shmups.system11.org

Updated the original post to reflect that SGEYR is the switch to beat these days. Also added notes for 1x4 splitting and audio embedding.

Recently my son has started playing minecraft. Which necessitated hooking my PC up to my hdmi chain. This has been slightly annoying with my SGEYR switches because they always switch to the most recently powered thing. So turning on my PC would kill the OSSC signal most of the time.

I had been meaning to switch back to the Vorke HD41 for the tail end of the chain so I can use it's priority system to always pick the OSSC over my PC until I manually tell it otherwise. But I've been super lazy the past 2 months.

I finally made the swap tonight and discovered that the HD41 doesn't have as robust a priority system as I believed. And does the exact same thing as the SGEYR. So, bleh, SGEYR wins top spot in my book.

Now I guess I need to find a good mechanical switch to stabilize the PC vs OSSC fight.

Hope I didn't miss it, but can you turn the auto switching off on the SGEYR? I don't see a button for it on the remote. 100% of the time I have an OSSC and XRGB-mini and Extron DSC 301 HD (all turned on) plugged into my HDMI switch, and on the Vorke I kept it onto manual switching because of this.

One review said a workaround for the auto switching was to NOT power the switcher externally? Would HDMI from those above sources power the switch adequately, and does this work?

I'm looking for a new switch when I already have the Vorke because the Vorke is buried behind my server rack, and I commonly might not use anything for a week, sometimes longer, and when I come back and power everything on for some reason the Vorke commonly won't switch for me ...either it's turned off, or might have switched into auto mode...I really don't know as I can't see the light-up status buttons unless I climb behind the rack which is a pain (and just have to fiddle with the remote until I get a picture).

Come to think of it I've had similar problems with the ViewHD UHD1X2 splitters too - them not recognizing a signal to be split until I power them off then on again.

I don't think you can turn the auto switching off. It's got a manual override. But I assume it will still switch to a device that is powered on after making a manual selection.

A couple devices in my chain will definitely power on using just the hdmi cable. But I wouldn't call it reliable. The PS4 did a video initialization loop when I tried this. I think it cuts power when switching resolutions. And it was switching resolutions whenever the switch powered back on.

I also don't know if powering switches that way taxes the source somehow.

I've occasionally had trouble with devices failing to switch or split. But most of the time it's because of my DC power splitting configuration. As soon as I do fewer barrel splits, it usually works great. So investigating your power setup is recommended.

I can't speak to whether these things don't do their job when continuously powered for a long time. I shut off my whole rack when I'm done gaming.

So if they're ALL powered on already, and you manually select one, there's no problem with it staying on the one you selected?

What happens if you change a multiplier mode on the OSSC (or an input on a DSC 301 HD) or whatever so the signal drops for a split second, then comes on again – is it going to auto switch to another powered-on device at that moment? ...that would definitely be a deal breaker if it does something like that.





Mine are all individually powered with the cables/bricks they come with. I'm pretty sure everything is on/off when I turn the master switch on my rack on or off (I should double check that though, the bottom half with the consoles is always on). Haven't been able to reproduce or find out exactly what makes them not split, and it's not super common (like the Vorke's issues) at least.

This is also why we need a decent ~8x8ish MATRIX switch! I've owned 1080p ones (which didn't like retro scalers, sadly) but there's still no 4K ones that don't cost an arm and a leg.

Even if you don't have things turned on they can still draw power, this is known as "vampire power" and for that reason alone if you are leaving things plugged in you should use power strips with physical disconnects to stop any unwanted power draw. The og xbox for example has a crazy amount of vampire power when it is turned off and if you have 10+ consoles plugged in 24/7 this can add up to a lot of money wasted each year. If you have 20+ consoles plugged in at one time and turned off this can even draw enough power to flip a breaker.

Using a power strip/surge protector with physical disconnects also offers a lot of protection against power surges because things left plugged in can be fried but with a physical gap between the connection as well as a surge protector it requires an extremely bad power surge (think direct lightning strike to your house bad) to overcome those safeguards. Of course if your video or ethernet cables go from a powered on device to a device that doesn't even have its power cable plugged in it can still be fried through those cables in an extreme power surge so it is important to disconnect everything including your upscalers, switches, and tvs as well as surge protect your ethernet lines (or use wifi) to fully protect from a power surge. I strongly suggest this product because it makes physically disconnecting things as easy as flicking a few switches all located in one place: (Also note that surge protecting ethernet lines will reduce your speeds but if you have a fiber optic connection it will still be fast enough to stream an hour long 1080p tv show in >2 minutes)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BQO5S0G

And this kind of jackassery with autodetect flipping out and selecting the wrong sources or blacking out too long when there is a resolution change as it cycles through every input source is exactly why I insist on only using switches that have manual modes with autoswitching disabled. Rip gcomp/scart products. Thank god for extron.

If I left my Ryzen 1600X running 24 hours a day for a year, it would cost me about $50 on the year. I think you and pretty much everyone that reports on it overestimate the cost of vampire power.

That's not a useful figure because you left out the power consumption.


Energy prices vary a lot around the world. Here in Germany we have a very messed-up market that results in consumer prices of around 0.30 EUR per kWh, so a device that draws 1W 24/7 has a yearly cost of about 2.63 EUR.

The point is that consoles designed to be off when off aren't going to cost that much money. The power draw is negligible from a real world perspective. If one was to get anal retentive about it and fret over a couple bucks, he's got bigger problems than his electrical bills

Current gen Ryzen cpus are very good on power (at least compared to the thermonuclear devices that are Intel cpus) but comparing a single device against 20 retro ones (power efficiency has greatly improved over the years) is hardly an apples to apples comparison.

Do you think 20 powered off retro consoles use as much power as an always on Ryzen? Of course not, and again, that's my point. I refuse to do the math because I'm lazy and don't care enough, but how much would these "vampire consoles" cost each year? I'm guessing a couple of dollars max, which, if my uneducated guess is correct, is absolutely negligible.

44 systems would draw 165 watts at once. Leaving that running for a full year is not cheap where I live. At the very least I could think of a few things I would rather spend that money on. And once again it would really suck if a power surge happened and everything I have plugged in got fried. Many of the mods are expensive and really annoying to obtain. And if drawing a lot of power when it is turned off confuses your switching setup because of poor power isolation then that is just another reason not to deal with that.
https://youtu.be/cjxgoJ86tFY

This is a stupid argument as neither of us will listen to the other. I really don't care what you do with your console power situation.

Yup, you can choose to waste power and money, have potential switching issues, and risk tens of thousands of dollars in hard to get consoles/mods/installation services if you want. But I'm not just talking to you I'm talking to anyone that would read this thread and I strongly suggest against doing things that way so I explained it and did the math.

I imagine that, if you've got the knowledge and income to support a video gaming hobby to that extent, you would be buying something with surge protection, and you would be putting the more sophisticated devices (the ones that don't do well when suddenly powered off) on a UPS. If you're concerned about power usage, get something with a switch so you can turn it off.

No one should be putting important, expensive, and/or difficult-to-replace electronics on unprotected mains power, especially if they aren't prepared to replace everything. (And, on that note, those concerned about this issue should double-check their homeowner's/renter's insurance to see if it covers damage from power surges.)

No way in hell I'm turning everything off at the power strip every time I want to play to save $2 a month, that's just a waste of time

First, who has 44 consoles and dares to consider the OUYA one of them?

Second, how many packs of cigarettes do you smoke each day? How many coffees do you buy? Do you unplug every TV in your house when you're not using it? You should also unplug your cable box too because it's constantly updating and displaying the time. I assume you already unplug or switch off every PC you own when not in use. Do you remove rechargeable batteries from devices (remote controls, etc) when not using them? It'll cost money to recharge those. You should probably unscrew your smart/LED light bulbs for good measure, we wouldn't want them leeching power either. What about your heater when your house is already warm, and the AC when already cool? Finally there's your microwave, digital clocks, cable modems, land lines when not in use, stereo equipment, smart speakers and other smart devices, your garage door opener, electric toothbrush, and most importantly: literally any constantly charging device.

I realize that list seems absurd, and it is. If you're going to be anal about 165W, then you should do a fiscal evaluation on your entire lifestyle, and be willing to make some serious changes.

As for risking "tens of thousands of dollars" in equipment, that's what good quality surge protection is for. I agree 100% that anyone serious about preserving any electronic should protect their investments in that manner. It's the switching everything off I take exception to. I'm not going to do that with above laundry list and potentially save much more money, I'm not going to do it with my ~14 consoles. It's pedantic, but there's a line between saving money and paying for convenience.

My rack mounted power switches are right next to my tv. It takes like 3 seconds, and it saves ~$20 usd a month not counting the 10s of thousands of dollars it would save me in damages if a power surge ever happened. And some of the mods (ultra hdmi, gdemu. rhea, psio, dreamcast hdmi, wii hdmi, ect) only go on sale once every few months if that. Not to mention the consoles I have like a cdi that was only used as a demo kiosk and a functional version of one shows up like once every year on ebay and my kingdom hearts limited edition ps4 that is ~$700-$800 on ebay. Also you make it sound like you play 30 consoles in one go every time you sit down to game. How hard is it to turn things off when you are done with them if you play one or two consoles at a time?




1st, Congratulations, you made the same OUYA comment everyone else that watched the video made.

2nd, I don't smoke and my work provides me with free coffee. I do drink 1 energy drink each work day and I get a 12 pack that lasts me a week and a half-ish for $17. My tv is also on my rack mount power strip so when I'm done using it I just flick the switch. My remotes have largely been replaced by my phone as pretty much everything has an app or ir blaster you can control it with. I do use rechargeable batteries in everything that takes them as they are cheaper than buying and throwing out batteries constantly and when I'm done with them (usually video game controllers) I put them in contact free battery holders: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YG7JQO the exception being controllers with built in batteries and I recharge those every 6 months for battery health. And my smart lights and outlets (only for the high draw power items) is set to automatically turn off/on when I enter/leave the gps location of my house (leaving does turn on my motion sensors, door alarms, and security cameras though so ya got me there but the cost of the button cell in my door alarm/motion sensor that lasts ~6 months is a cost I'm willing to pay considering what they are protecting). I use my phone as my clock, have a manual garage door because my motor died and they are super expensive and of course my audio receiver is on my rack mount power switch and I make an effort to unplug constantly charging devices when not in use (For example I charge my toothbrush while I'm showering and unplug it afterwards).

And while I agree completely that $200+ a year in power is something you should care about and should make an effort to control other power waste the point is also to protect your expensive equiptment and avoid any issue with autoswitchers which sit somewhere between hdmi copy protection and printers in the list of devices you're likely to encounter in the 8th circle of hell. And flicking 4 switches on my rackmount setup (console, tv, scaler & switches, and audio receiver) 2 feet from my tv and then just changing what console is powered on until I'm ready to turn everything off takes literally 3 seconds because I flick the first 3 switches and then I need to find the name of the console I want to play.

cool I'm still not doing it

I had some problems with the Awakelion 5X1, with my LG TV turning black then showing noise, then black again and so on until I unplug the switch. It did not happen frequently but was enough to be annoying. I'm trying the SGEYR.

EDIT : I deleted a second post in which I said my Switch wasn't showing with the SGEYR switch I just received, I just made it work (I'm not sure how), I'll update if necessary.

EDIT 2 : Looks like the Switch can't show if you're using USB power (though it managed to show me God of War in HDR with USB power only, go figure). Using the proper power supply and it works now. Adding a nice thing with this switch is that it reverts to my Chromecast signal everytime I power off other devices, something my Awakelion wasn't doing.

Yeah. The SGEYR, ViewHD Prosumer, and Vorke HD41 are all really good about falling back to another signal if there is one.

You'd think that was a basic feature of every automatic switch. Sadly not the case.

I played a bit of Control tonight on my PS4 Pro and noticed what looked like frame drops, I know Control isn't the best game in this regard but I'm incidentally replaying it because I lost my save so I already know how it's supposed to behave, and this is not it.

I captured nearly 15 minutes of my play and extracted the worst sequence here :
https://twitter.com/presenceinwired/sta ... 9246275585

Can't say for sure if it's the switch or if the game was somehow messed up by a recent update. I'm tempted to ask on the Discord. What do you think ?

I'm highly reluctant to blame the SGEYR for frame drops. I've had multi-hour play sessions on mine with no issues.

That being said. HDMI is voodoo. If I were you, I'd run a few tests to eliminate variables.

1. Try unplugging everything else from the switch. Maybe some other device is waking up for a few seconds.

2. Try bypassing the switch with each cable. I've had more than 1 cable go bad in my setup. And I usually buy them in sets. So it's not indicative of the general ability of the cable when it happens.

Just had my TESmart 16x1 HDMI KVM 4k60hz switch arrive today and spent the day installing it into my rackmount setup and testing it out. So far so good. Man it sure is difficult always reaching to the power switches and then pressing the video switches, hell 6 of my consoles are component so I have to press ossc on the hdmi switch and then press the console on the extron switch! That's like... 3 buttons I need to press to play some of the consoles! Pretty wild but on the bright side I have 0 autoswitching issues, surge protection, and don't waste any power so I guess I'll have to live with all that extra effort.


(I can't wait for 2 of my analogue consoles to get replaced by fpga cores or get hdmi mods so I can get a 1u 4 port extron switcher and save 2u more of rackmount slots)

My Extron is 1U and its an 8x4 matrix

Huh, is that one of the models that doesn't have built in audio? The best I could find for component video extron switches in 1u that also have audio is a 4 input model.

Oh well thanks for the heads up but a ps1 hdmi mod is right around the corner and they also have a ps2 hdmi mod almost done with development, and another guy is working on an xbox hdmi mod and a ps1 fpga core is probably coming in 2020 and the ps5 is backwards compatible with every previous playstation model (although how good it is remains to be seen) so I'm betting I'll be able to reduce my analogue consoles from 6 down to 4 or less by at least the end of the year. The way MiSTer gets developed for someone might just throw a cdi core at us out of the blue lol.

It does have built-in audio - the video is on DE-15 connectors and the audio is 3.5mm stereo jacks inputs and phoenix connector outputs.

Otherwise the performance is the same: RGBS, RGBHV, YPbPr all supported

There's a way to make a point without being a douchebag, and you haven't found it. We're still not wasting our time with your suggestions on power switches, just let it go already.

You spent a month praising this KVM's potential and your review is "so far so good"? Not likely to make anyone run out to buy one.

Sorry for not looking through the thread, but any particular HDMI cable recommendations? I'm pushing 1440p at 120 Hz with my PC most of the time, and even with short runs a number of "high speed" HDMI cables around the house have been causing occasional signal drops. Unless my Yamaha AVR is the problem of course...

HDMI 2.1 future-proofing would be nice as well, if those cables are out yet.

I think you want to do 1440p/4K, you want cables that advertise 18Gbps throughput, and it helps when they have an HDMI certification and/or are labeled "Premium High Speed HDMI Cable". I don't think brand really matters, unless you're trying to go beyond 5 meters, and then you're looking at "active" HDMI cables, which are, I think, basically HDMI over Ethernet cables with the transceivers baked into the connectors.

I've been having fair luck with Securomax cables on Amazon for 4K60RGB. I have no data for anything higher bandwidth than that.

I do occasionally have one go bad and no longer able to carry 4K60RGB. But I think that's because I shuffle them around quite a bit during hdmi switch testing.

I've been told that 6 feet is optimal for a high bandwidth cable. But have no evidence to back that up.

From what I understand. An active cable is doing the same job as a repeater. Receiving the signal and re-quantizing the data to reset any introduced noise. So I'm not sure they make sense coming right out of a source or switch. But coupling one in after 6-10 feet may help. At the cost of longer black screen transitions when resolution changes.