VISION THROUGH WALLS

1 December 2014

Running cables in old buildings can be difficult – especially where thick stone walls are involved. UK audiovisual manufacturer Vision has developed a solution with its new HDMI Powerline transmitter and receiver set, which runs HDMI and IR signals from PCs, TVs and Blu-rays over existing electrical power cables with “virtually zero” latency according to the company.

“Other consumer-grade products have fallen short of being reliable enough for use in professional installations, but all that has changed,” says Vision general manager Stuart Lockhart. “This is not just a product which will solve those problems, it is the only product which will solve those problems.”

The new device combines Qualcomm Powerline 500Mbps technology – known as Homeplug – with H.264 compression. Lockhart says proprietary Quality of Service (QoS) ensures the signal has priority and won’t drop out, while the H.264 compression means the 1080P content maintains the highest possible quality.

The transmitter has a two-input HDMI switcher integrated with an HDMI output, which can feed a local display. It comes with a remote so the switcher can be switched from the transmitter or receiver. For home users it has IR pass-through, and cabled IR receivers and emitters are included so everything can be hidden out of sight.

The Vision HDMI Powerline offers plug-and-play simplicity, with onscreen diagnostics to help eliminate any problems. It will be available in the first quarter of 2015 for around AU$1000 (inc. GST).