Skip to main content

Develop an 8-port or 16-port 8K60/4K120 HDMI 2.1 switch

BVGamer

Since TESmart seems to be the only company trying to advance the display switch/KVM space, I would love to see you come out with a full-featured 8-port or 16-port 8K60/4K120 HDMI switch with full HDR, VRR, and all the Dolbys support. Either HDMI 2.1 or 2.2.

I know it would be a pretty niche demand, but more and more devices are coming out with 4K120hz support, and I have a big gaming multi-consoles and devices setup connected to my TV. I have 6+ devices that work optimally on a switch with HDMI 2.1 support, but I've only been able to find 4-port video switches that actually work, so I've had to try daisy-chaining the video switches which mostly works and is definitely not ideal.

An 8-port would be just enough to cover the HDMI 2.1 devices, but I have 16 HDMI devices overall and a 16-port would be a bit more future proof and support everything I currently have.

I've tried the older 8-port KVM with HDMI 2.1 support, but it didn't quite work correctly. It did seem a little underpowered, so I don't know if the problems were because of low power or because all the additional KVM features were negatively impacting the display switching. I see there's a 16-port KVM with HDMI 2.1 now, but I'm not sure I want to spend that much money just to see if that works better now when all I need is the HDMI switching.

0

Comments

2 comments

Date Votes
  • Official comment
    TESmart.01

    Thanks for the detailed feedback — and we completely understand the need here.

    For larger HDMI 2.1 multi-device setups like yours, the closest current TESmart options would be the HKS801-M24 and HKS1601-M24.

    • HKS801-M24 is a single-monitor 8-port HDMI 2.1 KVM, suitable if 8 HDMI 2.1 sources would cover your active high-bandwidth devices.
    • HKS1601-M24 is the 16-port HDMI 2.1 option, which is a better fit if you want to cover your full setup now and avoid daisy-chaining multiple switches.

    Both are designed around 8K60 / 4K120-class HDMI 2.1 switching, with support for features such as VRR, ALLM, and Dynamic HDR, so they are much closer to what you are describing than older-generation large-port models. (TESmart)

    Since your use case is primarily HDMI switching rather than USB peripheral sharing, these two models are still the most relevant TESmart products to look at, even though they are positioned as KVM switches. If you do not need the USB/KM side, they can effectively serve as high-spec multi-input HDMI switching solutions.

    If your priority is “just enough ports” for current HDMI 2.1 devices, the HKS801-M24 is the simpler recommendation. If your priority is avoiding another upgrade later and consolidating all 16 HDMI devices into one system, the HKS1601-M24 is the more future-proof choice.

    That said, because your setup is centered on a TV and multiple gaming devices, the practical recommendation is to start by matching the port count to the number of devices that actually require full HDMI 2.1 bandwidth/features. If only 6–8 devices truly need 4K120/VRR/HDR-class switching, the 8-port model may already be the better balance. If most or all 16 devices are staying connected long-term, then the 16-port model is the cleaner solution. (TESmart)

  • BVGamer

    Like I said, I tried the HKS801-M24 in the setup before and it had issues like extremely long switch times, hyper-sensitive auto-switching, handshake failures at 4K120hz HDR VRR, and display flickering that appeared to be caused by the HDMI spec switching between 2.0 and 2.1 and back that got worse the longer I played on whichever system it was. I've experienced the flickering on other cheap devices shortly before the HDMI switches died, so it had me very worried. I don't remember for sure, but I think I noticed the power adapter that came with the HKS801-M24 I got was pretty low powered, like a 5V adapter, so being underpowered could have been a cause. I also think that just an HDMI switch without all the extra KVM fluff would likely perform better as well.

    With that said, I have a couple more recent TESmart switches that appear to have some improvements, so I did order the new HKS1601-M24, and I'm very hopeful it works as well as these other switches I have.

    0

Please sign in to leave a comment.

Didn't find what you were looking for?

New post