AVS › AVS Forum › A/V Control & Automation › Home A/V Distribution › HDBaseT Matrices: Affordable yet?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

HDBaseT Matrices: Affordable yet?

post #1 of 12
2/8/13 at 11:26am
Thread Starter 
Anyone have any information on HDBaseT matrices (4x4 or 4x8) that are "affordable" yet? And by affordable I mean not 7000$+.

I'm trying to avoid having STBs at every TV location in my house (6 currently, possibly more later) for FIOS TV. I've looked into ideas such as Ceton Echo/WMC but they just aren't there quite yet IMO.

I've done some searching to try to find a more recent HDBaseT unit thread, but had no luck.

Any recommendations?
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 12
2/8/13 at 11:50am
Atlona and Shinybow have them at lower prices, with the Shinybow at $1k street (doesn't include the receivers). So they're "getting there". Both are "HDBaseT lite", which drops Ethernet repeating.

http://www.hdtvsupply.com/4x4-hdmi-matrix-switch-hdbaset-lite.html#axzz2Iou5XUTR

(Don't know anything else about the product, but it was mentioned in another thread here recently).

Monoprice said at CEDIA they were "working on one" (meaning a 4x4 HBaseT matrix).
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 12
2/8/13 at 3:36pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jautor View Post

Atlona and Shinybow have them at lower prices, with the Shinybow at $1k street (doesn't include the receivers). So they're "getting there". Both are "HDBaseT lite", which drops Ethernet repeating.

http://www.hdtvsupply.com/4x4-hdmi-matrix-switch-hdbaset-lite.html#axzz2Iou5XUTR

(Don't know anything else about the product, but it was mentioned in another thread here recently).

Monoprice said at CEDIA they were "working on one" (meaning a 4x4 HBaseT matrix).

Interesting... I'd be more interested in a true 4x8 or 8x8 (8 HDBaseT outputs, since I already have 6 TVs). The 4 additional HDMI outputs on the one above don't really buy me much since I have 2xCat6 going to each TV location.

I seem to remember someone saying something about a 4x8 HDBaseT matrix that was around 2.5k in a thread but I can't recall the brand. Do you have any idea which one they might have been referring to?

I don't really care too much about full HDBaseT (lite is fine).
Edited by ClemsonJeeper - 2/8/13 at 3:42pm
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 12
2/11/13 at 12:17pm
I’ll need to ‘tease’ you for a few more days smile.gif – a couple of things to finalise once the factory in Taipei is open after Chinese New Year.

We have a New 4x8 ‘Cardframe’ were just about to launch and the price for the chassis populated as a 4x8 HDBaseT-lite is nowhere near to USD 7K

Will need to link you to a teaser on our UK site for now - https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10151359521465816&set=a.10150166544850816.323278.342819045815&type=1

Joe
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 12
2/11/13 at 1:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Fernand View Post

I’ll need to ‘tease’ you for a few more days smile.gif – a couple of things to finalise once the factory in Taipei is open after Chinese New Year.

We have a New 4x8 ‘Cardframe’ were just about to launch and the price for the chassis populated as a 4x8 HDBaseT-lite is nowhere near to USD 7K

Will need to link you to a teaser on our UK site for now - https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10151359521465816&set=a.10150166544850816.323278.342819045815&type=1

Joe

That is a tease! biggrin.gif
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 12
2/11/13 at 4:12pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Fernand View Post

I’ll need to ‘tease’ you for a few more days smile.gif – a couple of things to finalise once the factory in Taipei is open after Chinese New Year.

We have a New 4x8 ‘Cardframe’ were just about to launch and the price for the chassis populated as a 4x8 HDBaseT-lite is nowhere near to USD 7K

Will need to link you to a teaser on our UK site for now - https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10151359521465816&set=a.10150166544850816.323278.342819045815&type=1

Joe

Interesting! If the price is right you can sign me up as a customer. :-)

I won't be buying for a couple more months, so sounds like the timing might work out great.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 12
2/12/13 at 3:22am
I'll update here once we have things finalised - the team in Atlanta will have production samples in the next couple of weeks so things ought to move fast after that!.

Joe
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 12
2/12/13 at 3:58pm
I wonder when the 8x8 and 16x16 matrices will become reasonably priced to get somewhat wider appeal? HDMI switching has a lot of potential, but is completely cost ineffective right now. At that point, even though I rather dislike my new MCE setup, I'd say go through route, as it's really the only thing that's remotely cost-effective right now. With the cost of a lot of the HDMI matrices out there, you could get a whole house full of TiVo Premieres at an average of $700-$800 each for less than the cost of a matrix. Or just wait for the TiVo Mini, it's right around the corner. Two TiVo Premiere XL4s and four Minis would do the trick for about $2k with one extra CableCard fee, and a total of 8 tuners.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 12
2/13/13 at 5:58pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by BiggAW View Post

I wonder when the 8x8 and 16x16 matrices will become reasonably priced to get somewhat wider appeal? HDMI switching has a lot of potential, but is completely cost ineffective right now. At that point, even though I rather dislike my new MCE setup, I'd say go through route, as it's really the only thing that's remotely cost-effective right now. With the cost of a lot of the HDMI matrices out there, you could get a whole house full of TiVo Premieres at an average of $700-$800 each for less than the cost of a matrix. Or just wait for the TiVo Mini, it's right around the corner. Two TiVo Premiere XL4s and four Minis would do the trick for about $2k with one extra CableCard fee, and a total of 8 tuners.

The new Verizon FIOS Media Server piques my interest too. Supposed to come out last year but apparently is now pushed back until this year. EIther way supports up to 5 remote TVs (MOCA) and 6 tuners, or use two of the media servers and up to 10 remote tvs and 2 local.

Depends on how much it costs, I suppose. If they are completely batty and try to charge 20$ per remote TV then that is a ridiculous price.

Either way will definitely keep my eye on it as well.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 12
2/13/13 at 6:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClemsonJeeper View Post

The new Verizon FIOS Media Server piques my interest too. Supposed to come out last year but apparently is now pushed back until this year. EIther way supports up to 5 remote TVs (MOCA) and 6 tuners, or use two of the media servers and up to 10 remote tvs and 2 local.

Depends on how much it costs, I suppose. If they are completely batty and try to charge 20$ per remote TV then that is a ridiculous price.

Either way will definitely keep my eye on it as well.

It will probably be $10/mo/tv. If it really is finally a good MSO-provided DVR, then it might work well for people, although I seem to think they will screw it up somehow. I don't think HDMI matrix switching will ever get beyond a really small niche, but that niche would probably be 10x or 20x the size it is now if the switchers were actually affordable for a decent sized switcher. I think there is a good use case for centralized A/V gear and HDMI distribution, it's just out of the reach of even the mid- to high-end home theater and tech enthusiasts, and only accessible to the deep-pocketed.

On FIOS, for instance, you could have some streaming and physical media devices in addition to TiVo, MCE, and a FIOS box for the most options possible.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 12
5/19/13 at 1:22pm
ClemsonJeeper – we finally have our 4x8 Cardframe released!

http://www.octavainc.com/HDMI_Matrix_HDbaseT_HD4xSTPMX_over%20CAT6.html

Joe
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 12
5/20/13 at 3:03pm
Worth throwing out there...

Gefen's HDMI 8x8 Matrix with standard HDMI outputs is under $2,000 online and Monoprice's HD-Base-T extenders are under $200 each. So for under $3,600 you can get distribution to 8 rooms over cat-x cabling. Add or remove HD-Base-T extenders as necessary moving forward!
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Home A/V Distribution

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › A/V Control & Automation › Home A/V Distribution › HDBaseT Matrices: Affordable yet?