A Media Enabled Home - Connecting Multiple HD Devices Together Over Long Distances
If you own more than one High Definition (HD) capable television and several HD capable 'toys' then you may need a way to connect these all together. High definition really does make a difference especially on large screens and the extra cost is usually worth it. But the question is how do you connect all these devices together, while taking full advantage of their HD capabilities.
One way of accomplishing this is to use a HDMI matrix. These come in a few configurations but the most common are 4x2 and 4x4; which means 4 inputs and 2 outputs, and 4 inputs and 4 outputs respectively. A matrix will allow you to connect any input device to any output device. Not only that but you can also have any combination of input to output. For example you may have 4 TV's and 2 skyHD boxes; a matrix will allow you to connect one skyHD box to 3 of the TV's and the remaining sky box to the other tv.
A HDMI matrix with HDMI ports means you are limited to using HDMI cables which are only usable up to about 15 meters without boosters. This doesn't give you much freedom in locating your devices around the home especially if you want to locate devices in separate rooms or you want to run your cables along walls to keep things neat. Long HDMI cables are also fairly expensive especially you want decent quality ones.
Another option is to use a HDMI over CAT5 enabled matrix. This gives you the ability to send high definition signals over standard CAT5 networking cable - which is many times cheaper than HDMI cable. These devices can also transmit full 1080p over a distance of 50 meters! Which should be sufficient for most homes. You can also get an in line repeater module which will extend the distance up to 100 meters.
There now even newer devices which can transmit HDMI over IP. Bear in mind that this is not the same as HDMI over CAT - which is essentially just using the CAT cable as a cable with no networking protocol involved.
The HDMI over IP devices are truly grand in their specifications. They allow cable runs up to 1000 feet and can transmit to up to 200 compatible devices all using a standard Ethernet infrastructure.!
Unsurprisingly such power comes at a price and these devices are significantly more expensive than the standard HDMI only units so it's good to do some surveying first before buying either one. However, this is relatively new technology so prices are sure to drop given time.
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