an alternative to a wire based TV-Out

[pnkflyd51]

<a href="http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/21160.html">http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/21160.html</a>



<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3>Wireless DVD on TV

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Geneva, sans-serif" size=1>by Andy Patrizio </font>


<font face="Verdana, Arial, Geneva, sans-serif" size=1 color=#ff0000>3:00&nbsp;a.m.&nbsp;&nbsp;7.Aug.99.P DT</font>



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One company has a solution for all of those DVD-enabled PCs looking to move to a bigger screen -- a wireless TV transmitter.



<a href="http://www.x10.com/homepage.htm">X10</a>'s DVD Anywhere Kit can broadcast DVD movies to a television anywhere in a home, a boon for those who don't want to watch <cite>Saving Private Ryan</cite> on a tiny computer screen.



The DVD hardware market has been a peculiar phenomenon. Despite the existence of only a dozen or so DVD-ROM movie titles for computers compared to 2,000 for home entertainment players, the outfits for PCs are far outselling the VCR-like models.




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<HR NOSHADE>See also:
<a href="http://redirect.wired.com/redir/10025/http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/20661.html">Don't Kill Your VCR
</a>
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<a href="http://gartner4.gartnerweb.com/dq/static/dq.html">DataQuest</a> estimates 25 million DVD drives will be installed in PCs by the end of this year, compared with around 3 to 4 million home-DVD video units.



"But who wants to gather the family around a 15-inch monitor to watch a movie?" asked Alex Peder, president of the retail sales division of X10, the Seattle-based developer of the ActiveHome home electrical system that allows PC users to control lights, televisions, and other electronics via computer.



The $88 kit comes with a transmitter, receiver, and X10’s MouseREMOTE, a wireless PC mouse that can control a PC or an ActiveHome kit. Instead of functioning like home networking devices, which operate by routing packets of data, the kit broadcasts a radio signal, giving it a much higher bandwidth. DVD Anywhere sends the audio and video using 2.4-GHz wireless signals, the same wireless radio signal used in consumer wireless devices like cordless phones.



Currently, DVD Anywhere transmits the audio in two-speaker stereo. Support for <a href="http://www.dolby.com/">Dolby Digital 5.1</a> audio, which offers true surround-sound on a six-speaker setup, will be available in a future product, according to Peder.



Although designed for DVD viewing, the kit can be used with other video transmission products as well, said Peder. For example, it can be connected to a VCR to transmit audio and video to other televisions in the house as well.



<a href="http://www.gigaweb.com/">Giga Information Group</a> vice president Rob Enderle has been using DVD Anywhere around his house. While he acknowledged that it works well, he warned that it’s not for the nontechnical user.



"It’s OK for me, but I’m technically oriented," he said. "The average user is better with a stand-alone player, given the fact that DVD players are so inexpensive right now."



He also noted that the video quality isn’t quite as good as it is with a actual wire between the PC and the TV, but he said that only a home theater buff would be picky about the video degradation.



"It’s worked great. For 90 bucks, it’s the cheapest way of getting DVD on your TV if you have the drive."

[M Buuri]

You could check if people at General Hardware care.

B

[This message has been edited by M Buuri (edited 08-07-99).]

[cswan]

I actually bought one of these. My TV and computer were not at the same ground level, so attempting to connect them via cabling resulted in 60Hz noise in the signal. The product works well--the signal is pretty damned clean, and the only distortion I notice is that which my G200 has always seemed to introduce into the TV/Out signal.

Yeah, no AC3 audio...but I can't use that anyway. Notice also that this thing is also great for simply outputting your audio--I can pipe audio from my machine out to the stereo/TV in the living room and boogie.

It penetrates walls, people, and closed doors pretty well. The only thing I've found that messes the signal up is operating my crummy Microwave. Beyond that, though, it seems great.