Lindy 4-port HDMI switch: For people with too many devices

By Ian Morris on 26 June 2008, 11:54am

Most new TVs have three or four HDMI sockets these days. But what if yours has fewer than you need? That's not as uncommon as you might think, especially if you have an older TV or even something like the Hitachi ultra-thin screen we reviewed recently. With Blu-ray players, games consoles, freesat, SkyHD and media streamers, it's not a stretch to believe some people might desperately need more HDMI inputs.

Happily, there are solutions for you, including this Lindy HDMI switch, with four HDMI inputs and one output. Featuring what Lindy proclaims as a "high quality Sony chipset" you shouldn't have any problems with compatibility or signal corruption. Happy days, as you'd be rather narked if you bought something like this only to discoverer it made a mess of everything you sent through it.

The switch is also HDMI 1.3 certified, which means you get support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD, as well as deep colour. It pretty much goes without saying that HDCP is supported too, so you can hook up devices with evil copy-protection systems and they will still work.

So, who needs one of these? If you've got an older TV with just one or two HDMI inputs, you'll no doubt find it useful. It can also be a huge bonus if you have a wall-mounted TV and have hidden the cables behind a wall. If you only put one HDMI cable back there, this will no doubt save you some considerable effort. We also rather liked that you didn't have to change input on the TV any more -- many TV remotes make you cycle through sources. Here, you just use the Lindy remote to hop around all your devices.

This switch will only appeal if you don't have an HDMI AV receiver, which pretty much all offer this kind of switching as a built-in option. It's also not cheap by any stretch of the imagination at £119. But it is at least very well made, and offers a fast response to button pushing. –Ian Morris