GefenTV Wireless HDMI - Is Wireless HD Possible?

Can you dig this? I hooked up a wireless, high-definition transmitter and was watching HD movies and TV in less than 15 minutes. If you're surprised, imagine how I felt. I had approached reviewing this GefenTV Wireless HDMI Extender 5Ghz with extreme cynicism; after all I've seen plenty of these devices demoed at Consumer Electronics Shows. First there'd be the elation - wow, no wires! Then the exclamation - wow, you mean I can really just hook up my Blu-ray player or Dish HD satellite Receiver and send up-to-1080p/24 frames per second video over to my front projector or HDTV some 100 feet away? But then there'd be the dejection - what do you mean, it's been delayed again? That this GefenTV is actually shipping doesn't remove any of the questions except the last, but at least that means I can try it out in the "real-world" and not at some trade event or controlled setting.

So there I was, holding the lightweight and slightly larger than a paperback book-sized Sender in one hand and the Receiver in the other. At $900 for the set, it isn't cheap, but more important is whether it can actually do the job. And for that to happen, that meant no video freezing up or blanking out. Or any hiss stuttering or loss of audio either (although that's a lot easier to get right than video). Which brings me to one of the key issues that has been holding back other companies from bringing devices like this out: interference. The technology that's doing the heavy lifting has to not just perform, but perform consistently in an environment that's filled with EMI (electromagnetic interference). As in coming from wireless networks, cell phones, microwaves, cordless phones, you name it. And add on all this coming from neighbors as well for apartment dwellers.

GefenTV uses wireless 802.11n to do its thing and operates in the unlicensed 5 GHz band to transmit HDTV. The tech folks at Gefen say that this is a dependable technology, compared to all the hoopla of using lasers and so-called futuristic choices. And I'm also told that the technology is robust enough to deal with issues like EMI. We'll see.