Archive for the ‘Third Party Hardware’ Category

You see the title correct. 16×16 HDMI Switch. We here at The Soho Shop were one of the first to have one of these to test. At the price of $24,999.00 is it worth it? Well first off i will say comparatively the closest thing to it is the crestron HDMI Switch. With That being said you know what our choice for integration is. So here it is the Atlona. The switch that is the size of an average microwave “and weighs in at 50 lbs.” , but does what  your microwave can’t!

First thing that stood out was this nice little touchscreen on the front! Not only Can you do all the config menus on the front but you can preview every device you plug into it, you can also see what every output should be viewing! This let you know immediately if all of your devices are working properly. With that in mind, with this awesome feature i really wish they would have  stuck a couple speakers on the front so i could rock out while i was installing this beast.

Now for the rear panel! Too many options! Input is easy to explain, you get 16 HDMI 1.3 inputs. As for outputs here is where it gets interesting. The switch gives you your standard 16 HDMI outputs with the addition of 1 output each that is 2 x twisted pair. This is great for a couple reasons. The first is that this switch does come with all 16 Baluns that according to them pass up to 165 ft. @ 1080p, and have extenders that can add another 165 ft. Fortunately we didn’t have to review the extenders because we didn’t need them. The second reason this feature is great, any installer or system designer could appreciate. Having these 2 outputs per output zone allows you to send the HDMI out to a locally racked surround sound for full surround sound processing and the second can go all the way to the display!  This takes care of a lot of wire management head aches. The switch in conjunction with the balun also has another feature we didn’t use. The balun has an ir input with a corresponding output at the switch. This may be advantageous for those who love there universal remotes.

Control-ability: This was a little hairy for us since we had the first one out. First off there was no existing driver for control4. Second the firmware to support ASCII commands was not even developed when we got it. So the switch sat quietly in the rack as a nice center piece. Then I check my email and low and behold…… a driver with the new firmware!  With the new firmware loaded it was off to the races! The switching itself between devices was instantaneous. No lag, No pauses, No hiccups. On the display side it was a little different. The Switch passes the exact resolution that the device is outputting. So on most displays we tested there was a 3 to 6 second pause just for display to adjust to the new resolution. This was totally acceptable to me since it was obviously not the switch causing the issue. My ONLY complaint about the switch in this area is the driver. There needs to be a couple of changes. Each output zone needs to show 2 HDMI outputs each for easy of installation when it comes to programming. Also they tout that it could be controlled over IP but there is no driver available yet. Status feedback from the switch would also be nice as currently it is only a one way driver.And lastly there is so much that can be done in the menu it would be nice if the menu item were controllable through the driver. With this said the driver does work and works well as a one way driver. We would just like more. I am sure most of these request are already being implemented as this review is being written.

Picture: Flawless. With a quality BluRay playing at 1080p i could not tell if this BluRay player was connected directly to the display with a high end cable! There are only 2 switches that i have seen for HDMI that deliver this quality video! All resolutions looked awesome, and we never lost a signal!

Issues: there were a couple hiccups on this first ever installation. Component to HDMI converters, apparently they are not all created equal. we found that while the wyrestorm converters worked fine with some devices like c4 controllers, they did not work with the Sony ES777 or uverse boxes. We were surprised to see however that the monoprice converters fine with the ES777. Atlona does have their own branded converters, we just didn’t have the time to get them on site to try them out.

All and All, bang for your buck, this is the best and baddest HDMI switch out there. I have seen almost all of them, but for a 16×16 switch this one is it. It could be integrated with any system since it is not tied to one particular automation company and could possibly be integrated with them as well. Is it worth the dough? I would say yes. For it’s capabilities and to keep your home safe from the Analog Sunset it is worth every penny.

Special thanks to Michael Khain |Product Manager @ Atlona Technologies for sticking it out with us to get this piece controllable!

Now onto the Published Spec Sheet: