Smart Home Blog

David Coleman, director of CE for Honeywell International, shared his knowledge about HDMI installation and testing CE Pro. I found his recommendations very interesting. Especially a basic HDTV pre-wire. He recommended one HDMI cable, one component video cable and three Cat 5 wires run in a 2-inch pipe. That configuration will allow enough flexibility to ensure you have your bases covered.

If you need more detailed explanation of HDMI wiring you can register on CEPro to get The Installer’s Guide to HDMI - a free Advantage Series from CE Pro.

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Recently Gefen introduced two new devices: HDMI 1.3 1:5 Splitter and 1:10 Distribution Amp. The 1:5 HDMI 1.3 Splitter is a distribution hub that sends the same HDMI signals to up to five HDTV digital displays. The 1:10 HDMI Distribution Amplifier allows to send HD signal to up 10 displays. Those two devices can be a perfect solution for bars, pubs, coffees and other places where one signal should be distributed to the many displays.

The splitter and distribution amp are HDCP-compliant and rack mountable. Both products are available for pre-order on Gefen’s Web site at $499.00 and $749.00 respectively.

[via CePro]

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Recently Mvix lunched a new version of its media player MV780. Unlike the previous model - MV760, the MV780 sports a native HDMI output. As result it can deliver full 1080i HD to your plasma or LCD without losing signal quality.

Unlike other network media players MV780 doesn’t need any additional software. When it’s added in your home LAN using Ethernet or WiFi the media player is detected as external storage. So, you can copy there any media content easily (additionally MV760 offers a synchronization between PCs in the local network or with popular filesharing programs, i.e. eMule, KaZaa, BitTorrent). Disadvantage of that approach is impossibility to stream movies or music directly from the source PC without storing locally.

The MV760 supports a huge number media formats. So, you shouldn’t have a situation when the movie cannot be played or image isn’t displayed. The new Mvix player seems very good but personally I don’t like its design. It looks like DSL model or WiFi router for me. Moreover, the MV760 cannot be placed horizontally under TV and it will stand out against a background of your A/V equipment.

No more words about the availability of the Mvix MV760 or its price. But taking into account the cost of the previous model we expect that the MV760 will be tagged not less then €250.

[via eHomeUpgrade]

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Today Mvix launched the HDMI equipped HD Media Player - MV780. Unlike the similar devices the MV780 has a built-in 3.5″ HDD (up to 750Gb) and can not only receive media content from PC to display on TV but store it locally. It has a native HDMI output to deliver a full HD (1080i) signal to your TV. Also the MV780 doesn’t need special software on the PC. Just add it into your home network using WiFi (802.11n) or LAN connection and it will appear for the rest PCs as external HDD. It should be doesn’t mutter what operation system run your PC - Linux, MacOSX or Windows. The unit have to work correctly with all of them. Thanks to syncing function the MV780 can sync with any PC in your network or with filesharing PNP services such eMul or BitTorrent.

The is no any word about availability and price of the MV780. But if you take into account the price of previous model MV760HD (€260) you can approximate the cost for MV780.

[via eHomeUpgrade]

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Belkin announced its new product (perfect as usual) - HDMI Wireless Transmitter FlyWire. It allows to transmit full HD signal (1080p, 24-frame) up to 30 meters away. The transmitter has 6 inputs: 2 HDMI, 2 component, a composite/S-Video AV set, and a SCART (SCART is gonna be replaced by third HDMI for the North American version). Different sources have different opinions about transmitting non HD signal from non-HDMI sources: same of them say that FlyWire can upconvert SD signal to 1080p, the rest - it leaves it at its native resolution. In any case, it should be available detailed specification till the HDMI transmitter will start to sell in summer 2008. Expected price of the FlyWire is $500 - $600 which seems reasonable for possibility to get rid of wires.

[sources: eHomeUpgrade and CNet]

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