Zettaguard Upgraded 4K 60Hz 4x1 HDMI Switcher Review

We purchased the Zettaguard Upgraded 4K 60Hz 4x1 HDMI Switcher so our expert reviewer could thoroughly test and assess it. Keep reading for our full product review.

The Zettaguard Upgraded 4K 60Hz 4x1 HDMI Switcher is a solid entry in the HDMI switcher market. It’s loaded with four HDMI inputs and one HDMI output (hence the 4x1 designation) to allow you connect a plethora of consoles, media players, or PCs to your TV without constantly juggling cables and ports. It’s capable of transmitting a 4K signal at up to a 60Hz refresh rate, and is thoughtfully designed with ports in the back of its solid aluminum case to mitigate the nightmare of modern cable management.  

Design: Simple and functional

This Zettaguard switch has four inputs and one output port, all tucked into the rear of the switch to help keep cables neat and organized. The switcher chassis is unassuming, with a profile of about 0.7 inches and a black/silver aluminum case. It feels sturdy, and has rubber legs to protect the surface under the switch. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include an HDMI audio splitter, so you’ll have to reroute sound from your source to your audio setup if you want to play your content on dedicated speakers. For video, this switch supports HDMI 2.0, HDCP 2.2, and Dolby TrueHD standards. 

The remote has a button for each HDMI input and a dedicated button for picture-in-picture mode, which allows viewers to simultaneously view all the active inputs. 

Setup Process: Done in seconds

To set up the Zettaguard switch, we plugged in three different HDMI cables running to a Playstation 4, a Nintendo Switch, and a Windows PC and ran an HDMI cable from the switcher to a BenQ HT3550 projector, which is 4K 3D capable. The installation was straightforward, and because all the ports are located on the rear of the switch, the setup is neat and manageable.

Features & Performance: A reliable choice

The Zettaguard HDMI switcher has a wide array of features. It has four inputs, automatically switches to any input when you power it on, and sports LED lights to indicate which inputs are active. To prevent the switcher from drawing power from the input devices, the Zettaguard functions on a dedicated AC adapter. Additionally, it has a picture-in-picture preview mode to simultaneously show thumbnails of all active inputs. On average, we found that switching between inputs took around nine seconds, right in the middle of the range of the switchers we tested. Thanks to its 18Gbps transfer speed, it worked reliably with our PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC with no noticeable latency.

We also had a good experience with the 4K film content we streamed on our PC. The HDR coloring really made the video pop, and we were able to play back our HDCP 2.2-reliant videos. Dolby TrueHD let us hear the audio with remarkable fidelity to the original recording. If the switcher also functioned as an audio splitter, it would have been a comprehensive solution.

Price: A mid-range switcher

The Zettaguard will set you back about $40, pretty standard for its category. It brings all the features you’d reasonably want in an HDMI switcher: four ports, HDCP 2.2 compatibility, a remote, and PIP mode.

Zettaguard Upgraded 4K 60Hz 4x1 HDMI Switcher vs. J-Tech Digital 4K 30HZ Four-Port HDMI Switcher

These two perform about equally and retail for similar prices, but the Zettaguard switch is $40 and is well-built. The primary point of difference, however, is that the J-Tech switcher, which goes for about $35, only has a 30Hz refresh rate and is not HDCP 2.2 compliant. For $5 more, the Zettaguard is a pretty significant upgrade in those two categories, especially given the move amongst game consoles (and in PC gaming) towards higher refresh rates/more frames per second.

Similar Products We've Reviewed:

• Kinivo 550BN HDMI Switch
• Smartooo 23031 HDMI Switcher
• Goronya 3x1 HDMI Switch Selector