HDMI switch questions

[MilesAhead]

I just got the WD Media Player. Seems to work well. My TV has only one HDMI input. Strange as it seems my upconverting DVD player output looks fine over the composite cable if the DVD is 16x9 as the TV upscales it. However with HDMI I can upscale the 4x3 to 1080i and it looks much better.

The thing I'm wondering about is I read some of these switches need you to have both devices with HDMI output powered up so it can detect what is what. Can anyone share their experiences?

I'm looking for something under $30. More than that and I'll just manually move the cable!

[doctorhardware]

I would think that the video quality would not be that good with just spending $30 or under.

[MilesAhead]

I would think that the video quality would not be that good with just spending $30 or under.

My DVD player has component output as well as HDMI. Since I can get a 5 wire component cable set(and can always use a set anyway) for $18 I'm going to try the upscaling DVD player with component and see how it looks. I may just leave the HDMI on the WD box since that's real HD.

[leomatrole]

It maybe the cable and not the switch. How long is your cables you are running? I would recommend at least 28AWG and max 6ft cables...

[MilesAhead]

At the moment I don't need an HDMI switch. I found that my TV will upconvert 16x9 input coming through the component connection. I switched my DVD player to use component and left the HDMI on the WD set top box. Both look fine as long as the videos are 16x9. Although with HDMI connection the DVD player will 16x9-ify some 4x3 content by putting black bars on the ends, and that helps.. but I'm using that less and less as I get everything to 16x9.

For now I can get by as it is.