Extend HDMI With Ethernet Cables Up To 330 ft

News
By Douglas Perry
published

Gefen is offering a range extender for HDMI using CAT-5 Ethernet cables.

The Toolbox KVM Extender consists of two devices, one sender and one receiver box. The sender is connected to a PC via HDMI and USB 2.0 and the receiver via HDMI to an HDTV display. the two boxes are then connected using two CAT-5 cables to transfer HD video data.

According to Gefen, the distance between the PC and display can be up to 330 feet or 100 meters. AN IR blaster can be used to control the PC from the location of the display, while an IR extender enables users to increase the range of the IR control. Data transfer via CAT-5 supports 1080p video, 12-bit color, LCPM 7.1 Audio, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio.

"The emphasis here is that you can extend hi-def video with your peripherals from a central location to wherever you wish to control them," said Hagai Gefen, president and CEO, Gefen.

The company said that its technology is based on HDBaseT specifications, allowing the delivery of high definition video with IR and Ethernet over the same industry-standard cable. A second cable is used to extend USB 2.0 signals from the source to the display at up to 480 Mb/s.

The range extender devices are offered for $1200. If you intend to leverage the full range of 330 feet, calculate another $130 - $150 for a 300 ft CAT-5 cable.

Douglas Perry
39 Comments Comment from the forums
  • kinggraves
    Too bad thanks to "content protection" we have to involve HDMI in it at all when the signal could've just traveled through CAT5. Well at least HDMI has put an end to bootlegging forever...

    wait....
    Reply
  • jbart1981
    Really? Cause I can see a ton of applications for this. In fact 330ft might be way to short for a lot of applications. First thing that comes to mind is schools with a central media center where content is stored in a central location and distributed to classrooms over a network. Heck fifteen years a go my HS had similar capability with SD content. Each room had just a TV and remote and all of the video players, laser disc players etc. were located in a room next to the library. The librarian loaded content into each player - I think there were about 50 - at the beginning of the day. And they were available remotely for teachers whenever they needed them. It kept the media secure and centrally located. What about sports facilities and other large places like bars and restaurants that want to have central control over their content delivery? Perhaps their are better alternatives in the professional space I am unaware of but I think this is a great product with lots of applications.
    Reply
  • Taylor422
    If you're paying $150 for 100 meters of CAT5 you need to shop around.
    Reply
  • N.Broekhuijsen
    Still no comment about how it might just be cheaper to use a HTPC and stream over that network cable? I'm sure you can build a pretty damn good HTPC for under 1200$
    Reply
  • oxxfatelostxxo
    So... why would they use CAT5? we have CAT6 already. Then what was ever the point of creating HDMI when CAT cables could already do the same thing at a much cheaper price..

    Reply
  • ansemx324
    For $1200 I could buy two new dedicated HTPCs for my other TVs! Ill definitely be using this money saving logic when discussing the idea with my gf. I would say it might have been a typo, but those don't happen at Toms ;)
    Reply
  • jbart1981
    @ xbeater -but then you need a decoding piece of hardware at the TV end right?

    This is for people that don't want that added complexity. I could see this being used by traveling presenters for remote video to different parts of the audience or people like mobile DJ's who setup at a different place every gig and never know how far it will be from their setup point to where they need a monitor for things like karaoke and displaying music videos or live streaming video of the dance floor.
    Reply
  • ansemx324
    xbeaterStill no comment about how it might just be cheaper to use a HTPC and stream over that network cable? I'm sure you can build a pretty damn good HTPC for under 1200$
    Xbeater I was right on that, I was writing my comment when there was only 1 other one on the article, you just beat me to it!
    Reply
  • jn77
    Why are people still using 10/100/1000 and Cat 5 or 5e...... 10,000 (10GBit) is available on Cat 7/7E
    Reply
  • jhansonxi
    kinggravesToo bad thanks to "content protection" we have to involve HDMI in it at all when the signal could've just traveled through CAT5. Well at least HDMI has put an end to bootlegging forever...wait....That problem was solved months ago.
    Reply