Re: Whole house wiring - revisted HDTV

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Mike C" <michaeljc70@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1178071497.179665.60950@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> I wired my whole house to a media closet about 5 yrs ago using RG6 and
> CAT5. Now I am looking to use HDMI outputs from a PC and DVD to
> distibute to LCD and Plasma tvs.  Is there a reasonably cost effective
> way to do this?  I have seen CAT5 to HDMI converter for $500, but that
> is way to expensive in my opinion.  I have 2 RG6 and 1 CAT5 to work
> with.

HDMI interfaces are two way and allow for device control so that a TV can be
activated when it "sees" a signal coming from the DVD player and so on.  It
also supports DRM.  Extending it is expensive for those reasons, among
others.  There are varying HDMI specs, as well, and interconnecting HDMI
equipment from different manufacturers tends to be the same old crap shoot
evolving standards always seem to imply.

> What are people using these days for whole house video?

Dan L. turned me on to a device that allows for streaming 2 different
channels of HDTV through standard PC networks called HDHomeRun.

www.silicondust.com/

It looks quite interesting.  I bought a device called the OnAir HDTV GT,

www.autumnwave.com/

a little USB device that requires no additional power supply and plugs into
your (very high powered!) laptop to give you OTA and CATV HDTV but for whole
house work, I think the HDHomeRun would be the ticket.  The OnAir device
needs more HP than my 3.0 Sempron Acer laptop could give and the images had
a peculiar time lag as well as lip synch problems that had REALLY low SAF.

The cost dilemma you're facing is just the tip of the iceberg as consumers
now pick up the tab for expensive and troublesome digital rights mangement.
IMNSHO, it really should be "enforcement" not "management" because the
latter implies some sort of consent.  To mangle Monty Python:  "I didn't
vote to make you king (or for DRM, either!)"

--
Bobby G.