Well, despite all the things going on, the little things in life continue to break and need repair, so here’s a list:
- HDMI Balun or Extender. We have a Tivo in the basement because there isn’t a cable near the TV. Got an HDMI extender, but it keeps blanking and having problems. In reading the web, this is a common problem with longer runs, but now it looks like it has given up the ghost, so time to look again. In looking at reviews on AVS Forum, it looks like the main issues are having a shield cable (Cat 7 is the best apparently) and the length of the run. But they like the $135 Grandbeing LCB-HDMI-C5K from HDTV Supply. They do say that biggest issue is a low quality cable. There are a large bucket of these thing at HDTV Supply.
- HDBaseT. As an alternative, there is a new standard which sends uncompressed HD over an Ethernet CAT5 or 6 cable. This is point to point like a Balun but has longer distances (100 meters). There is a set for $250 HDTV-E100 is the cheapest, but they recommend the $350 hdmi-cat5-rs232 unit as having the most EMI resistance. See more announcements (Gefen has an HDMI 1.3 unit for $600 for instance). Amazon has a bunch of HDBaseT items as well (Porta for $180, Altona for $600)
- HDMI over Ethernet. Yet a third alternative is to actually encapsulate the HDMI digital stream and put it on a standard Ethernet. More expensive, but more flexible because any device that can see your internal Ethernet can hook in. So it isn’t just point to point. You need a gigabit Ethernet switch internally too to handle the HD stream but these are pretty cheap. The main issue is can your wiring handle it.
- My Dad’s Pronto has finally given up the ghost after 10 years or so. Needs a new battery, fortunately thanks to the web, you can find a new HHR-60AAA/F4 as an OEM part from Amazon, so that’s nice
