Sewell Crossbow 4x1 HDMI Multiviewer Seamless Switcher

 

 

HDMI ports have made high-definition video connections simple, but the encrypted digital nature of these connections makes juggling video sources slightly more complicated than it is with analog video. HDMI devices are generally designed for a 1:1 connection: one set-top box/Blu-Ray player/game system to one HDTV. Splitting, switching, and juggling video sources with HDMI requires some advanced circuitry. If you just want to get a few more HDMI ports for your HDTV, you can pick up a consumer-level HDMI switch for around $60. If you want to really play with your video sources and scatter them across your screen all at once, you'll need a commercial-grade HDMI switch that'll cost you around $1,500.

The Sewell Crossbow 4x1 HDMI Multiviewer Seamless Switcher sits between these categories. At $495.95, it's much more expensive than your average 4x1 HDMI switch (four inputs, one output), but it has a multi-view mode that lets you watch four HDMI sources on your HDTV at once for a fraction of the price of commercial switches. The four-way view looks great, and it's certainly a functional switch, but one of the multi-view modes unacceptably warps the main display, and the price tag is still pretty hard to swallow for most users.