[marcosscriven]

I've been looking for this, and it seems most solutions use two CAT5/6 cable, directly connected to a receiver the other end. I.e. It's video of CAT5, not video over IP.

Can anyone recommend a true HDMI 1.3 over IP that will work through at least one, maybe two, gigabit switches? Are these guranteed not to lose any quality?

Also, would such as system preclude the need to install a dozen CAT6 cables in each room?

[Joe Fernand]

HDMI over IP is very new and as yet mostly untested.

None of the solutions I've seen are v1.3 compliant and all of them have the potential to downgrade your video signal when the network gets busy - even without network traffic the system is lossy so expect blocking in flat fields of colour; its not going to be a show stopper (for some) on relatively small screens in bedrooms and the like but not ideal for larger screens.

If you require support for multiple sources you require a Managed network switch with VLAN/IGMP support - not sure if you can cascade through a second switch though!

For now HDMI over Twisted pair (usually two cables - though single cable solutions are available) is the only option for 1.3 compatibility.

Joe

[Slyrrad]

Check out justaddpower.com - these guys seem to have it working very well. There's a good demo on youtube showing the tech in operation...

[Joe Fernand]

As above no support for HDMI v1.3 and lossy video - HDMI over IP will solve many problems (for some) but wont be ideal for all installations.

Joe

[Jamie S]

The Just Add Power HDMI over IP solution can be cascaded through 2 switches, they do not necessarily need to be gigabit, but they do need to both have IEEE 802.1Q .

If both switches cooperate with IEEE 802.1Q protocol, you can create VLANs that exist across multiple switches. Because of IEEE 802.1Q it is entirely possible to have an incredible 600 screens connected to one VLAN HDMI channel. (a bit excessive, although a client is currently speccing an airport for 300 displays using the HDMI over IP system in this manner)

HDMI over IP utlises just a single Cat5/6 cable.

When comparing a side-by-side comparison using two identical screens, one connected directly using a HDMI cable to a 1080p source, and a second screen connected through the network using HDMI over IP, you will detect a minor difference. The larger the screen size, the more visible that this difference will be, however, for the vast majority of people using screens under 50” and viewing from the recommended distancem, the difference in picture quality will be negligible.

HDMI over IP is not a "perfect" solution, but a close to perfect solution that opens up a new market for distributed video. If your main screen is larger than 50” we recommend that you connect your Blu-ray player directly to take advantage of the lossless HD video, and then use a HDMI splitter to distribute the output to the HDMI over IP network also.

It is worth noting that several CEDIA award-winning and award-nominated installation firms are already beginning to implement HDMI over IP solutions for some of their clients. They were very impressed with the picture quality and the HDMI over IP technology in general once they had seen a demo, after being sceptical at first.

Version 1.3 devices can be used with the HDMI over IP system, but certain elements of 1.3 features, such as deep colour cannot be implemented due to the way that the video is reproduced. A direct HDMI to HDMI connection will be required to take advantage of those 1.3 features (as suggested above). But in terms of distributing HD video and audio, the system works great.