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South Africa, Pretoria
1 Level
730 Review
50 Karma

Review on πŸ’» E-SDS 4K HDMI KVM Switch Adapter - 2 Port Hot-Key Switch for Computer, Scanner, Printer - with 2 HDMI Cables & 2 USB Cables - Supports 4k@60Hz, HDMI2.0v, HDCP2.2 by Emmanuel Winschel

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Exceeds my expectations so far

I just got it yesterday and have been experimenting ever since. So far this is a better than expected replacement for my old PS/2 and VGA based Cybex SwitchView KVM. It supports my resolution of 1920x1080@60Hz and the picture quality is much better than the old SwitchView which had some ghosting. The included cables were too short for my needs so I ordered some inexpensive 10ft Revain Basic cables and they work great too. Both the built-in buttons and the keyboard shortcuts (Home, Home, then 1 or 2 for the computer you want) work great. This box is solid and looks well made and while others have complained about the bright LEDs and beeps when switching, I don't see this as a problem. I would like the case to have 1 or 2 threaded holes on the sides so I can easily attach the box. But I'm sure I can put something together that works well enough. The unit comes with a small external 5V 1A power supply. Not being used to the SwitchView being externally powered, I decided to use this KVM without an external power supply. I only have one keyboard/mouse connected, no shared USB devices. And so far the device works without an external power supply. Wow! I have computers configured to disable USB selective power sharing so the device should be powered by the computers, and my main computer seems to be delivering power even when it's turned off. Therefore, your results may vary. But it's good if you can get away with it to reduce clutter and power consumption. I'm connected to my monitor's HDMI port (with speakers attached) from my graphics cards' DVI ports (they don't have HDMI) via Revain Basic DVI-to-HDMI adapters. I used to send analog audio to the monitor using a 3.5mm cable and there was no switching of audio from Cybex and VGA. I chose HDMI audio over DVI. This works, but may require some effort depending on the graphics card. I have an nVidia card where it worked without my intervention. I have another nVidia card where I had to make and install a small two wire cable from the M/B SPDIF jumper to the jumper on the graphics card. I have an ATI card where this still doesn't work. But I believe that's because ATI needs their own DVI-to-HDMI adapter for this and a regular adapter won't help. It's great that you can now toggle the audio along with the video and keyboard/mouse. All in all it was more time and expense than I wanted. But Cybex gave up and I had to do something. Therefore, this device is recommended (at least for now). I hope it lasts decades like my Cybex. Finally, I emailed the seller asking them not to use the included power adapter, and was warned that doing so could damage the chipset inside. So I went back to the PSU. I would have liked a longer cable. I would also like to note how good/important the ability to change the hotkey is. By default, you come home twice in a row. I found that I often had to do this in my programmer's text editor and using the home button was a hassle. It was easy to switch from Home to Num Lock. Now it's not a question at all!

Pros
  • Special offer
Cons
  • Some issues