Greetings: You know how that song goes:
"I'm so excited, I just can't hide it..."
Well, folks that's how I'm feeling so far about the lossless, wireless HDMI solution from Gefen. I've tested it, so far, in my main theater, with the different projectors that end up in there for viewing, for a full week now. It works. True, the distance is only about 16 feet (official range is 30 feet, I believe). This system is not infra-red, so line of sight isn't required, but I can tell you that if two people stand directly between the sender and receiver, that's enough to cause some noise to appear.
I certainly won't hold that against the product, though, as most buyers will have their projectors up high! So few should have anything blocking the signal.
I'll give you my full "end user" type review in a few days. So far, though, this looks like my dream come true, I, like a whole lot of home theater people, ran wiring before the modern age of HDMI.
I ran very high quality component video in my large theater, which is fine, but I want to use HDMI. When my wiring was done back about 7 years ago, I was clever enough to put in two runs of shielded CAT-5, knowing that CAT-5 based extenders were already hitting the market.
Unfortunately with a necessary cable run of just over 100 feet (big room, high ceiling), for each cable, I have a serious problem. I've tried 5 different CAT-5 extenders from 3 different companies, and not one could deliver reliable 1080p - not even close enough to consider watching a commercial, let alone a movie. (4 of the five could, however handle 1080i or 720p reliably.) This wasn't much of an issue until we all started buying Blu-ray, and now have a 1080p source. In other words, I really didn't have a problem until I bought my PS3's right after they hit the market.
Many other folks out there with older theaters don't even have CAT-5, just their old Component video (or worse).
AND NO ONE wants to have to "open up all their walls" a second time, in a finished theater. One full home theater installation, is usually enough for most folks.
So wireless - lossless HDMI makes a ton of sense for 10's of thousands of projector owners (at least). And, that's nevermind other applications.
I'll create a review that will post next week, after the WirelessHDMI receiver is placed up high next to my JVC RS20 - a full 24 feet from the sender by the rest of my gear.
That said, based on the first week - as the guy who fell off the top of the empire state building was heard yelling, all the way down:
"so far, so good...so far, so good, so far...."
That's it.
Happy Holidays! -art
