Coping with the lack of input source discretes
Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 9:45 am
If your receiver or TV does not have discrete input functions it can be quite a hassle. In this post by me I described the problem and documented some not-so-simple solutions. Revisiting this problem on the same TV 2 years (to the day) later I found a much more effective, although not free, solution to this problem. The solution was a small piece of hardware that I found on Amazon - the Fosmon 5x1 HDMI switch - for just over $15. This device connects one of 5 inputs to the one output and has only 5 IR functions, discretes to select the requested input.
An extra advantage of the switch being a separate device is that it gets rid of timing issues that occur, especially when powering on the equipment. The switch does its job whether the TV is ready to receive inputs or not, so there is no need to program in pauses in macros that are setting up for a new activity.
Yet another advantage is for my Wii-U game system. I always had a button on the remote to switch to that input and then after a session of game playing, I had to pick up the remote to switch back, usually to watching cable. This switch handles this automatically - When the game console is turned on, the input switches automatically to that input and then when it is turned off, it goes back to cable. You have to do some experimenting as to where to plug each device into the box, and the instructions that come with it are of no help.
In my opinion, the small cost is well justified to avoid the programming and the loss of sync between the remote and the device that invariably happens to the person least able to cope with it, when I am not in the building.
An extra advantage of the switch being a separate device is that it gets rid of timing issues that occur, especially when powering on the equipment. The switch does its job whether the TV is ready to receive inputs or not, so there is no need to program in pauses in macros that are setting up for a new activity.
Yet another advantage is for my Wii-U game system. I always had a button on the remote to switch to that input and then after a session of game playing, I had to pick up the remote to switch back, usually to watching cable. This switch handles this automatically - When the game console is turned on, the input switches automatically to that input and then when it is turned off, it goes back to cable. You have to do some experimenting as to where to plug each device into the box, and the instructions that come with it are of no help.
In my opinion, the small cost is well justified to avoid the programming and the loss of sync between the remote and the device that invariably happens to the person least able to cope with it, when I am not in the building.
