OPPO HM-31 Advanced HDMI 1.3 and 1080p Switch by OPPO Digital
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Our Price: $949.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of OPPO HM-31 Advanced HDMI 1.3 and 1080p Switch
Digital camera Review: A Must Have product for those with limited HDMI inputs
Summary: 5 Stars
We have a Sony HDTV with only one HDMI input. The TV is still an excellent performer, and I was not ready to spend another $2,500 on a new TV, but I really wanted a Blu Ray player. I also felt like "why get a Blu Ray if you aren't going to get HDMI as the input."
I looked and while there are several HDMI switches available, this one is CLEARLY head and shoulders above the rest.
Set up was a breeze. We use Dish Network Vip 722, and a Panasonic Blu Ray player.
There was absolutely no degredation in picture or audio quality. Using the TV is input 3 is great. You simply click the "on" button for the Blu Ray player and it switches to that input, no need to touch the Oppo remote. Once the movie is over, or you are done watching, it, click power off, and about 15 seconds later it auto switches back to TV.
Yes there is a brief lag between sources, but that is a small price to pay for this level of quality and simplicity of use.
This is not only highly recommended, it is a MUST HAVE for the HDMI input challenged.
Digital camera Review: A Perfect Fit
Summary: 5 Stars
I am using this device to connect my PS3 and Cable to my television via HDMI and could not be more pleased. The converter is cost effective and is easy to install. The picture quality of the television did not suffer any significant loss. I am very happy with this product.Digital camera Review: A must have for your HD Entertainment System
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a 60" Panasonic HDTV, but with only 1 HDMI input connection. The OPPO HM-31 Certified HDMI 1.3 and 1080p Switch solves that problem. Believe me, this device works as advertise. For less than a hundred dollars you get to add 3 additional HDMI input connections to your TV. Now I have my PC, PS3 and cable box hooked to my TV, all in digital. Everything looks so amazing. From Blu-Ray movies to PS3 games to regular TV or HDTV. It all is so damn good. I kick myself for not getting this sooner.
All in all: A Great Buy!!
Digital camera Review: A solid piece in my home theater
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, this is the second time I am writing this review. The first time I was almost finished but accidentally pressed the "Backspace" button outside of Amazon.com's review text input box. You know in a normal web browsing session "Backspace" means go back to the previous page, and that's exactly what happened. I lost all the typing and almost gave up writing it again. However the OPPO HM-31 works so well it deserves a detailed review. Here I try again. Five star for the OPPO HM-31 3x1 HDMI switcher and ZERO star for Amazon.com's review user interface design.
I got the OPPO HM-31 switcher after I bought a PlayStation 3 to watch Blu-ray movies and my receiver ran out of HDMI input ports. Actually the OPPO HM-31 is not my first HDMI switch. I tried other switches (one Terk from Amazon and another from monoprice) but none worked for my setup. My home theater has 3 HDMI sources:
1. A comcast/motorola cable box plus DVR. This device is what causes other HDMI switches to fail. No matter it is on or off, its HDMI output is always alive and sends a video signal (no audio when off). When preset recording starts, the HDMI output actually "flickers" - alternating between good/bad signal before going stable.
2. A PlayStation 3 (60GB). I bought it not for playing games, but for watching Blu-ray movies.
3. An OPPO DV-980H 1080p Up-Converting Universal DVD Player with HDMI and 7.1CH Audio. This is a great DVD up-converter. Even though I bought the PS3, I still prefer using the OPPO to watch normal DVD.
All three are connected to the OPPO HM-31. The output of the HM-31 goes into my Onkyo TX-SR604 7.1 Channel A/V Receiver. From the receiver, its HDMI output is connected to a Pioneer KURO PDP-5010FD 50" 1080p Plasma HDTV. The receiver only has two HDMI input ports and that's the reason I need an HDMI switch to get more ports. The TV has more HDMI input ports than I care but it is not a receiver and cannot handle audio for me.
With this setup, everything works well together. The addition of OPPO HM-31 HDMI switch does not introduce any loss of picture or sound quality, nor does it cause any HDMI handshake issues. No matter I watch a Blu-ray movie with the PS3 or play a DVD with the OPPO DV-980H (both set to 1080p), or watch HD channels from comcast, the result is the same as if I directly connect the source to my receiver.
These all seems simple but they are not. When I used a monoprice switch, I often had HDMI handshake issue with my comcast cable box. The TV would display a blue screen with text saying something like "We have detected that the HDMI output has been compromised. Video output is now disabled" . When this happened I had to unplug and replug the HDMI cable to get it working again. With the OPPO HM-31 switch this problem never happened once. The Terk is an OK switch and it got me by, but the constant-on HDMI output from the comcast box totally confused the Terk's auto-switching function. Since the Terk does not have a remote control, I had to walk up to the TV and push the Terk's button. On the other hand the OPPO has a remote and it's much easier to use.
Talking about remote and auto-switching, I recently discovered that the OPPO HM-31 can do auto-switching too, and did it very well. The auto-switching feature was not mentioned in the user manual that came with the box, but the online manual at oppodigital.com talked about it. Following the recommendation on oppodigital.com I put the comcast box on port 3. The always-alive signal from it does not cause any problem with auto-switching since OPPO put port 3 at a lower auto-sensing priority than the other ports. The auto-switching function of the OPPO HM-31 saved me from programming another activity on my Logitech Harmony H-659 Advanced Universal Remote Control (Black). I simply keep using my already programmed "Watch a Movie" activity button for both the PS3 and OPPO DV-980H dvd player. What the button does is selecting the correct input ports on the TV and the receiver. I didn't even program the HM-31 remote control into the Harmony. All I need to do is simply turning on or off the PS3, OPPO DV-980H and comcast box as needed (This task is almost automated by the Harmony, except for the PS3 which uses a Bluetooth remote not supported by Harmony). The OPPO HM-31 is smart enough to know which port has signal and selects the correct port. How does it handle the always-alive comcast box? Well, when both the PS3 and OPPO DV-980H are off, comcast gets selected. Simple!
Overall I am extremely happy with OPPO products. Both the HM-31 and their DVD player work really well. I highly appreciate the company putting out these excellent products. That's why I want to spend the time to write this review - twice, after the first one destroyed by a "Backspace" keystroke.
Digital camera Review: AMAZING
Summary: 5 Stars
Works great,no more remote control needed to switch inputs.When i first saw this device i said it sounds to good to be true,but it's true it works as stated in the product description.Very pleased with the oppo HM-31.