HDMI + audio switcher

Hi,

I'm looking for a solution to my little HDMI problem..

I have an HD TV with only one HDMI port. Since I want to plug my
MacBook Pro into it I'm going to need some sort of switcher. Add to the
complication the fact that the MBP doesn't carry the audio on the DVI
port (so needs a separate lead). The separate lead can be optical since
the MBP has optical-out on the audio socket.

So I'm looking for something capable of switching HDMI and optical
audio. Hopefully with the capability of switching them simultaneously
and pushing the digital audio out over the HDMI interconnect to the TV.

Any ideas?

Phil

 

I've got one that does HDMI only, but handles the audio and everything
lovely.

Muxing the audio onto the HDMI sounds like it would be expensive.




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http://www.eu.onkyo.com/products/TX-SR506.html

Or a similar AV HDMI switching receiver, is about the only thing I can
think of that would do what you want.

 

How about this?:

http://www.tmfsolutions.co.uk/Octava_HDS4A-UK.htm

The one thing it doesn;t mention is whether it can output the selected
audio feed over HDMI.

Being a newbie at this sort of thing is irritating..

Phil

 

FWIW I have something similar, and it doesn't.

I know this cos I have my Mac Mini piped into it.



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Which (I assume) has a similar output setup to the MacBook Pro..

Phil

 

Really, you sure?

I have a TX-NR905 and I can feed a PC DVI and optical digital audio into
the amp and have them both switched as one and fed to the television.
I have the option of audio pass through so that the audio signal is fed
to the television through the HDMI output.

I never use it now, since my current graphics card can pass audio via
the HDMI connection and I feed the audio to my 5.1 speaker set-up anyway.

But it can do it.

I assumed that the switching capabilities would be pretty much the
same across the range. Oh well

 

Looks like it might do the job.

But compared to something like the SR605 it's the same sort
of money for just a 'switch-box'. You might as well get the
AV amp and have the option of running a proper AV system with
the extra flexibility that comes with it, IMO.

Though if Catman is right... forget I said owt.

 

I suspect not as it explicitly suggests that you connect the audio out
to your home theatre amp.

Part of the problem is, I suspect, that the assumption is that the
optical will be carrying surround ergo you'll be sending it to a
decoding device.

And I've yet to see one without a digital input for surround IYSWIM.

The closest I can find would be something like this

http://www.lektropacks.com/view_product_standard.php?product=69&department=2&sub1=15&show=57

But that doesn't do what you want and is a bit OTT price wise.


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Identical

DMI > HDMI cable and optical mini-tos to my surround amp


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Oh it can *switch* optical, but it does not pass the optical audio
signal into the HDMI

Well it *might* do it.

When I bought my Sony, I wanted it very specifically to output decoded
L+R to my preamp.

The Onkyos (and others) all claimed to have pre-outs, which they did,
but I had to go and read all the manuals to find one that actually would
do what I wanted.


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I've just read the guide. TBH I think the only way to be sure would be
to call them up and ask them.

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Go for overkill ...

http://www.us.onkyo.com/model.cfm?class=Receiver&m=TX-SR606

 

It's quite a task to add audio to HDMI video because the audio is
actually encoded into [certain sections of] the blanking areas of the
three video streams, so only those devices with the necessary
processing power are going to do it.

 

took a blunt brush and painted...

Encoding audio onto HDMI is not cheap.

I've got a DVDO iScan VP50 from these guys:-
http://www.anchorbaytech.com/products/systems/

But it costs about twice what an AV receiver with HDMI that might be able to
do the job would cost.

 

Good lord. What on earth do you need that for?

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took a blunt brush and painted...

I don't just use it to add audio to HDMI.

It switches 4 HDMI inputs to one output (plus S-Video and RGB/YUV if needed),
has +ve and -ve audio delay (on any audio input, even the HDMI audio), can
scale from any SD or HD res to any other res (apart from 1080p, need the Pro
to be able to change that to something else), it can also deinterlace any
progressive res (apart from 1080p again), scale it and change back to
progressive which is really handy if you've got an upscaling DVD player (or
Sky HD box) thats rather bad at upscaling.

Plus you can independantly set input aspect ratio, output aspect ratio,
scaling, centering, zoom, image processing, input and output refresh rate
(locked or independant) and a shed load of other stuff.

I bought it cause I needed an HDMI switcher that could peel off the audio
from the HDMI and also inject audio, and upscale the video, and do audio
delay compensation. I did try another unit which said it would do just what I
needed but was crap.

So I swapped a 4 week old Apple Powerbook for the new scaler (MD of company I
got it from was after a MacBook

Had it about 4 years now and it has never let me down, and I've never needed
to do something it can't do, so it might cost almost as much as the 50"
plasma but by god, let it do its work on a 1080i/1080p signal on the
projector and its worth it!

 

Nice!

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Onkyo kit is lovely quality too. I have a had a few before.

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took a blunt brush and painted...

But thats an integrated receiver / pre amp / amp!

Ewwww!