HDFury Vrroom vs AVProEdge AC-MX-42X

[TheMissingLink117]

Hey all, first post on this forum but have lurked for a couple years when researching scalers/switches.

I'm updating my setup to include a 4 in 2 out 8K/2.1 switch/splitter like the two aforementioned products. I've read the product pages and it seems to me they do mostly the same thing but I'm hoping the more savvy here can help me understand if there are any differences between the two products and if there might be any pros or cons given my scenario that I should be considering.

I currently use a couple of the recommended 4x1 18gbps switches from the existing dedicated thread but I'm adding the ability to route the whole setup to my computer monitor to play there sometimes, with the rest of the time on an OLED TV. I'd have a Series X, PS5, Apple TV, and Retrotink4K hooked up to the inputs, with a bunch of consoles attached to the RT4K.

Currently neither screen is capable of VRR but I want full VRR functionality to either screen as I'll be upgrading each screen to something capable of VRR in the near future. TV will be 4k and monitor may be 4k or 1440. So ability to downscale the 4k output to 1440 (and can these things downscale hz too?) so I don't have to update the system resolution/hz in the menu every time I switch from TV to monitor is ideal.

I don't need any of the audio extraction features and don't anticipate that changing. Only have a soundbar right now and if I upgrade it would be to a newer receiver system. My understanding is the audio extraction is mainly for non 2.1 receivers but maybe there are other benefits here I am missing.

It's possible I may want to send one system to one screen, and another system to the second screen at the same time. So if either of these can route an input to each output individually and simultaneously, as opposed to just sending the same input to two screens, that's a big selling point too.

Cost difference isn't a big factor to me and I see some of the AC-MX-42X for sale used at Vrroom prices as well.

Thanks in advance for anyone who can help educate me on the differences here

[Guspaz]

I have the 8K VRROOM. It has a bunch of limitations that may make it unsuitable for you. It does not support auto-switching: the marketing advertises the feature, but multiple years later the firmware has still not implemented it (and it's been almost a year since the last update). And while it supports a matrix mode (different inputs to different outputs), they come with a bunch of limitations. Full FRL/VRR support only exists in operating mode 0 (dumb splitter mode). None of the three matrix modes support VRR. The downscale mode AFAIK only supports 8K->4K and 4K->2K, and I don't believe it can change the framerate.

It's hard to say. The documentation about the operating modes is *extremely* vague/difficult to understand. And years out of date. And inaccurate since it mentions features that don't actually exist.

At this point, I use it as an IP-controlled dumb switch/splitter. I have four inputs going into it (one of them HDMI 2.1). TX0 and TX1 are both connected to different inputs on my TV (so that I can easily switch between a gaming-tuned and media-tuned preset), and the "HDMI Audio 720p/1080p" output, which splits off the audio into an HDMI signal with fake video, is connected to my AVR. This way the video does not need to pass through my AVR (which only has one input), but the AVR still always has audio. The AVR's output is connected to my TV's EARC port so that OTA broadcasts and other TV-produced audio can reach the AVR, and so that I can access the AVR's configuration menu when required.

I have automated it all via Home Assistant. Depending on which input source I'm using, Home Assistant automatically changes the input settings of the VRROOM, the TV, and the AVR.

The product is not bad, it's working well for me once I figured out a way to leverage it, but it is sold with fraudulent advertising and has very outdated and often useless documentation.

[BuckoA51]

That was an interesting read, thank you for sharing your thoughts on the VRROOM. I was considering upgrading to the VRROOM over the Diva I currently have. I'd hoped to split out PS5 and XSX between TV and scalers, even if I had to manually disable VRR on the consoles when I wanted to use it with something other than the TV.

What happens if you feed a VRR signal into a non VRR device, just a black screen? On both screens on the splitter or just the incompatible one?

As disappointing as this is to read, I doubt the AVPro would handle VRR any more elegantly, though I'd love to be pleasantly surprised.

[Guspaz]

I don't really have a setup that could test that. I would expect that splitting a VRR signal to two devices where one supports VRR and the other doesn't would probably just result in the non-VRR device refusing to display the signal.

If you're using it as a straightforward (like, non-matrix) HDMI 2.1 switch/splitter, it should work fine for this use case, at least based on my experience.

I'm actually also leveraging another feature of the thing that I forgot to mention, the EDID automix feature. The two video outputs, TX0 and TX1, they both go to my TV with no audio (I've set it to drop the audio from those). The only one of the three outputs that can accept the audio is the "AUDIO OUT" port, which my AVR is connected to. So I've set the VRROOM to produce a composite EDID that takes the video capabilities from TX0 (my TV) and the audio capabilities from AUDIO OUT (my AVR). You can also do additional EDID overriding and manipulation from there, but I'm just using the straightforward "merge these HDMI port EDIDs" functionality.

I'm also using it to strip CEC on all ports. For various reasons, I can't disable CEC on all my devices (because some of them won't let me), so to help with that, the VRROOM is blocking CEC.

As I said, it's not a bad product, per-se, it just suffers from false advertising and terrible documentation. And I'm a bit salty about the false advertising part because I originally bought it specifically for the advertised automatic switching only to find out that it didn't support it at all.

[TheMissingLink117]

Thanks for the details/info so far and a bit disappointing to hear. A few follow up questions or statements, let me know if I'm misunderstanding anything you've written.

1. HDFury cannot downscale VRR, and it's unlikely the AVPro can either
2. HDFury cannot downscale frame rate (120>60fps), and it's unlikely the AV Pro can either
3. AVPro Matrix functionality is probably cleaner than HDFury's (so more useful if wanting to use the 2 screens for separate things at once)

Another thing I'm noticing is the AVProEdge page talks about amplifying signals over long fiber optic cables, which could be useful for me as I'll be using a 40ft to connect to the second screen. I don't see any mention of this on the HDFury page.

And perhaps a deal breaker for the AVProEdge, I see it mention downscaling to 4k or 1080p on the product page but no mention of downscaling to 1440, which would eliminate usefulness of this sending a signal to my computer monitor. Perhaps has this functionality just not listed explicitly on the product page?

We've talked about limitations of the HDFury thus far, is there anything we know it can do that the AVPro can't?

At this point I think it may make sense for me to email AVProEdge with some of these questions directly.

Either way I'll report back in this thread with responses or my experience trying to set up whichever of these I end up trying out first.

[Guspaz]

I can't speak to the AVProEdge at all. The HDFury can't downscale VRR or do 120 to 60 Hz conversion, that much I can say.

[BuckoA51]

You know what, I just bought one of those cheap "EZC infinity sign" however its said, HDMI 2.1 splitters with downscaler.

I expected it to have all kind of issues, and stop the PS5 outputing 4k120 if another display was connected but, it behaved perfectly fine. If you have PS5 set to 4k120 then you just get no signal on your non 4k120 screen.

It even does HDR to SDR conversion, which looks awful and I would expect looks way better on the HD Fury product, but who really needs that other than for novelty.

[TheMissingLink117]

You know what, I just bought one of those cheap "EZC infinity sign" however its said, HDMI 2.1 splitters with downscaler.

I expected it to have all kind of issues, and stop the PS5 outputing 4k120 if another display was connected but, it behaved perfectly fine. If you have PS5 set to 4k120 then you just get no signal on your non 4k120 screen.

It even does HDR to SDR conversion, which looks awful and I would expect looks way better on the HD Fury product, but who really needs that other than for novelty.

Do you have a link to this product? I can't turn up anything searching with the phrase you quoted or any reasonably adjacent guess as to what to search. Thanks

Also it seems the below product may be an option as well:

https://www.hdtvsupply.com/8k-4x2-hdmi- ... tcher.html

[Unseen]

It even does HDR to SDR conversion, which looks awful and I would expect looks way better on the HD Fury product, but who really needs that other than for novelty.

I would guess that it just passes the data through as-is, which would show up as a reduced contrast, washed-out image on a non-HDR screen.

Do you have a link to this product?

Probably this one? https://www.easycoolav.com/products/8k6 ... -1x248gbps

Edit: Fixed link

[BuckoA51]

Here's a link to it on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C739QQ4Q

Unseen's link seems to go to a 404 for me.

I would guess that it just passes the data through as-is, which would show up as a reduced contrast, washed-out image on a non-HDR screen.

Yeah seems about right, I know the HD Fury Diva has some actual remapping going on to create a nicer looking image but if I'm going to use the PS5 on the CRT I can just turn off HDR anyway.

[Guspaz]

The HDFury Vrroom doesn't have an FPGA, it's just a microcontroller and some sort of fixed-function chip that it controls.

[TheMissingLink117]

I got a reply back from AVPro edge

1. 1440p is not supported - unfortunately this is a dealbreaker for me as my monitor is 1440p
2. There is no frame rate or VRR downscaling
3. Autoswitching is functional if you enable it

Due to the dealbreaker re 1440p I've ordered a Vrroom. Perhaps if it is unsatisfactory I can upgrade if my monitor moves from 1440 to 4k in a future purchase. The matrix mode was a nice to have although ultimately uncommon that the two screens would be in use at the same time. Just sucks that the Vrroom cannot auto switch.