With the onslaught of digital devices trying to invade our living rooms, one thing is clear and that is the designers of TVs and receivers need to start adding way more digital inputs. Most TVs have one to two HDMI inputs now and many receivers only have one source for digital audio in. Perhaps the newest receivers have more, but my receivers are a couple of years old.

In my home theater set up I added a Playstation 3 so that I could enjoy Blu-ray movies. I’m also anticipating adding an Apple TV next month (yeah, I know what I said about it, but I also said I’d be getting one). So I knew that I was going to need to add some inputs. Sure there are quite a few HDMI switchers out there. However, I wanted not only HDMI switching but also Optical Audio too. So I found this Octava HDMI plus Optical Audio Auto Sensing Switcher. Man does it work well! At $274 it’s not cheap. However, in this case I was willing to spend a little more. Why? Because I’m not quite ready to buy a new sound system or HD projector. So the easiest least expensive thing to do was to simply add more ports. The Octava 4x1 Switch with Optical Toslink Routing was just what the doctor ordered.

It’s got it all 4 HDMI inputs, 4 Optical Toslink inputs and 4 Digital Coax inputs. What’s even better is that it automatically senses the source and switches based on what you turn on. I was skeptical of this feature at first because one of my devices is my Comcast HD DVR that I always leave on. So I connected it using a DVI to HDMI cable and a Optical Toslink cable to port one. Then I connected the Playstation 3 using a HDMI and Toslink Cable to port two. Sure enough when I turn on the PS3 it automatically switches to port two even though the DVR is still on. That’s exactly what I wanted to happen. It will be interesting when I through the Apple TV into the mix because I believe it’s always on too. However, there is a manual switch button on the front and it comes with a wireless remote. So worse case scenario is that I’ll have to manually switch to it with the press of a button.

If you’re in need of more digital ports, I highly recommend this device. They also sell it for a few bucks more with all the cables you could need. Well thought out and it works!