HDMI
is one of the hottest features in all of home theater these days. A
single cable that can carry uncompressed, high definition,
multi-channel digital audio and gigabit HD video is the kind of
simplicity that mainstream consumers have always wished for in their
HDTV home theater systems. Receiver and AV preamp companies are
scurrying to add HDMI switching to their components as quickly as
possible.
Up until recently, HDMI and its earlier cousin DVI, had problems in the
practical world. While HDMI copper cables are simple to connect and
offer a relatively affordable way to pass gigabit HD content as
resolute as 1080p to your HDTV system, none of them work reliably past
about 15 feet. DVI cables (which can be used with connectors and
adaptors) could go as far as about 30 feet, but beyond that is where
the problems come. This has historically forced custom installers, mass
market TV resellers and home theater retailers to stick with
traditional component cables for long HD runs, despite the fact that
copper wire can’t always pass a full bandwidth 1080p signal. There are
exceptions to the 15 and 30-foot rule, but up until now, many
installers have been a bit hesitant to embrace HDMI cables that were
longer than a few meters.
Some
new players in the market have dealt with this length issue for HDMI
cables. One of the most affordable solutions comes from Ultralink,
which has a 45-foot copper HDMI cable that can be converted for DVI
connections between your video display device (projector, big screen,
plasma, LCD) and your HD receiver. Video guru, William Phelps, tested
these cables connected using an adapter at even longer lengths with no
noticeable loss of signal. Dtrovision, a new player in the market,
offers hybrid cables that use both copper and fiber optics for a
complete DVI connection that they claim is lossless over runs pushing
495 ft. feet. They also offer fiber optic HDMI cable systems as well as
switching devices that have become popular for people trying to
integrate more than one HDMI source into a system without a receiver,
AV preamp or display that offers multiple HDMI input switching..
This newly found length deals with the reliability problems that HDMI
has struggled with in its early stages. With Blu-ray and HD-DVD
looming, 1080p video content is likely not more than a year to 18
months away. With systems like Meridian’s internal video processor and
DVDO’s affordable outboard video processor currently available,
upscaled 1080p is already here.
Don’t expect satellite providers and cable companies to quickly adopt
1080p as a format. History tells us that they side with more channels
over better-looking channels. And who can blame them at this point? You
don’t hear too many customers calling up to complain that HDNet looks
crappy – and for good reason. It looks great in 1080i. Even with MPG4
compression coming on the new DirecTV satellites in the next year or
so, I don’t expect them to adopt 1080p as their standard right away,
but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth wiring your HDTV for the future
with an HDMI cable, be it copper for short runs or fiber optics for
long distance connections.
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