Learn HDMI

Anybody who has ever dealt with a clutter of HDMI cables behind a high definition TV has dreamed of a day when they could replace the cables with wireless senders and receivers. These not only make the system look less cluttered, they also allow you to put your HDTV in areas previously not possible.

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.