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For Home theater enthusiasts who have 2 HDTV displays there are now a solution to allow you to switch and display 2 different HD sources on both displays for a picture by picture setup.

As the price of flat panel technology continues to drop, many home theater enthusiasts will install multiple displays. For example, high-end home theater owners may install large Front Projection DLP for weekend viewing of movies and a smaller Flat Panel Display (Plasma, LCD) for daily use.

A 3x2 HDMI Cross switch can be used in Dual Display Theater systems. Users can create a Picture By Picture system. The picture by picture feature allows viewing of 2 different video sources simultaneously. For example, you may watch a sporting program on a large Projector and watch a second different program on a secondary display.
A 3x2 HDMI Cross Switch has 3 Inputs and 2 outputs.

The 2 Outputs allows users to switch between 2 displays. Owners of large screen front projectors system and flat panel display can easily select which display they wish to view. For example, day to day HD programming can be switched to the LCD and weekend viewing (movies, major sporting events) can be switched to the Projector system thus allowing the user to share video sources and cut down projector bulb wear and tear

The outputs of the HDMI Cross Switch can be independently selected from 3 video inputs. The HDMI Cross switch does not split the input to both displays, which merely shows same video on both display. The significant advantage of the HDMI Cross Switch is flexibility such as picture by picture viewing, independent EDID communication between display and source, and Dual Display switching which maximizes user flexibility.

Jeff Su is product development manager at http://www.octavainc.com. Jeff is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology (BSEE, MSEE) and has over 10 years of experience in CATV systems, RF, and microwave designs. He may be reached at info@octavainc.com.