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January 3, 2008
Pulse~Link's HDTV over Coax
A couple of weeks ago I was in Las Vegas attending the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. Its a big show, about 130K attendees looking at products in almost 2 million square feet of exhibits. I was there for all four days of the show.
At the show I found TVs that were bigger, smaller portable electronics, but nothing really stuck out as a 'wow' new product. The thin LCD TVs from Hitachi and Samsung (both about 1.5 inches deep) were interesting, but more of a product refinement than a breakthrough.
I did take a look at a technology that might develop into a wow product - Pulse~Link's HDMI over coaxial cable chipset. This chipset will allow manufacturers to make products that can send an HDTV signal over the existing coax cable in a home. This could be great for retrofits. Get an HD source from one part of the house to a television in another using the coax cable that is already in the walls. One of the first products using Pulse~Link's technology will be from Gefen. And the Gefen product will feature the ability to send a IR remote control signal back to the source, so you can change the channels on your HD cable or satellite or control your Blu Ray or HD DVD player.
According to Gefen, their HDMI over coax solution is scheduled to ship this April, price has not yet been determined. I will keep you updated when more information becomes available.
Will this type of high definition over coax product be a problem solver or of interest to you?
Posted by Bob Gatton at January 3, 2008 6:38 PM
Comments
Definitely would be a big help for those of us who live on slab foundations and are looking for possible solutions to front projection.
Posted by: Andrew at January 22, 2008 12:55 PM
I have a Dish box controling 3 tv's. The remote I have controls the box from any tv, but I would get HD units if I could feed the HD signal down the coax.
Posted by: Ray H Peterson at January 23, 2008 9:01 AM
Hi Ray,
I have same type of set up - a Dish 722 hooked up via HDMI (HD) in one room and then feeding three other TVs by coax (standard definition). I think that Gefen might be the answer for getting an HD signal to the other rooms in the house.
Posted by: Bob Gatton at January 23, 2008 10:02 AM
Hi, I'm waiting for new products like this. I just completed a new home, it's wired for the 22nd century. Twenty-seven locations prewired with multiple high quality cablings. Can't wait!
Posted by: Mike at January 23, 2008 12:48 PM
We use Dish satellite to view Sky Angel TV. Sky Angel has opted not to use Dish's satellite, but to begin using a signal from our computer. We will need a separate account for each tv..Would this product work for us. Somehow I cannot get excited over paying a service fee for each tv in the house. Thank you for your response.
Posted by: Faye Jones at January 23, 2008 2:02 PM
Hi Faye,
Sky Angel is transitioning to IPTV (Internet Protocol Television), on March 31 they will no longer be using the Dish Network's satellites.
According to Sky Angel's customer support, they only have standard definition content, no High Definition at all. That was the bad news, the good news that you can go to your local consumer electronics store and buy an RF modulator. This takes the signal (audio and video out) from the back of your Sky Angel box and converts it usually to either channel 3 or 4 coax output. You can then use the coaxial cables in your house to distribute the signal to other televisions your home.
One small problem, the Sky Angel set top box has an IR (Infra Red) remote control. IR Remote controls are line of site. If you use a basic modulator to view the programming in another room, you will need to go to the room where the Sky Angel box is to change channels. A solution to this situation is to get an RF modulator with IR control. Open House (www.openhousesystem.com) makes a single channel RF modulator (model 5515) that not only uses the coax cable to distribute the video, but it uses the same cable to send the remote control signals from the remote room back to the Sky Angel box.
Another option is to look at a wireless solution. Terk's LF30S comes with a sender and a receiver box. Connect the sender to the Sky Angel box and the receiver to the TV in another room. The receiver can also send back the remote control commands to the Sky Angel box. Addition receivers are available from Terk (LF30RX), if you want to send the signal to more than one remotely located television.
Link to Terk LF30S0:
http://www.audiovox.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=14138&langId=-1
A couple of notes
1) I have not tested any wireless video distribution products so I cannot comment on how well they work
2) The above options are for Standard Definition TV only, not HDTV.
Hope this helps.
Posted by: Bob Gatton at January 23, 2008 3:30 PM
Looks like miles of wires in my house are about to become obsolete...
Posted by: TiVoPrince at January 24, 2008 1:09 PM
Any comments on degradation of the HDMI signal strength over longer length of cable? Is there a breakdown point? At what length would the signal start to deteriorate? I am currently running a Samsung blu-ray player to a 46" Mitsubishi HD LCD through a 15m (approx. 46 feet) HDMI cable and don't seem to get any signal weakness. Am I missing something? Thanks!
Posted by: Ron at January 24, 2008 2:29 PM
Hi Ron,
I contacted Gefen regarding your questions. I will post the answers (or someone from Gefen will) as soon as I receive them.
Thanks,
Posted by: Bob Gatton at January 25, 2008 3:30 PM
without a doubt, this will be a big seller.
Posted by: Frank Wisniewski at March 14, 2008 10:55 AM
