I recommend this HDMI Equipment for OSSC + 4K60 18Gbps

[Wolf_]

I bought one off amazon that works a treat. Still not clear whether it's allowed to discuss though

Personally I don't see the need as I have a computer I download most movies I want to watch on and just watch off my monitor or hdmi into my tv. Alternatives for streaming include just owning a smart tv (which most tvs are by default now) or buying a fire stick/chromecast/nvidia shield/ect ect x1billion. And if you have physical media a standalone cd/dvd/blueray player of decent quality probably costs like $20. There is no reason not to turn hdcp off on your consoles and just watch you movies/shows some other way to alleviate the headaches hdcp causes.

Besides it isn't exactly secure anyways having been cracked the first day it was released. All it really does is cause headaches for people trying to watch stuff legally ironically. My main concern is having another device handling hdmi in the chain not knowing what quirks it will have with different resolutions and refresh rate combos, if it will compress the data, and if it adds any lag. Because hdmi is voodoo I vastly prefer to have as few devices as possible handling the signal. Namely directly from the console, to the switcher, to the tv and then from the tv to the audio receiver so if anything goes wrong it is the console(basically this can be ruled out by default because I've never had the problem be the device sending the signal out), the switcher, or one of 3 hdmi cables I need to troubleshoot. So troubleshooting is basically plug a fresh hdmi cable from the console directly to the tv and see if that solves the problem and if it does I've narrowed things down to 2 hdmi cables or the switcher right off the bat.

[DatMonkey]

Does anyone know of a good 2-way splitter similar to the recommended ViewHD one (from front page), but that is available in Europe?

[ulihox]

Any of these recommended devices work with freesync or gsync?

[DirkSwizzler]

Any of these recommended devices work with freesync or gsync?

That's not part of my testing matrix. I only vaguely understand the protocols. If they're all on the monitor side. I guess there's nothing stopping it from working.

If it requires bidirectional communication. Then it would be unlikely for any splitter to work unless it was targeting just one output. which I doubt.

[thebigcheese]

Technically those are only supported by HDMI 2.1, which I doubt any of these switchers have. XB1X uses a bit of a hacky method to make it work, but no current GPUs support any sort of VRR over HDMI anyway.

[bevilacq12]

I purchased the recommended HDMI switch (the J-Tech 4x1 Audio Extractor HDMI switch version, specifically) and am having quite a bit of trouble with it. I'm not sure if I'm just doing something wrong, or if my use case is just different from what others are doing.

I have multiple HDMI devices (game consoles and a Blu-ray player) plugged into the J-Tech HDMI switch. The output from the J-Tech HDMI switch is connected to the input of a sound bar, and the output of that sound bar is connected to my LG 4K TV. I have eArc and HDMI-CEC (Simplink) enabled so that Smart TV apps and devices connected to the TV's other HDMI ports can output sound via the sound bar as well - having both on essentially causes the TV to treat the sound bar like its own speakers, with even the remote control volume up/down getting integrated.

This setup had previously worked fine with a different HDMI switch (no audio extraction features), but that was switch was dropping frames every now and again. Since installing the J-Tech HDMI switch, the eArc functionality has been broken. When the J-Tech HDMI switch powers on, its default state is Arc OFF. With this setting, the LG TV "forgets" that it has been set to output to the sound bar whenever the TV's power is cycled. So if I want to use the sound bar, I have to go into the TV's audio settings and reconfigure it to use the sound bar every single time I turn on the TV. If I switch the J-Tech HDMI switch to the Arc ON state, the problem seems solved at first - quickly power cycling the TV, it retains the audio settings like with the old switch. However, the J-Tech HDMI switch will not STAY in the Arc ON state - after about 2-3 minutes, the Arc LED of the J-Tech switch turns off, and the TV immediately switches audio output to the internal speaker. If I switch the J-Tech switch back to Arc ON, the TV immediately switches back to the sound bar - but then switches back in another 2-3 minutes.

Presumably this is caused by having two Arc devices competing in the same system. I'm not sure if separating them from the same HDMI chain (just both plugged into separate ports on the TV) would fix this issue, but I honestly have no interest in even trying that because eArc doesn't pass ATMOS/DTS-X, so that setup is not viable for me anyway. I feel like keeping Arc OFF on the J-Tech switch is the intended use case for something like this, since I'm not actually using any of the audio extraction features, but I don't understand why that causes the TV to continually "forget" that it's supposed to output via the sound bar.

Possible solutions for my use case:

If this is truly incompatible and not just something I'm doing wrong, it seems I need an HDMI switch that does not have Arc/audio extraction features. Is the SGEYR 5x1 4K60 switch in the recommended section my best bet? Of note, I DO have a PS4 Pro, so I'm curious what your failure case was. Would it work to have one SGEYR receiving 5V power and plug the PS4 Pro into that, and then have an additional unpowered SGEYR chained from one of the powered SGEYR's other ports?

[DirkSwizzler]

I can't really advise much on ARC. It's something I've been avoiding because it seems to complicate things and never seems to do exactly what I want. (I actually use CEC blockers as well to get my TV to stop renaming my game input)

I think my graveyard list is a testament to the fact that most equipment doesn't quite work right. So disentangling features is the only way I can stay sane.

So I've mostly stuck with forward only audio going into a receiver.


Speaking to your alternative of a SGEYR. As long as the one with the PS4 is powered. I haven't had issues during a single gaming session. And for a while I had a single powered unit with 2 separate unpowered units feeding into it. It worked great.

However, I tried to use a powered SGEYR in a general TV watching setup that was powered 24/7. And it seems to lose 4K support after approximately a week of being powered. It's a quick fix of just fully unplugging it so it powers off completely. But annoying if you're going to use it constantly.

[bevilacq12]

Oh, an HDMI-CEC blocker, that might be a good idea. I'll try putting one of those between the output of J-Tech switch and the input of the sound bar and see if that fixes my problems.

[ldeveraux]

@DirkSwizzler As you know, I've mimicked your setup in the OP with no issues. I've recently gotten a VP50 and confirmed it works, but not with this setup. How would I go about integrating the VP50 in with the OSSC, the switch, and the audio splitter? Having a bear of a time getting this to work!

[DirkSwizzler]

Spoiler

I don't have any useful advice. I've got a VP50 but haven't ever tried to integrate it in my automatic setup. All of my data comes from brute force testing and general trends that I've noticed. There's no concrete predictive science to it.

You'll have to find a way to test parts one at a time to see where the fault lies. And sometimes it's 2 devices connected in series that work with everything but one signal that can be the problem.

The testing matrix is huge and you just gotta keep banging on it.

[ldeveraux]

Spoiler

I don't have any useful advice. I've got a VP50 but haven't ever tried to integrate it in my automatic setup. All of my data comes from brute force testing and general trends that I've noticed. There's no concrete predictive science to it.

You'll have to find a way to test parts one at a time to see where the fault lies. And sometimes it's 2 devices connected in series that work with everything but one signal that can be the problem.

The testing matrix is huge and you just gotta keep banging on it.

Oh that stinks, I thought you had it fully integrated. I don't really have the time now to dedicate to troubleshooting, maybe on the weekend. Strange though that the DSC 301 works out of the gate (after dejittering the NES and SNES.)

[CastingDreams]

Hi DirkSwizzler,

Was wondering if you'd ever come across this J-Tech 4K@60HZ HDMI Audio Extractor Converter SPDIF + 3.5MM Output (Amazon)?
It's a little cheaper than your ViewHD model. It can't do a 7.1 EDID, but I only have a 5.1 system, so...
I realize this could be a crap shoot but since J-Tech seems to be a decent brand, I was just wondering whether you had any experience. Thanks!

[ldeveraux]

Hi DirkSwizzler,

Was wondering if you'd ever come across this J-Tech 4K@60HZ HDMI Audio Extractor Converter SPDIF + 3.5MM Output (Amazon)?
It's a little cheaper than your ViewHD model. It can't do a 7.1 EDID, but I only have a 5.1 system, so...
I realize this could be a crap shoot but since J-Tech seems to be a decent brand, I was just wondering whether you had any experience. Thanks!

These are good quality devices, but don't output hdmi audio, which was the point of this thread. If it works for you, use it!

Sent from my LG-US998 using Tapatalk

[CastingDreams]

Threes are good quality devices, but don't output hdmi audio, which was the point of this thread.

D'oh! OK, I missed that little detail. I want to pass through fancier formats like DTS-HD, so being limited to S/PDIF isn't going to work for me. Thanks for setting me straight!

[djc5166]

Are there any boxes out there that are either...

a) An encoder for 5.1 LPCM (HDMI in) to 5.1 AC3/DTS (toslink out)

b) A decoder for 5.1 AC3/DTS (HDMI in) to 5.1 LPCM (HDMI out) AND also passes the input through to toslink out

c) A standalone DAC for 5.1 LPCM (HDMI in) to 5.1 analogue (3x 3.5mm/6x RCA out)

[Fudoh]

A HDMI audio de-embedder along with any old 2nd hand pre-amp (both quite cheap) will help you to go from 5.1 AC3/DTS HDMI to 6x analogue RCA.

If you find a newer pre-amp then 5.1 LPCM to 6x RCA is certainly no problem either without prior de-embedding.

I think encoding multi channel PCM back to DD or DTS is problematic, since this is nothing a consumer usually needs and is hardly ever required in hardware.

[djc5166]

Any recommendation? Even the used ones I have found seem quite expensive.

[ldeveraux]

Any recommendation? Even the used ones I have found seem quite expensive.

Is this what you're looking for, or am I misunderstanding the question?
amazon.com/gp/product/B074HHSJVN

[Fudoh]

Any recommendation? Even the used ones I have found seem quite expensive.

I have a Sony SDP-EP9ES, was maybe 50 EUR, but that one's AC3 only, no DTS.

Checking ebay there are those extremely cheap decoder boxes that do AC3 and DTS (ebay, search for surround sound decoder). At $20-30 you could certainly give one of these a try.

[mrsmiley381]

I've been using a setup based on this thread and have had really good results so far. The few issues I've had with signal drops were linked to bad cabling so I'm going to continue down my rabbit hole, assuming one of my racks doesn't fall and kill me in the process.

I've got a question on the Tascam UH-7000 unit. The manual shows that the two line-ins are balanced (hot-cold-ground) as is the AES3 digital output. RGB SCART signals are unbalanced (left-right-ground) and the automatic digital audio switch in your solution can accept optical or RCA digital cables. What cables did you use to connect the analog audio to the UH-7000 and what cable/device did you use to connect the AES 3 digital output to the automatic digital audio switch?

[DirkSwizzler]

You're correct that adapters were required to interface the inputs and outputs of the Tascam UH-7000. But I'm by no means an expert. So I only learned just enough to adapt and then promptly forgot everything I learned. So be sure to double check me here.

The analog inputs can use a passive rca to xlr adapter per channel. There's some quirk of the math that let's that work if it's wired properly. You just don't get the benefits of balanced cabling. I think it's as simple as wiring the ground and negative/cold signal together so the subtraction step is always 0.

The AES3 output can be set to SPDIF format. At which point you just need to match impedance. I ended up getting this adapter for the job.
Canare BCJ-XJ-A10TRC 110-75 ohm Digital Audio Impedance Transformer

Once again, double check me on that. I had to scour for a few hours to find the right thing. And I wouldn't be able to tell if that product listing is slightly different now.

Then it's just digital coaxial using rca cable.

Also, it's worth mentioning again that I'm not an audiophile. So there could be vastly better options than the UH-7000. That's just what I landed on and have been happy with.

[ldeveraux]

I don't want to divert this thread, but this is somewhat related to HDMI switchers. I have an old KVM for my various computers that uses PS2 for peripherals and D-Sub for video. I'm looking to upgrade to a KVM with USB for peripherals and HDMI for video/audio. Are there any recommendations, keeping in mind I need >= 8 input ports?

[DirkSwizzler]

Not from me, no.

[DirkSwizzler]

Does anyone know of a third party Nintendo Switch HDMI adapter that doesn't send power along the hdmi connection until the console is awake?

The OEM one is well behaved. But a renewed one is $95 on Amazon.

I also like the more open design of third party docks after hearing about switches warping while docked. Which is why my dock was just a shell that required you transplant the guts of the OEM unit.

I've tried 2 cheaper docks and struck out both times. It's really screwing up one of my gaming setups.

[nmalinoski]

Does anyone know of a third party Nintendo Switch HDMI adapter that doesn't send power along the hdmi connection until the console is awake?

The OEM one is well behaved. But a renewed one is $95 on Amazon.

I also like the more open design of third party docks after hearing about switches warping while docked. Which is why my dock was just a shell that required you transplant the guts of the OEM unit.

I've tried 2 cheaper docks and struck out both times. It's really screwing up one of my gaming setups.

I'm not sure how to test for voltage, but I've had a good experience with the JumpGate dock (After they sent me a replacement USB-C cable for the PSU--original had bent pins).

[DirkSwizzler]

Does anyone know of a third party Nintendo Switch HDMI adapter that doesn't send power along the hdmi connection until the console is awake?

The OEM one is well behaved. But a renewed one is $95 on Amazon.

I also like the more open design of third party docks after hearing about switches warping while docked. Which is why my dock was just a shell that required you transplant the guts of the OEM unit.

I've tried 2 cheaper docks and struck out both times. It's really screwing up one of my gaming setups.

I'm not sure how to test for voltage, but I've had a good experience with the JumpGate dock (After they sent me a replacement USB-C cable for the PSU--original had bent pins).

The quick test (and problem I'm trying to solve) is to plug the hdmi output of the dock into an automatic hdmi switch. And see if that hdmi switch sets the dock as active input whenever you plug in the dock's power. But the Nintendo switch isn't docked.

[ldeveraux]

Hey @Dirkswizzler,
I recently setup an HDMI KVM in my office, but I use http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C8CMC4Z to convert the KVM output to VGA so it can go directly into my VGA port on my monitor. I'm getting some audio interference with that cable essentially converting the digital audio to the analog 3.5mm audio cable to go directly to my speakers. Do you think using your setup would work in this instance? I'd strip the audio out before it got to that cable, then port it to my speakers, and the HDMI video can go to the cable. Would it work better than what I have currently?

[DirkSwizzler]

Hey @Dirkswizzler,
I recently setup an HDMI KVM in my office, but I use http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C8CMC4Z to convert the KVM output to VGA so it can go directly into my VGA port on my monitor. I'm getting some audio interference with that cable essentially converting the digital audio to the analog 3.5mm audio cable to go directly to my speakers. Do you think using your setup would work in this instance? I'd strip the audio out before it got to that cable, then port it to my speakers, and the HDMI video can go to the cable. Would it work better than what I have currently?

The linked product is $15 for 15 feet of cable. I'm speculating, but that seems like there's not enough wiggle room in the budget to shield the signals properly. I'm also speculating that the DAC conversion happens at the hdmi side of the cable. Because it would be easier to keep functionally working if the unshielded signals were analog instead of digital.

If I'm right about those speculations. Really anything that doesn't do that would probably be better. Either using a 15ft hdmi cable and a separate DAC at the monitor end. Or breaking off the audio before the 15ft run.

The prosumer and vorke switches can let you break off the audio to stereo easily before the 15ft run. As well as the audio extractor. I don't have strong opinions on their internal DAC because I try to stick to digital until I reach my endpoint. But it's very likely fine.

So, yes, you could use some of my setup. Or you could probably find something cheaper. Really anything than running unshielded audio alongside unshielded video for 15 feet is going to be an improvement.

[ldeveraux]

Hey @Dirkswizzler,
I recently setup an HDMI KVM in my office, but I use http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C8CMC4Z to convert the KVM output to VGA so it can go directly into my VGA port on my monitor. I'm getting some audio interference with that cable essentially converting the digital audio to the analog 3.5mm audio cable to go directly to my speakers. Do you think using your setup would work in this instance? I'd strip the audio out before it got to that cable, then port it to my speakers, and the HDMI video can go to the cable. Would it work better than what I have currently?

The linked product is $15 for 15 feet of cable. I'm speculating, but that seems like there's not enough wiggle room in the budget to shield the signals properly. I'm also speculating that the DAC conversion happens at the hdmi side of the cable. Because it would be easier to keep functionally working if the unshielded signals were analog instead of digital.

If I'm right about those speculations. Really anything that doesn't do that would probably be better. Either using a 15ft hdmi cable and a separate DAC at the monitor end. Or breaking off the audio before the 15ft run.

The prosumer and vorke switches can let you break off the audio to stereo easily before the 15ft run. As well as the audio extractor. I don't have strong opinions on their internal DAC because I try to stick to digital until I reach my endpoint. But it's very likely fine.

So, yes, you could use some of my setup. Or you could probably find something cheaper. Really anything than running unshielded audio alongside unshielded video for 15 feet is going to be an improvement.

I'm going to try this out for sure, your logic makes perfect sense. I have a well rated Ugreen HDMI to VGA dongle that is USB powered and has audio out, so I'll give that a try with an HDMI cable. My only issue is waking the monitor. I'm using this cheap $15 cable because it was the only thing that would wake the monitor from LPM. I tried a Portta and host of other solutions and they either produced no video, or wouldn't wake the monitor when I moved the mouse. We'll see how this adapter works first.

[DirkSwizzler]

I'm using this cheap $15 cable because it was the only thing that would wake the monitor from LPM. I tried a Portta and host of other solutions and they either produced no video, or wouldn't wake the monitor when I moved the mouse. We'll see how this adapter works first.

I'm assuming your terminology of waking from LPM (low power mode?) is saying that you never get signal over 15ft hdmi.

If so, that fits the reasoning for the DAC of your $15 cable being on the hdmi side. It's actually somewhat challenging to transmit high bandwidth digital hdmi over 15ft. Whereas analog will just "gracefully" lose quality.

You can definitely find solutions to cover 15ft over hdmi. But that's a bit more of a crapshoot. So you might have already formulated the best plan by breaking out audio and using 15ft of analog.

If you want to go HDMI over the 15ft run. I've had reasonable luck with securomax cables on Amazon. But I've only gone up to 10 feet on those. Maybe a 10&6 with a repeater in the middle?

The longest run I ever tried to get working was 25ft and that was a pain in the butt to keep working before I switched to displayport for that run.