
Not all content can be transmitted through an HDMI switch, many of them do not support the digital rights standard, which is essential to transmit certain content. Without it, what we end up seeing is a totally black screen. The problem is that many models are not only limited in bandwidth, but also do not support HDCP. Hence, many of those who sell in the market
Let’s not forget about the Variable Refresh Rate
This only concerns you if you have a new generation console such as an Xbox Series in either of its two models or a PS5, it is one of the features that were included in version 2.1 of the HDMI standard and with its revision it has been become an optional theme. Its particularity? The same as NVIDIA’s G-SYNC and VESA’s Adaptive Sync, it gives control of the refresh rate and thus vertical sync to the sending device.
So far, if you had both consoles and since support for it had not been activated on PS5, it was as easy as if you had both consoles to connect the Xbox directly to the TV port and the PS5 to the HDMI Switch as long as it had support for HDMI 2.0 at least and HDCP 2.0.
So which model of HDMI switch to buy?
Now that we have exposed the problem, it is time to talk about the solution, there is a way to ensure that an HDMI switch has VRR support and that is the fact that this standard was created for 8K televisions, so any device with the ability to transmit to This resolution will be the ideal to solve said problem. That is why as a guide we have chosen two different models as a recommendation so that you can get an idea of what you have to buy when buying an HDMI switch for your needs.
