Ultimate Guide to HDBaseT at ISE 2013: What’s Showing & What’s Not

At ISE 2013, more products than ever will showcase the technology. Although HDBaseT has yet to be embedded in mainstream CE devices, we’re starting to see it come down in price for basic HDMI extenders – from a high of about $1,000 per display device.

In fact, networking company Belkin (which just announced its acquisition of Linksys) demonstrated HDBaseT boxes and in-wall transceivers for the first time just a few days ago in the U.S.

Belkin is the first mass-market vendor to announce HDBaseT products, even though it appears to be marketed as a commercial product. (UPDATE: Belkin product is $500, so not exactly mass market quite yet.)

Most of the other providers are niche brands focused on the high-end custom electronics channel. At ISE 2013, you’ll find some of those companies and their wares at the HDBaseT stand (Hall 7, Booth #7C171); others (as indicated) are spread throughout the show floor.

• AMX - multiple Enova switchers and extenders (1-F6, 1-F2)
• Atlona - new 6x6 Switch (7-N200; 8-H180)
• Aurora Multimedia - HDMI extenders and switchers (9-C125)
• Belkin - new HDMI extenders
• Crestron Electronics - multiple DigitalMedia switches (2-E24, 2-E36, 2-C24)
• Gefen - multiple extenders and switches (1-M80)
• HD Connectivity - improvements to 4x4 switch, new 4x2 matrix (95-U117)
• Just Add Power - matrix switches (2-A52)
• Kordz - HDMI extenders
• Kramer - new HDMI Extender compatible with Panasonic projectors(1-M17)
• Orion (Sansui) - new HDBaseT video wall
• projectiondesign - commercial-grade projectors
• RTI - new 8x8 switcher (5-S92; 2-A52)
• Wyrestorm - new local amp with HDBaseT, new 8x8 HDBaseT Lite matrix (5-U110)

Also exhibiting HDBaseT at ISE 2013: OEM/ODM firms Silver Telecom and Emcore, and industrial products company Emcore/Opticomm.

Where are the CE Brands, Displays in HDBaseT?

Although the HDBaseT Alliance was formed in 2010 by LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics and Sony Pictures Entertainment, none of these big brands has announced any plans to produce compatible products.

The Alliance itself, however, has demonstrated a prototype display (Samsung) and A/V receiver (Sony) with “native” HDBaseT ever since CES 2011.

Perhaps we’ll see some movement from Pioneer, which joined the alliance in January and promises to build HDBaseT into some unnamed products in the future – most likely A/V receivers.

RELATED: HDBaseT Still Dreams of Major CE Adopters

Onkyo also just joined the Alliance to implement the technology in its own receivers.

In addition, Panasonic has demonstrated very real HDBaseT projectors for the commercial market.

The company calls its implementation Digital Link, and the technology is built into the compact PT-VW431DU and the lamp-free PT-RZ470 and PT-RZ370 Series.

Importantly, since not all HDBaseT devices are interoperable, Panasonic has teamed with Crestron, Extron, AMX and most recently Kramer to ensure its projectors plug-and-play with their matrix switches and HDMI extenders.

Last year, Scott Wellington, Panasonic senior VP of projectors, told CE Pro the technology makes sense because sending just one cable to the projector “minimizes a lot of costs, including labor and materials.”

He also cites the long distance capabilities and no degradation loss, which again, gives HDBaseT “clearly a cost difference.”

So will we see HDBaseT in Panasonic consumer products? “Don’t rule anything out,” Wellington says.

Also on the commercial display side, projectiondesign has shown a heavy-duty projector with HDBaseT in the past, and at ISE Orion will demo its first HDBaseT-enabled video wall at the event.

MORE ISE 2013 COVERAGE HERE