# Are HDMI switchers good? Do they maintain the quality of the original port?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hdmi-switchers-good-do-they-maintain-the-quality-of-the-original-port/944953
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 24, 2021, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hdmi-switchers-good-do-they-maintain-the-quality-of-the-original-port/944953 "2021-06-24T16:45:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2021, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hdmi-switchers-good-do-they-maintain-the-quality-of-the-original-port/944953/1 "2021-06-24T16:45:18Z")
My TV has 3 HDMI plugs, but one is now finicky and produces some image distortion. The other two appear to be fine for now.
Instead of getting a new TV, I thought about buying a switcher that will simply expand one of my good ports into 3+ ports. Problem solved and no more cable switching, a nice bonus.
[Here is a sample of one I see on Amazon.](https://www.amazon.com/SGEYR-Splitter-Switcher-Switches-Selector/dp/B07VPD3BXC/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=hdmi+switcher&link_code=qs&qid=1624553036&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-5)
My TV is only 1080P, not a 4K tv.
Do these work pretty well? Anyone know a better one for $15-$20 or so? 3 ports would be the minimum, but 4 ports would be nice.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2021, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hdmi-switchers-good-do-they-maintain-the-quality-of-the-original-port/944953/2 "2021-06-24T18:00:51Z")
It’s a digital signal, so theoretically there shouldn’t be any quality degradation. As long as it can play nice with HDCP you should be fine.
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2021, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hdmi-switchers-good-do-they-maintain-the-quality-of-the-original-port/944953/3 "2021-06-24T20:42:02Z")
For a variety of reasons, I didn’t want something that would switch automatically. But I also needed 4k and all the current bells and whistles. So I bought a matrix switch ([https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TD81BDH?ref=ppx\_pop\_mob\_ap\_share](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TD81BDH?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share)), which is admittedly way more than you both need and want to spend. That said, you might be happy with something like this. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079L8VZ5R/ref=cm\_sw\_r\_cp\_apa\_glt\_fabc\_BWGJGSJ1F342YAJQ20NH?\_encoding=UTF8&psc=1](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079L8VZ5R/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_BWGJGSJ1F342YAJQ20NH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1)
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### Author:  [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2021, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hdmi-switchers-good-do-they-maintain-the-quality-of-the-original-port/944953/4 "2021-06-24T20:48:00Z")
I’ve used one that automatically detected which port was receiving power and it worked okay. The caveat was it didn’t know which port to use if it was receiving power from two ports at once; for it to work reliably you needed to turn off the device you weren’t using.
For this reason a manual switch might work better in some cases. My personal preference is to avoid HDMI entirely and use DP whenever possible. Unfortunately that isn’t an option on all devices (yet).
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2021, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hdmi-switchers-good-do-they-maintain-the-quality-of-the-original-port/944953/5 "2021-06-29T16:03:19Z")
I have [this one](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074QM1P2D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and it just works. Turn on a new HDMI source and it switches to it. I forgot it even has a button.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2021, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hdmi-switchers-good-do-they-maintain-the-quality-of-the-original-port/944953/6 "2021-06-29T16:23:03Z")
I bought [this one](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0739GSKV2/) for my son so he could switch between an Xbox and PC on a single 1080p monitor. He doesn’t complain so I assume it works fine. Don’t know if it works better or worse than others in its price class but nothing to complain about – it just does its job.
Edit: FWIW, since he’s sitting at a desk much of the time, he probably doesn’t use the laughably cheap remote too often. Really, I’m more saying “This type of device seems to work fine for what you want” than “This specific model is the best choice for you”.
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### Author:  [@Critical\_Mass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical_Mass)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2021, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hdmi-switchers-good-do-they-maintain-the-quality-of-the-original-port/944953/7 "2021-06-29T19:01:45Z")
I have two laptops sharing a common monitor with a manual HDMI switch.
The switch works flawlessly. There’s no apparent loss of quality to the image on the monitor.