And now - the wait is over. Wireless HDMI has arrived. It is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it is at least available in a more-or-less working condition.

Sewell Direct is now offering the Gefen Wireless HDMI for $725. This is a great price, but Sewell also offers free lifetime tech support so you know you’ll be taken care of.

What took so long?

Over the past few years a lot of companies have been making wireless HDMI promises (even showing off their prototypes at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas). Something just wasn’t quite right with the units, though - here is a short list of some of the reasons we have seen delay after delay for wireless HDMI:

The technology is just too new. This is the number one reason for the delay. We have visited several manufacturers assembling wireless HDMI kits, but ultimately they are at the mercy of the chipset manufacturers. Over the years we have heard a lot of noise from Radiospire, Pulselink, Amimon, etc., but the company who finally seemed to get it “right” (or possibly had the least to lose by launching early) is TZero based in Santa Clara, California.

FCC Approval takes a while. When you finally create your killer device, all manufacturers know that in a sense you’ve only just begun bringing it to market. Since Wireless HDMI is a wireless technology, the FCC must test and certify that it won’t cause any interference on bands that the device is not registered to operate on. This process can be painfully slow (though in our opinion far too many manufacturing problems get blamed on the FCC because it is a convenient excuse).

Trial and error. Add in a healthy dose of good old-fashioned trial and error. We have seen “wireless HDMI” kits (quotations added because it is questionable whether they should be considered wireless HDMI) running over radio frequency (RF) and 802.11 (wi-fi). We chalk this up to some skepticism on the part of manufacturers that UWB is going to be up for the job.

What should I be prepared for?

If you’re going wireless HDMI right now here is what you can expect - note that we think this technology is awesome and aren’t trying to dissuade anybody from purchasing a kit, but it is important to know the tradeoffs before purchasing:

Con’s
It’s expensive - right now you will pay $800 or more for a decent wireless HDMI kit. We expect these prices will start falling as manufacturers scale production.
Line of site - it is not truly line-of-site (you can go through a thin wall), but you are better off ceiling-mounting both units to avoid unnecessary interference. Even walking between the sender and receiver can cause some fuzz on the screen.
Latency - when you first fire up the unit you have to wait a few seconds (maybe 10-15) for the image and audio to show up. We assume it is building a buffer.

Pro’s
You are bleeding edge - most of your friends have probably never even heard of wireless HDMI.
Price might not be as high as you think - think about it for a second - if you plan to move in the next five years any complicated install you do now (running cables through the wall, etc.) is basically a sunk cost. At least you can take your wireless HDMI kit with you.
Looks cool - Gefen’s unit, the only kit commercially available right now, is very cool looking. It seems like a small thing, but putting some thought into aesthetics is probably smart for something that may well be on display next to your prized HDTV.

If you only have VGA available, however, this is a bit tricker. This is a different story because now you have to convert that analog VGA signal into a digital HDMI signal (there is no analog-version of HDMI as there is with DVI, aka DVI-A).

Now, however, the conversion is possible with a VGA to HDMI converter. These are a bit more expensive than a passive little converter because this analog to digital conversion is taking place. While ideally you should connect a VGA port to a component (or other analog-type connection), you shouldn’t see any loss with the analog to digital conversion - you just end up paying a bit more.

Sewell Direct offers a handy guide on VGA to HDMI converters.

When shopping for an HDMI splitter, you have a few difference choices. For instance, you may be able to get by with just a small passive cable - this would limit you to two screens, but is great if you just need an additional display in a tradeshow booth or in a retail store.

Active splitters are much more expensive than passive cables, but give you the freedom of adding many additional displays without any risk of signal interruption. These are commonly used in retail settings, sports bars, casinos - basically anywhere you would expect to see several mirrored displays.

1. Is HDMI the best interface? Obviously the answer is subjective - many people still swear that analog signals are higher quality than digital signals in the same way that many audiophiles still maintain that their old vinyl sounds better than new digital music formats.  Here are some of the facts:  HDMI supports all consumer HDTV resolutions including “Full HD” 1080p.  HDMI uses HDCP content protection method to guarantee that you have a perfect signal tranfer from your source to your display, (a feature that is not available over analog connections).  HDMI can support up to 8 digital audio streams, full surround sound, lossless audio, TrueHD and DTS-HD audio.  Both video and audio signals are sent over a single cable with a USB sized connector.  With HDMI you can be assured that you will be getting the best video and audio available over a single and simple cable.
2. I have an analog source - should I convert it to digital for better quality? No! If your original source is analog there is no benefit to digital conversion unless your TV or monitor will only support a digital input - introducing any type of conversion adds overhead (or noise) that will possibly degrade the signal. The best you can hope from a good converter is a comparable signal to what you would expect without the converter.
3. Is there a difference between a high-end HDMI cable and a regular one? As much as the marketers of HDMI cables would like you to think there is a difference, in general there doesn’t seem to be many. HDMI carries a digital signal - the source either receives the signal in it’s entirety or it doesn’t receive it at all (which you will know really quick). The one difference seems to be the connectors - if the connectors are bad or too cheap they may be damaged with repeated use. That is not a common problem - if you’re worried about it just buy 2 cheap HDMI cables upfront - they will still be much cheaper than an expensive one and you can always use the other if the first one dies.