I want to connect two tvs to my cable box and one of those to my pc as well. The one connected to the pc is up on a stand in the middle of the room where it can be seen from anywhere the other is off to the side on the floor where I can see it from my chair sitting in front of the pc. I want to switch to the tv on the pc display get up and move around and still see the tv but still be able to come back sit down in front of the computer and watch the tv off to the side at the same time if i want to.
Can split an hdmi signal coming from my cable box to do this?
Ok. That raises other questions that I have come across while researching the products. I keep seeing you should only ONLY operate one output device at a time or they need to be the same size. What happens If I switch my center display to pc to use the computer and watch the other tv at same time without disconnecting the pc display from the cable?
Although I’ve used HDMI links quite extensively it has only been with dedicated AV equipment, not computers, so the following is a generalisation based upon that.
Typically:
A splitter, either passive (purely splitting the signal), or active (splitting plus “amplification” to allow longer cable lengths) will allow the same source signal to be sent to one (or more) display devices.
A switch, again either passive or active, will allow multiple sources to share one display device. Switches may be manual, requiring the input source to be selected, or auto switching. Auto switching will switch to the active input, normally inputs are also prioritised so that in the event of two (or more) simultaneous active inputs, it is the input with the highest priority that is switched through to the output.
Regarding differing resolutions, in the case of AV equipment the display device, screen or projector, will normally up or downscale to match the input signal. In general it is advisable to use the highest resolution that is common to all components of the system, thus avoiding the need for any scaling to take place. Although having said that, modern high quality AV equipment does an extremely good job of up/down scaling…
I don’t know how this would differ when using a computer and computer display. Hopefully another forum member more familiar with computer HDMI connections will provide advice
