Monoprice 113347 BlackbirdTM 4K Series HDMI Audio Inserter, Black 2.3 x 7 x 9.5

I have read several reviews of this product here on amazon. I have read several reviews of this product on monoprice's own website. I have read several reviews of this audio inserter on various other forums and websites. A common theme among them is that some people have this working, and some people do not. Those who do not, are convinced that "it doesn't work," or even better, that "it doesn't work with a PC," or even "it doesn't work if your HDMI signal does not already carry audio." Those who don't have this working complain the loudest and insist that these things are so.I'm here to tell you that this audio inserter works. It works perfectly. It does exactly what its name says it does, what the product bullet points say it does, and most importantly, IT DOES WHAT YOU WANT IT TO DO. I know this because after reading so many "it doesn't work" reviews, I had read at least as many "this does exactly what I need" reviews, and I decided to take a calculated risk that maybe, just maybe, computer and audio setups are complex and that there was a chance that many people, despite being tech savvy were missing something and blaming the box--and after receiving my box, AND MISSING THINGS MY OWN DUMB SELF, I got the box to work.And it works great! It sends a one-to-one audio signal of your choice, via either 3.5mm analogue input, or toslink optical cable. Dolby? DTS? Plain old stereo? Whatever it is that you send it, it will pass it along. Does your HDMI source not have audio? IT DOES NOT MATTER, it will still insert the audio that you input and spit both of these out the HDMI socket on the front of the box. I know this because this is how I use this box. So to those poor souls who hated this inserter I say, try again. Scrutinize your setup. If all else fails, stop and LOOK at your toslink cable, after you plug it in to your source but before you plug it in to the box. If you don't see a red light, then you don't have a working toslink audio source--which is what turned out to be my problem, and something I only discovered after hours (that's right, I said HOURS) of screwing around and troubleshooting. And no, there's not a chance in hell my HDMI source has audio, either, because that is one of MANY bases I covered in my troubleshooting (I didn't want to use it with an HDMI audio source anyway). I'm not one to deal with stupid crap that I pay for, so if this box did not do what I say then I would shoot it straight back to monoprice for a refund, and after only a day's use of it, that's definitely not going to happen. My SoundBlaster Z card is piped in to my 5.1 audio receiver now. Oh and one more complaint I've seen a lot about this box, audio lag over toslink--DOES NOT HAPPEN.Pros:1. Inserts toslink or analogue.2. Inserts the same signal that you insert (DTS, Dolby, etc.).3. Zero lag.4. This monoprice box is the cheapest inserter I've seen that does what it does.5. It does 4K also.Cons:1. I can only think of one, and that is the custom nature of the jungle that you may be wading into by trying to use this box in the first place. I can see from reading these comments that TOO MANY USERS gave up when the box was not at fault.2. That's about it, can't think of anything else negative to gripe about.If you have a need to insert whatever audio into your HDMI source, this WILL do the task.

Was passing HDMI signal for about 2 minutes and then died. Didn't even get to actually attempt injecting audio. Now no matter what HDMI signal I pass to it, the SYNC light refuses to go on, and even in Bypass mode nothing comes out of the output. Garbage.

I was a little concerned about this item working based on some of the other reviews saying that is didnt work, but decided to give it a try. I am glad I did. This item works perfectly as designed. I am using this in conjunction with a hdmi balun set on a 270' cable run with ZERO issues! I believe others that are having issues may be mixing up the hdmi in and out ports. If you do not have the "hdmi in" going to your video source and the "hdmi out" going to the tv, your audio will not work correctly as it will be routed to your video source and not your tv.

Here's the deal. This little device does work - within a narrow use case. This explains why some reviews say that it works, and some say that it doesn't. Be careful to not read too much into reviews like the one from Hyperion Alpha that lead to you believe that people must be setting it up wrong. That's not the case. One very valid claim of it not working is that where the HDMI source is not sending an audio bitstream. If that's the case for what you're trying to do (i.e., muxing audio into an HDMI output from DVI video and analog or SPDIF input), it won't work. I tested the scenario directly. First case: DVI output from PC video card to DVI-HDMI adapter to this inserter. SPDIF and analog audio from Sound Card. No audio came out of the HDMI. Second case: I switched the HDMI input to another that included an HDMI audio stream (different audio), both analog audio and SPDIF worked as expected. So in short, the expectation that many users have is that this device can insert an audio stream into an HDMI signal that doesn't have one. After all, it's an audio inserter - it should insert audio where there isn't any. But that is not the case. It can't do that.

This unit did not work when I first received it, but I discovered how to easily fix it. There is one screw on the bottom that is covered up by an inspection sticker. Remove that screw and it works fine. The screw was shorting the audio input connector on the circuit board, so just by removing the screw, it works perfectly!

I got this to hook up Sonos Connect, which only has optical output, to my Samsung soundbar, which only has HDMI input. I connect the Sonos Connect to this with an optical cable, connect an old Chromecast i had lying around just to provide some dummy HDMI signal (this doesn't work without an input HDMI signal) and hook up the HDMI output to my soundbar. Worked like a charm.The only annoying part is my soundbar won't turn on or switch to the right HDMI input automatically, but luckily both Sonos Connect and the Samsung soundbar have great Home Assistant support, which allows me to add such automation.

The issue: Had a camera that could send audio down the HDMI line to a TV in another room in real time, that camera died.I have a Canon 80D, that not surprisingly can't send audio down the HDMI line in real time.I was skeptical of this product, since some reviewers on Amazon and Monoprice say that the video feed has to have audio in order for it to work.Hooked up our Behringer x32 from an auxiliary output, and connected this little guy between the 80D and our splitter. IT WORKED!This was an awesome (given it lasts!) and inexpensive solution to our problem.I would recommend this.Cool thing I found out: When there is not a video feed, but there is an audio feed. The TV will show a blue screen (like as if it isn't receiving any signal) but audio still works. This helps us out when the video team isn't here to operate the equipment and the overflow room needs audio!