JideTech 16x1 HDMI USB KVM Switch 4K@60Hz with USB 3.0 Hub, Hotkey Switching, HDCP2.1 & Intelligent EDID — Multi System USB Peripheral Sharing for Office/Studio/IT Rack

In the modern era of 4K 60 Hz monitors and fancy programmable keyboards, KVM switches have faced an increasingly recalcitrant set of equipment with narrowing opportunities for compatibility. Nevertheless, to my utter delight I have been able to use the 4-port Jidetech KVM with the following, very difficult, setup (NOTE DISCLAIMERS BELOW): • 2021 M1 Max Macbook Pro 16" • Dell XPS 9310 2-in-1 on a Dell WD19TB Thunderbolt 3 dock • 3840 x 2160 (4K UHD) @ 60 Hz Samsung UN48JS9000 48" TV over HDMI 2.0 • Kinesis Advantage2 keyboard • Two (left + right) Evoluent Vertical Mouse 4 PROVISOS: • The Kinesis and Evoluent USB devices listed above only work when plugged into their own *powered* USB 2.0 hub, and the hub plugged into the front (data) USB-A port on the KVM. I leave the KVM's unpowered keyboard/mouse USB-A ports on the back unused, except when I plug in a standard "dumb" keyboard to use a hotkey, like when I turned off the beeps. • The M1 Macbook Pro only reliably connects to the KVM using a Thunderbolt 3 (not USB-C) dual-HDMI adapter. I use the Sonnet one. I emphasize: NOT USB-C. The internal HDMI port and USB-C HDMI adapters all result in highly variable connections, from blank screens to TV noise to successful connections that don't survive sleep. • The Dell XPS laptop is more tolerant of a simple DP-to-HDMI adapter (presumably off the USB controller), but ... see below for caveats. • The thin Redmere HDMI cables I was using all eventually ended up with flicker/noise/blank screen. The provided HDMI cables are far more reliable. Kinesis has famously said that their Advantage keyboards don't work with the vast majority of KVM switches, and they are correct. Even with the Jidetech the Advantage2 does not work in its back, unpowered, keyboard port. So the fact the Jidetech KVM works with my Advantage2 through a powered hub into the front data USB-A port is a brilliant discovery. Extending your USB devices through a KVM may cause certain devices to end up "too many hops away" from your computer's USB controller. This was a big problem for my Plantronics Savi MG8220 headset and Calisto 7200 speakerphone, which can only withstand being two USB hubs away from the XPS laptop (WD19TB dock -> powered USB 2.0 hub) before causing Windows 10 to throw a warning. I had to plug them into a separate USB 2.0 hub (and thence into the WD19TB dock) so those devices are not part of the KVM switch. Even worse, if you're already pushing the limits of the data bandwidth your controller can handle, adding one more device (like the KVM switch itself) can cause you to exceed that limit. For example, I was hoping to use the WD19TB's own DisplayPort jack (with a DP-to-HDMI adapter), rather than purchase another Thunderbolt 3 HDMI adapter like I have to with the M1 Macbook Pro 16". But I have so many USB devices attached I have to bump off at least one USB device in order to retain enough data bandwidth for the WD19TB's DP port not to cause artifacts and KVM connection delays. So I will be getting a Thunderbolt 3 to HDMI adapter for the WD19TB hub as well. So all-in-all, as with 100% of other KVM switches, the Jidetech KVM is no slot-in affair. But it truly is brilliant that my above setup is switchable at all, and reliably so. For this, never mind the detailed instructions and provided high-quality accessories (like the five superb HDMI 2.0 cables), and the fact that mine is a actually used copy from Amazon Warehouse — 5 stars.

A small and non-problematic KVM switch that works smoothly. Pros: - Includes latest tech. updates likeHDMI2.0, 60HZ, 4K, Auto EDID, HDCP support. - Having a USB 2.0 Hub on board is a big plus for the multimedia keyboards or multi key mouses. - Included with the package; 4 sets of (This is 2 sets in most of the other brands) HDMI and USB cables and a wired switch button. - No problems with icon placements on desktops when switch back and forth between devices. - Using keyboard shortcuts for switching devices is very easy. You can assign Ctrl, Scroll Lock or Num Lock keys as the master key to use with device numbers. Cons: - Not that a big problem maybe but when I plugged my laptop to the switch over laptop’s docking station, there is a lag between switches. For example, from laptop to Raspberry takes 13-14 seconds and from Raspberry to laptop takes 4 seconds only. If I connect my laptop directly from its HDMI port, it only takes 3-4 seconds when switching to Raspberry. I don’t know if I can do something to overcome this problem and improve switching speed when on docking station. Please shed a light if someone knows. - I’m using a Logitech MX Anywhere 2S mouse. This works very good on PC side with all its shortcut buttons on the left side when you connect it from the USB 2.0 hub on the switch. On Raspberry side, only left, right and scroll wheel works. Shortcut buttons which I assigned the copy-paste transactions doesn’t work. But I’m not sure if this is because of the kvm switch itself or Raspberry operating system. - When switching between PC and Raspberry 4, scroll wheel works on Raspi side BUT only if you use Ctrl+Z (Enter) combination. This shortcut has given on JideTech website for a possible lag problem on Raspberrys but I discovered that it works for re-activating the scroll wheel also. I’m again not sure about what is the source of this problem. Mouse, Switch or Raspberry? But as you can see, all of the cons I mentioned above are manageable things somehow and at the end of the day I’m really happy with my decision. Maybe JideTech can enlighten me for my small problems after reading my review. Thx JideTech.

The unit is a decent unit and works pretty much as described. The 2 issues I have had with this unit is the keyboard is not seen via the keyboard port on the back of the unit. The only way to get the keyboard seen by the computers is to use the front USB port. The other issue is when switching between computers the unit does not replicate the signal that tells the pc that a monitor is still attached. In my particular setup, I have a laptop on one of the ports, when switching away from the laptop to my desktop the laptop loses the main monitor and then it takes flipping back and forth until it sees the main monitor again. Other than those issues the unit switches and works. Picture quality is very good and even sees the desktop setup at 120 Hz refresh. ***Update: After working with Amy at Jide Tech the unit is working with the key board attached to the keyboard USB port in the back. The issue turned out to be the Hot Key setting was turned on for the unit. There is a switch in front that turns this on and off. Once that was turned off, my Logitech G110 gaming keyboard works fine. Now I have tested some of the gaming buttons but since I only game every now and then it does not affect this setup. The only issue remaining is the laptop losing connection as the unit does not emulate a monitor. But it just takes a bit of flipping back and forth sometimes to get them sync'd back up. And partly due to the monitor I have not seeing the signal and turning off as well. ***

This JideTech 41H2 4-port HDMI KVM switch works well and its wired remote switch is very handy-- much simpler and more reliable than weird keyboard hotkey combinations. The version I got came with a full set of HDMI and USB cables (eight total) even though I did not see those listed in the product description. I have only tested up to resolution 1920x1200x60 but that works perfectly. I use a Zio keyboard PS/2-to-USB adapter (for my IBM Model M keyboard) and that works fine when switching. HDMI audio passes through fine (display's audio feature is recognized by all attached computers). Switching delay is minimal-- if an idle computer has gone to sleep it takes a second or two to wake up. The USB hub feature works well but curiously this KVM contains two USB hubs cascaded (you can check from MS-Windows using usbview.exe from the MS Windows SDK) so attaching an external hub (to get more than one USB port for accessories like memory card reader and webcam) yields a stack of three hubs. The limit is five USB hubs stacked, so that seems like no problem, except that the Lenovo Thinkpad dock's USB2.0 ports hang off a hidden extra hub cascaded from the dock's USB3 hub. So plugging the KVM into a Thinkpad dock USB2.0 port puts you at the limit of five stacked hubs. Then if you plug in (to your external hub) one more device which happens to have an internal USB hub it won't work-- until you debug all this as I did, and then plug the KVM into one of the laptop dock's USB3 ports to remove the extra hidden USB2.0 hub in the dock from the stack. I briefly had a problem with one laptop not recognizing EDID. Turning everything off and on again one time "in order" (display->KVM->computer) fixed that (and no problem subsequently despite multiple reboots, undockings, and power-cycles, of monitor and KVM too).

Devices plugged into this KVM: Desktop Computer Mac Mini Home Server Intel NUC Firewall Appliance (Router with HDMI) Work-From-Home Laptop The reason why I bought this KVM is not only for my computers and servers, but also when setting up homelab equipment such as a couple of Intel NUCs for setting up whatever I can think of such as Proxmox or OpenStack. Of course, since I used to play games, I don't get 4k at 120Hz, which is fine because even if I plug my computer directly to my OLED TV, I cannot tell the difference between 60Hz and 120Hz, so since I only play single-player games, HDMI 2.0 is fine for me. If I can tell a difference between 60Hz and 120Hz, I would probably get myself a 4-port HDMI 2.1 KVM, but again, no need. I am happy with my 16-port KVM setup for my home use. And plus it has rack ears! Got to have it! :D

This product works reasonably well. The HDMI video is interference free, it works at 1920x1200, and the KVM will provide EDID information to offline devices so that they bootup in the right resolution. HDCP will complain if you switch away while displaying restricted content, but that’s not unexpected. My Logitech M310 wireless mouse works without any issue. My PS/2-to-USB keyboard dongle glitches a little, but only a little more than when directly connected. The KVM does not support persistent USB connections like the ConnectPRO KVMs do, so when you switch away from a PC, your keyboard and mouse will be disconnected from that PC. This can be a little annoying since it takes a second or two for the PC to redetect them when you switch back. It can also break wake-on-USB functionality if you switch away as you put your PC to sleep. That also lead to another issue I had with my Intel H97 motherboard. When the KVM was connected to a USB2 port, after six or seven switches, Windows would pop up a USB bandwidth exceeded error message and neither the keyboard nor mouse would work. I had to connect the KVM to a USB3 port to get around the issue. Another annoying issue is that some virtual machine programs cause the switch to jump to the next port. VMWare causes this if you have a guest with USB bridging enabled. DOSBox causes this each time the guest powers up or reboots. I can’t find a way to disable it. Jide Tech’s technical support was fairly quick to respond. During their business hours, responses came in under an hour. I never waited more than a day for a response. Their English was fairly good and they offered to replace my unit if we couldn’t figure out the bandwidth exceeded issue. You do have to provide your own USB2 and HDMI cables. For the price, I was alright with that.

This is a great KVM with no major complaints. I had an old DVI KVM but switching between my PC and MBP was finicky, so I decided to go with an HDMI one. While I only have two computers to switch between, I'm still more than happy with the purchase. Unlike less expensive versions, this one doesn't emulate the keyboard, mouse, and monitor, so things like waking with a keypress works great. I love the hotkey functionality, which allows me to switch between computers solely using keypresses, rather than hitting a button on the remote or the unit. There were a few small things that I encountered that I was able to fix: - My mouse and keyboard were acting up on MacOS. Hitting Right ctrl-F2-enter worked to reset that and get things recognized - My logitech mouse was being recognized as a basic mouse, which meant the extra buttons weren't working. Plugging the mouse into the USB 2.0 port made the computers recognize the mouse as a Logitech mouse, thus enabling the buttons.

Functions properly for a while then sometimes screen disappears or flashes after a few days. Cycling the power seems to fix it. Removed one of the three computers connected to it today now I can't get any to show consistently. One shows for a few seconds then monitor goes black again. Power cycle, reset button etc... not fixing it. I thought getting one of the more expensive of these was a good plan. Turns out not. Also whoever in responsible for the beep when you change ports - that person shouldn't be in charge of these kinds of decisions. You can turn it off but why have it on in the first place.