Octava announces 3x1 and 5x1 HDMI switch for HDTV

As we make
the change to pure digital in out home theaters or HDTV sets, it soon
becomes apparent that the HDMI or
even the DVI
connector is going to be used more and more. Not only can we get a better
picture if we purchase components for our monitor that use DVI, we also often
need it to avoid analog annoyances like Macrovision protection that can cause
our upscaling DVD players to fail to work as designed, outputting in 480 mode or
worse yet, we may experience undesirable distortions. By sidestepping the analog
output on our DVD player by using it's DVI capability, Macrovision is
out of the picture so to speak. Not only that, but we can skip a process of
analog to digital conversion and feed our monitors a pure digital signal which
has no disadvantage for sure.

More and more of us now have home theater PC's
that have video cards with DVI ports on them. Not only that, but with the DVR's
like TiVo and even HD receivers, our fancy TV's can operate more
efficiently when using digital connections.  In my DirecTV HD
receiver, if I use the DVI connection, it can adjust for the best aspect
and resolution automatically by detecting HD channels or if the show is being
broadcast in 16x9. Otherwise, I have to get up and flip a hidden switch on the
receiver when using the analog ports. With only one DVI port on my big screen,
it's a problem to decide which device makes the best use of it. For that
reason, these HDMI switcher devices come in handy. Here's one being
announced from Octava that seems to be pretty good and at a decent price as
well, when compared to some other offerings out there at the moment.

As we can see in the above diagram, an enthusiast
can quickly utilize even a 5 way HDMI switch in a nice home theater setup.
Pricing and availability can be found by visiting
this link. If you like to discuss such hardware, please feel free to
visit our Satellite, HD-TV, Blu-ray and HD-DVD Forum to join in on
the discussions there on these topics.

Source: Octava