While HD televisions are rolling out of the big-box stores, meeting the June deadline for HDTV, another technology is slowly brewing in the background that will affect how you experience entertainment and media in the near future.
Currently HDTV signals must transmit through HDMI cable. HDMI cables will kill your wallet. If you get one longer than three-foot you will go bankrupt. HDMI averages about about $12.95 per foot. Although there are cheaper cables out there, be forewarned they will degrade the signal enough that your money is essentially wasted. There are no shortcuts to HDMI cabling. Quality is proportional to the cost.
The growing trend is to install your DVD, BluRay, computer and receiver in an alternate location rather than next to your TV. More flat-screen TVs are now mounted on the wall leaving the equipment looking odd sitting over on a table. This explains the trend for longer HDMI cables.
There are diehard media fans that will not compromise quality by going wireless, so they think. This is respectable as until you see the wireless you won’t believe the quality of the signal. Growing up my Father told me “don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see (forgive me..I’m from Missouri).” Rather pessimistic I guess, but when it comes to technology it is actually a good approach. So, for you hardcore media fans go ahead and wait.
Wireless HDMI will not be cheap either, but who wants to run cable. I sure don’t and I work in the IT industry here in St. Louis doing this stuff all the time. Call me lazy. As soon as a unit is released I will “roller-blade” to the nearest store to pick-up one of these wireless babies.
