May 26, 2010

New Monoprice HDMI Switch

I have recently bought the Monoprice 4x2 True Matrix HDMI switch.  I was having some problems with my previous Monoprice HDMI switch that I wanted to try to fix with the new device.  I have a projector and a TV set so the 4 inputs and 2 outputs of the matrix switch is ideal.

I currently most often use a directv HR20 and a PS3.  These are the sources that I typically switch back and forth from.  I have a Samsung TV and a Mitsubishi Projector as the two different displays.  I have a separate Yamaha amplifier and Logitech Harmony remote that I tie everything together with.  

The problem I was having was that when I would switch from the HR20 to the PS3 it would hang up in the transition and then it would flash between a black screen to white noise with a loud audio as if tuning a channel on an older tv set that was not occupied.  Between the flashes there was a greenish flash.  The only way to get this to stop was to power off the matrix switch and turn it back on.  This would happen maybe 1 out of 3 switch transitions so it became annoying.  I thought it was my cheaper 50ft HDMI cable run to my projector initially.  I then bought the amazing silver plated thick HDMI cable from Monoprice again and still had the problem. 

Monoprice then came out with a new switch that was HDMI 1.3c compliant and 12 bit deep color compatible so I bought this hoping for an improvement.  II connected the device to the sources and displays and had no initial problems.   Now a couple of weeks have passed and my wife calls me to tell me that the PS3 is not working.  The symptoms were a black screen that would appear on the projector or TV set.  Nothing I could do would fix this.  After a couple of days it randomly worked again.  One day the switch stops working with the PS3 completely and that is the state I am in now.  I will update this with my current status as I fix this problem.