How to add more HDMI inputs to your screen or TV
HowtoAV.tv looks at adding more HDMI inputs for your TV or screen.
With HDMI now effectively being the AV interface of choice, you may have noticed that we’re all needing more and more HDMI sockets on our TV or display screen, as we look to connect an ever-increasing number of devices into the limited HDMI inputs.
How do I add more HDMI inputs to my screen/TV?
With a whole host of sources now connected via HDMI – digital TV, DVD, BluRay or Apple TV for instance– how do we connect all these devices at the same time to our TV or display screen which only has 2 or 3 HDMI inputs?
The simplest solution is to use a HDMI Switcher, however another solution is a Matrix switcher.
What is a HDMI Switcher?
A HDMI Switcher is an add-on device to your AV system which features a number of HDMI inputs and, normally, 1 HDMI output. For example, a ‘4 In / 1 Out’ Switcher will allow 4 source devices (DVD players, Sky Box, etc) to be connected to the Switcher and the Switcher into just 1 of your screen’s HDMI inputs - effectively increasing the number of HDMI inputs by an additional 3.
Switchers are available in a range of variants – 2, 3, 4 or even 8 inputs – to significantly increase the flexibility of your TV.
What is a Matrix Switcher?
For systems with both multiple AV sources and multiple TVs or display screens, even greater control and flexibility can be achieved using a full Matrix Switcher.
An AV Matrix will allow simultaneous connectivity of up to 8, 16 – even 32 devices to a comparable number of output displays, allowing the user to send each input signal to either 1 or any number of the output displays.
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