Though she is still writing for Android Authority, she went on to start writing for MakeUseOf, KOINO IT Solutions, and, of course, Review Geek. Many of us have more than one TV screen in our house these days. It could be one TV in the living room and another one in the bedroom, or maybe you have a small one in the kitchen, or a 4K projector somewhere along with a regular TV… you get the point.

The splitter then “duplicates” the signal coming from your media device – and sends it to your two outputs. So you can watch the same stream on two TVs, a TV and a projector, and every other example you can think of.This is also important when you have a subscription to a streaming service that limits the number of simultaneous streams you can watch. For example, if you have the Standard Netflix membership, you can only watch up to two streams at once. If you have a 4K Ultra HD TV and 4K source components, the switcher must also be 4K compatible. If you need to pass HDR-encoded or 3D video signals, your HDMI switcher must have those capabilities.

OREI is one of the most reliable brands for HDMI splitters, and this 8K 1x2 splitter will future-proof your setup for quite a few years. It’s a pricey investment, but it’ll allow you to send a 4K@120Hz signal from one input device to two different devices via HDMI 2.1 ports, as long as all of your devices support that resolution and refresh rate. For anyone with displays that support a different max resolution and refresh rate, you’ll want to find an HDMI splitter that supports downscaling. This feature allows your 4K@60Hz display to stay at that max resolution while the signal is downgraded for your 1080p@60Hz display. That’s where an HDMI splitter comes in – it’s a small box that lets you plug in one “Input” device – that’s your streamer/ DVD Player/etc.’– and connect TWO (or more) screens to the “Output” side, all via HDMI cables. When she’s not writing, you can usually find Sarah baking something delicious, hiking up a mountain, or playing video games.Make sure that your HDMI switcher is compatible if you are routing the output of the switcher through a home theater receiver that provides decoding for advanced audio formats, such as Dolby TrueHD, Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS:X. For people looking to duplicate a video signal or a static image, 4K resolution at 30Hz will be plenty. However, the best bet for most people will be an HDMI splitter capable of supporting a 4K resolution at 60Hz. If you want to future-proof your setup, you can splurge on an HDMI splitter that supports 4K@120Hz, or even 8K@60Hz. Sarah has an Associate of Arts from Collin College and a Bachelor of Arts in English with a Creative Writing concentration from Nicholls State University. You can use an HDMI switcher with two HDMI outputs to send the same HDMI signal to two TVs or a video projector and TV, but you can use an HDMI splitter if you don't need a switcher. However, with multiple screens comes the problem of using your media devices – such as streaming devices, gaming consoles, DVD players, etc. – with those multiple tellies. Without buying multiple devices, that is…

Alternatively, this OREI HDMI splitter is also capable of sending an 8K@60Hz signal, but it doesn’t support downscaling. This means all of your output displays need to support 8K@60Hz if you want to utilize this high resolution and refresh rate combo. If one of your output displays (or your input device) only supports 4K@60Hz, the signal sent to both displays will be the lower 4K@60Hz option.

Things To Consider

If you have features on your TV or computer monitor that you want to utilize, make sure the HDMI splitter you choose also supports those features. A few popular features to look out for are HDR compatibility and surround sound support like Dolby Atmos. In April 2020, she started writing for Android Authority, covering listicles, helpful how-to's for Android devices, and content on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. HDMI splitters that send two, three, four, or more signals from a single HDMI source are available, but for consumers, two is usually enough. Splitters with more outputs are primarily for business and commercial use, where one source needs to be sent to multiple TVs or projectors.