A Whole House High Definition Experience

Back in 1953, color signal content was added to black and white TV transmissions. This was a huge improvement in TV viewing, and all those cheesy three-color overlays were soon pitched in the trash. Today High Definition (HD) video displays, sources and content provide another substantial upgrade to picture quality -- with an even greater impact in the market place. It's been a long time between upgrades hasn't it? HD has radically changed the home theater landscape, we've been waiting forever and all want a piece of that action. HDTV sets provide stunning picture quality and have dropped significantly in price. New cable, satellite and off-air HD channels are being broadcast every day.

A theater presentation with 1080i video and 7.1 audio instills a child-like experience of amazement and wonder. It will take your breath away -- every time. Today consumers can lean back on their couches and make the HD home theater come alive with a single button press. That's what I'm talking about. One touch and bamm!! Big, bright, beautiful pictures and full emersion surround sound. Here's a reality check -- big picture / little sound is what you got at the drive-in theater. Little picture / big sound is a portable DVD player with decent ear buds. Take the best of both and Scotty will beam you right out of your living room to the far reaches of the universe.

So, here's the question: How will the products you buy deliver this experience throughout the house? Will you be able to enjoy the high quality A/V content available today as well as what's coming in the near future on all your HDTVs? We are now in the 21st Century; you are a tech-savvy person with disposable income. You want that theater experience in the master bedroom, home gym and kids' playroom. The video display part is easy. Hang a plasma or LCD display on each wall. But what about distributing the HD goods?

Many people are tempted to buy lower cost "networked" solutions for distributed A/V without fully understanding the limitations. HDTVs by their very nature demand high quality, high bandwidth A/V content. Right now the "entertainment distribution" part of a home network offers an incomplete solution carried on the winds of convergence blown by PC-oriented manufacturers towards a "down-resolution" place that people really don't want to go.

Ironically, the "networked A/V solution" push is happening just as the movie studios and custom electronics equipment manufacturers are gearing up HD content and source gear. From the consumer's perspective it's not about content management; it's all about that big picture / big sound experience and oh yeah -- they want it any where, any time, on any TV set! Digital rights management (DRM) and the (not dead yet) broadcast flag initiative, limit digital file sharing between networked devices. Networking, encoding, encryption, data storage and compression standards are changing annually, and many times conflict and are incompatible with each other. Don't get me wrong, every home should have a home network interconnecting computers, printers, cable modems, iPod and digital camera docking stations. Today's networks are just not ready for prime time when it comes to the bandwidth demands of multi-channel HD video distribution.

What about DVI and HDMI solutions? Both digital interfaces provide HD content and untangle the wires between TVs and source equipment. However CE products don't always list if they are DVI-I or DVI-D formatted. Some DVI "compatible" products are HDCP compliant, some are not. (Meaning some will play nice together and some will not). Many CE source equipment manufacturers are moving towards the HDMI standard, however display device manufacturers have been divided 50 /50 between the use of DVI and HDMI inputs. Unfortunately those formats do not easily facilitate whole-house A/V distribution either. The DVI extenders, amplifiers and switchers were born from the needs of the computer industry. They are commercial product solutions that have just recently migrated into the residential markets. Show me an affordable 4 x 4 HDMI switch matrix!

True 1080i digital video signals cannot be DVIed or HDMIed very far from the living room without distribution amplifiers and in-line fiber optic extenders. Low cost network solutions do not have the bandwidth or processing power for multiple streams of uncompressed HD over any sort of WiFied, Firewired or hardwired Ethernet. Digital convergence was supposed to make life easier for the consumer, but so far all it has succeeded in doing is confusing the public and limiting their fair-use rights. Yes, digital portability has its price, show me an affordable 4 x 4 HDMI switch designed to allow multiple sets to view the same source!

It shouldn't have to be this hard; you just want to watch the contents of your DVD changer in the master bedroom. You want whole-house access to the HD NFL channels on the cable box. You can't live without your TIVO and you MUST have it everywhere. Do you buy a stack of cable converters, Sat receivers and DVD players for each TV? That still doesn't solve the problem of how to watch that up-coming collection of HD / Blue Ray DVDs in the master bedroom.

While the digital dust settles, consider taking a component video switching approach. These days a variety of affordable HD video switch matrices can provide the 5x5 or 8x8 routings. Three discrete, HD analog RGB signals can be run down high quality coax for little more than the cost of the wire. (Three runs of coax to each room to be exact). Bite the bullet -- pull the wire! Swept-tested quad shield RG-6 will have minimal impact on HD signal quality even out to 300-foot runs. Only fiber optics has a higher bandwidth capacity. Want to use CAT-5 distribution on the shorter runs? Many companies now offer high quality send/receive component video wall plates. These are the only solutions that are affordable, cross-platform compatible and universally support all video resolution formats.

Future-proof your entertainment distribution system to ensure compatibility with today and tomorrow's A/V content. It may be okay to replace your computer every couple of years, but traditionally your home entertainment system has lasted a bit longer. How do you ensure that it will? Visit a custom installer.

• Tell him you want to distribute all (not some) of your sources throughout the house.
• Tell him you want HDMI and component video RGB outputs on all your source gear.
• Tell him you want HDMI and component video RGB inputs on your native 1080i HDTVs.
• Tell him you want a home theater receiver that has multiple HDMI inputs for ease of interconnect to your main projector.
• Tell him you want a HD analog A/V switch matrix for whole-house signal routing. Make sure the video bandwidth of the switcher is at least 150MHZ.
• Insist on a demo showing compatibility of all the gear you want to purchase.

Use the custom installer's expertise to help you make the right equipment choices during these times of rapidly changing technologies. Alternatively, you risk buying equipment that may become obsolete before the year is up.