HDMI Distribution over your Home Network? Low-Cost HDMI Matrix using IP-Based Hardware

Summary

This video explores various methods for extending HDMI video throughout a home using Ethernet wiring, focusing on HDMI over IP as a cost-effective solution. The host discusses the limitations of long HDMI cables and introduces active optical cables, HDBaseT, and IP-based extenders. He demonstrates the setup and testing of HDMI over IP hardware, highlighting its ability to transmit video and audio over existing network infrastructure with low latency, making it ideal for desktop computing, gaming, and even business displays. However, it lacks support for HDMI CEC and is limited to 1080p resolution at 60fps.

Takeaways

• 🏠 The video discusses methods for sending HDMI video throughout a house using Ethernet wiring.
• 💡 The presenter aims to connect multiple computers to various desks and TVs without running new HDMI cables.
• 🔌 The first solution presented is using a long HDMI cable, which can be cost-effective but problematic for long distances.
• 🌐 An alternative is active optical cables, which can cover long distances but are expensive and fixed to a certain HDMI standard.
• 🔗 There are adapters that convert HDMI to RJ45 for use with Ethernet cables, but they have limitations and compatibility issues.
• 📺 HDBaseT is a standard that can transmit high-quality video over Ethernet, but it requires Cat6a cable for full capabilities.
• 🤖 HDMI over IP is the sixth option explored, compressing video for transmission over standard Ethernet hardware, supporting up to 16 transmitters and 253 receivers.
• 🔄 The hardware used in the video is provided by TESmart and supports various features like IR remote forwarding and USB keyboard and mouse data.
• 🎮 The presenter tests the HDMI over IP system with gaming, office work, and video editing, finding it suitable for low-latency applications.
• 📊 Bandwidth tests show that the HDMI over IP solution uses between 2-5.5 megabits per second, which is shareable over a network with multicast support.
• 🚫 Limitations include no support for HDMI CEC, potential IR compatibility issues, and a maximum resolution of 1080p at 60fps.
• 🛠️ The video also highlights unexpected use cases, such as controlling multiple displays for events or business information screens.

Q & A

What is the main goal discussed in the video script?

The main goal discussed in the script is to send HDMI video all over the house using Ethernet wiring, allowing connection to any computer from any desk without running new wires.

What are the limitations of using long HDMI cables for video distribution?

Long HDMI cables can be problematic as HDMI was not designed for very long distances. Thicker cables are needed for longer distances, and if the cable is too long, it may not work at all. Additionally, HDMI cables cannot be repaired once damaged.

What is an active optical cable and what are its advantages and disadvantages?

An active optical cable is an HDMI cable with fibers built in, capable of transmitting signals over longer distances. The advantages include the ability to cover long distances, but the disadvantages are the higher cost and the fixed HDMI standard and bandwidth, which means the entire cable must be replaced when newer HDMI revisions come out.

What is HDBaseT and what does it support?

HDBaseT is a standard that can send 4K video at 60 frames per second with 4:4:4 chroma sampling over a single Cat6a cable. However, it's important to note that it officially supports Cat6a, not Cat6, so with only Cat6, one is limited to 4:2:0 chroma subsampling.

What is HDMI over IP and how does it work?

HDMI over IP is a method that compresses the HDMI video stream to fit within gigabit Ethernet bandwidth and carries it over standard gigabit Ethernet hardware. This allows the use of existing network wiring and switches to distribute video around the house.

What are the advantages of using HDMI over IP for video distribution?

HDMI over IP allows for the use of existing Ethernet wiring and switches, reducing the need for new cabling. It also supports multiple transmitters and receivers, enabling the connection of multiple computers to multiple displays and the selection of the desired source from the display.

What is the bandwidth usage of the HDMI over IP solution presented in the script?

The HDMI over IP solution uses between two to five megabits per second, which is significantly less than a full gigabit per second, allowing it to coexist with other network traffic without causing bandwidth issues.

What are the requirements for the network switches when using HDMI over IP?

For HDMI over IP to work efficiently, the network switches should support IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) and multicast, which allows the switch to manage the distribution of multicast traffic to only the necessary receivers.

What compatibility issues were encountered during the testing of the HDMI over IP solution?

During testing, it was found that HDMI CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) was not supported over the HDMI over IP Bridge, and there were issues with infrared remote control compatibility, specifically with a TiVo device.

What are some potential use cases for HDMI over IP beyond home entertainment?

Beyond home entertainment, HDMI over IP can be used in educational settings to control multiple displays for robotics competitions, and in business environments to manage information or advertising displays across a location using a single HDMI output.

What are the limitations of the HDMI over IP solution in terms of resolution and frame rate?

The HDMI over IP solution presented in the script is limited to 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second, which is suitable for most office use cases but not adequate for 4K or high refresh rate gaming.

Outlines

00:00

🏠 Home HDMI Distribution Goals and Challenges

The script begins by setting the context for various home HDMI distribution needs, such as connecting multiple computers or sharing TV boxes across the house without new wiring. The narrator discusses the limitations of long HDMI cables, the cost and inflexibility of active optical cables, and the impracticality of passive adapters. The focus then shifts to exploring solutions like HDBaseT and HDMI over IP, which utilize existing Ethernet infrastructure for video distribution, with a particular interest in the latter for its flexibility and cost-effectiveness.

05:04

🔌 Introduction to HDMI over IP and Unboxing

This paragraph introduces the concept of HDMI over IP, which compresses video for transmission over Ethernet, allowing the use of existing network switches and wiring. The narrator shares that the hardware for the demonstration was provided by TESmart, emphasizing no monetary exchange influenced the review. The unboxing process reveals the components included, such as transmitters, receivers, power supplies, IR equipment, and a remote control, highlighting the setup's potential for extensive HDMI distribution within a home network.

10:14

📚 Basic Setup and Testing HDMI Extenders

The narrator demonstrates a basic setup using a thin client, an HDMI to DisplayPort adapter, and the HDMI over IP extenders. The process involves connecting the devices, ensuring they are on the same address, and testing the connection via Ethernet. The goal is to verify the functionality of the extenders in transmitting video and keyboard/mouse data over the network, showcasing the potential for extensive HDMI distribution without new cabling.

15:16

🎮 Real-World Testing: Gaming and Multi-Device Support

The script describes a real-world test of the HDMI over IP system, where the narrator游戏体验s gaming on a desktop computer connected to a receiver in another part of the house. The setup includes a gaming mouse, keyboard, and audio setup through the monitor. The narrator also tests the system's capability to handle multiple transmitters and receivers, including switching between a gaming PC and a TiVo using an IR remote, demonstrating the system's flexibility in managing various devices over a home network.

20:19

📺 HDMI over IP Limitations and Additional Use Cases

This paragraph discusses the limitations of the HDMI over IP system, such as the lack of support for HDMI CEC, which prevents TV remote controls from interacting with connected devices, and the system's inability to handle 4K or high-refresh-rate content. However, the narrator also discovers unexpected use cases, like using the extenders for robotics competitions and business displays, emphasizing the system's IP-based advantages for long-distance transmission and centralized control.

🔗 Conclusion and Future Projects

The conclusion summarizes the narrator's positive experience with the HDMI over IP system for various computer-related tasks, noting its low latency and suitability for activities like office work, video editing, and gaming. The narrator also expresses interest in using the system for upcoming projects and invites viewers to engage with their content, share suggestions, and join their Discord community for further interaction.

Keywords

💡HDMI

HDMI stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface, a standard for transmitting high-quality audio and video signals between devices. In the video, HDMI is the core technology for distributing video content around the house. The script discusses various methods to extend HDMI signals over long distances using different technologies.

💡Ethernet

Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies commonly used in LANs (Local Area Networks), including most home networks. The video explores the use of Ethernet wiring as a means to extend HDMI signals, leveraging the existing infrastructure to avoid the need for new cabling.

💡HDBaseT

HDBaseT is a standard for transmitting high-definition video and audio over Ethernet cables. The script mentions HDBaseT as a solution for sending 4K video over a single Cat6A cable, highlighting its ability to support high-quality video transmission without the need for extensive cabling.

💡Active Optical Cable

An active optical cable is an HDMI cable that incorporates fiber optics to extend the transmission distance of HDMI signals. The video discusses these cables as an alternative to traditional HDMI cables for long-distance transmission, noting their higher cost and fixed HDMI standard limitations.

💡CAT5/CAT6 Cable

CAT5 and CAT6 are categories of twisted-pair cables used in Ethernet networking. The script refers to these cables in the context of extending HDMI signals over long distances, especially when discussing passive adapters and the limitations of HDMI signal transmission over such cables.

💡IP Multicast

IP Multicast is a method of IP network broadcasting that allows sending data to a group of destinations simultaneously. The video explains that the HDMI over IP solution uses IP multicast, enabling efficient transmission of video streams to multiple receivers without overloading the network.

💡IR (Infrared)

Infrared, or IR, is a technology used for remote control of electronic devices. The script discusses the use of IR in the context of controlling devices like TVs and set-top boxes, and mentions the challenges of forwarding IR signals through HDMI over IP systems.

💡HDMI over IP

HDMI over IP refers to the technology that allows HDMI video streams to be transmitted over a standard IP network. The video's main theme revolves around this technology, showcasing how it can be used to extend HDMI signals throughout a home using existing Ethernet infrastructure.

💡Transmitter and Receiver

In the context of HDMI over IP, a transmitter is the device that sends the HDMI signal over the network, while a receiver is the device that captures the signal and displays it on a screen. The script explains how these devices work together to facilitate the distribution of video content.

💡USB KVM Extender

A USB KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) Extender is a device that allows the extension of keyboard, video, and mouse signals over a network. The video demonstrates the use of such an extender to control computers remotely, showcasing its utility in various scenarios including gaming and office work.

💡CEC (Consumer Electronics Control)

CEC is a feature of HDMI that allows devices connected via HDMI to control each other. The script mentions that HDMI over IP does not support CEC, which means that one cannot use the TV remote to control devices connected through the HDMI over IP system.

Highlights

The goal is to send HDMI video throughout the house using Ethernet wiring.

Six solutions for sending HDMI video over long distances are discussed.

Using a long cable through walls is the cheapest option but not ideal for long distances.

Active optical cables can go long distances but are expensive and fixed to certain HDMI standards.

Passive adapters that split HDMI into RJ45 are not recommended due to signal integrity issues.

HDMI over CAT5 or Cat6 solutions convert HDMI to RJ45 but do not use Ethernet switches.

HDBaseT can send 4K 60fps video over a single Cat6A cable, but not officially over Cat6.

HDMI over IP compresses the video stream to fit within gigabit Ethernet, using existing network switches.

TESmart provided the hardware for testing HDMI over IP solutions.

The HDMI over IP system includes transmitters, receivers, IR receivers, and a remote.

Receivers and transmitters support keyboard and mouse input, and HDMI output.

The bandwidth used by HDMI over IP is between 2 to 5.5 megabits per second.

IP multicast is used for efficient bandwidth usage across the network.

Unmanaged switches without multicast support can flood the network with data.

Managed switches with IGMP support are recommended for optimal performance.

HDMI over IP is suitable for gaming and general desktop usage with low latency.

The system does not support HDMI CEC for remote control functionality.

Infrared forwarding does not work with all devices, such as the tested TiVo.

The HDMI over IP solution is limited to 1080p at 60fps.

The system is cost-effective and easy to set up, using standard Ethernet cabling.

Potential business use cases include driving information displays over a network.

The HDMI over IP extenders are self-assigning IP addresses in a specific subnet.

Transcripts

So. you want to send HDMI video all over  your house? Maybe you're crazy like me,  

and you want to put all your computers in your  basement server rack, and then connect to any  

computer from any desk in the house? That's my  goal, but maybe you have simpler needs. Maybe you  

want to share a cable or satellite TV box with  a couple TVs in the house? Or maybe you want to  

stream content from your office to your living  room without a proprietary solution like AirPlay  

or Chromecast and you don't want to pull any new  wires, just use the Ethernet that you already  

have? In this video I'm going to cover a couple  different methods for sending HDMI video over long  

distances using Ethernet wiring. So if you want  to send HDMI video around your house you really  

have about six solutions. Your first option is to  get a long cable and run it through the wall. This  

is probably the cheapest but depending on how far  you're going it might not be ideal. If you just  

want to put your media cabinet or your computer  a few feet away and hide the wiring in the wall  

that's perfectly fine, do that. But when you start  running HDMI through the attic then you're asking  

for a bad time. HDMI was not designed to go  super long distances, so you need thicker  

and thicker cables and eventually it just won't  work at all Also you can't repair an HDMI cable.  

Ask me what it's like to go back in the attic and  put a new cable in after you already ran a cable  

because I've broken an HDMI connector off trying  to mount a TV on the wall. That was not fun,  

very very sad day. Your next option is an active  optical cable. These are HDMI cables with fibers  

built in. They do all of the fiber translation  for you so they look just like a regular HDMI  

cable (some of them need power too). These can  absolutely go the distance but they're also  

relatively expensive and also they're fixed at a  certain HDMI standard and bandwidth, so when newer  

HDMI revisions come out you can't just replace the  ends, you have to replace the entire cable through  

the wall. There are, or at least there used to  be, passive adapters, that would split up an HDMI  

into more than one RJ45, but these are pretty  awful because you're relying on an HDMI signal,  

designed to run over a carefully made cable, and  instead you're sending it over Cat5e or Cat6,  

which is not really something it was designed  to do. But at least you can use Cat6 that's  

already in the wall if you have it. Then we get to  solutions that convert HDMI into RJ45 to run over  

CAT5 or Cat6 cable. All of these will absolutely  work you can use the Ethernet wiring already in  

your house, but it's important to remember that  these are not based on Ethernet so you can't use  

your Ethernet switches and you can't usually  carry Ethernet over the same wiring. There is  

a standard for this called HDBaseT, and HDBaseT  is currently able to send 4K 60 frames per second  

with 444 chroma sampling (which is 18 gigabits  per second of video) over a single cat 6A cable.  

But it's important to note that I said Cat6a,  not Cat6. The standard doesn't officially allow  

you to do that over Cat6, so if all you have is  Cat6, you're limited to 420 chroma sub sampling  

(which is still probably fine but something you  should be aware of). So these solutions are able  

to push beyond gigabit because they're not using  standard Ethernet infrastructure and that means  

there's still point to point. You're connecting  one transmitter to one receiver. So if you're  

building the ultimate home theater, HDBaseT or an  active optical cable or conduit is probably what  

you want to go with. But I'm not doing that,  in fact I barely even watch TV. I get my news  

from Reddit. I care about desktops, workstations,  and gaming, all things I can do on my computer.  

And actually I have a couple of computers. I have  some that run Linux like my test system over here.  

I have my thin clients that I play with. I have  my big gaming desktop that heats up my bedroom.  

What I'd really like to be able to do is  put all of those in the basement where  

they can use all the power and make all the  noise they want and stay out of my life,  

but then when I want to use one for my living  room or my bed or my office or another office,  

I can choose which computer I want to be  connected to, and use it like I'm sitting at it,  

without all the hassle of running a whole bunch of  HDMI wires from every computer to every display.  

So that means I need a switch. I need all of  my sources to come in and get distributed to  

all of my displays, with the ability for the  display to select which source it's coming from.  

So given my goals in mind I was specifically  looking for the sixth option. HDMI over IP.  

What this does is it compresses the HDMI  video stream down to a bandwidth that fits  

within gigabit Ethernet and then it carries  it over standard gigabit Ethernet Hardware.  

This means I can use the network wiring and also  the network switches I already have in my house,  

and because I can use the network switches, that  means that I can switch where the video goes. 

Now, the hardware I've chosen does actually  support 16 transmitters and 253 receivers,  

and any of the receivers can connect to any of the  transmitters (potentially all of them connecting  

to the same transmitter if you want to do that),  and that means I can now have 16 computers in my  

house connected to a whole bunch of displays, and  choose from the display which computer I want to  

be using. And on the back end my network switches  cost the same as any other network switches,

which is not that much. It's a whole lot cheaper  than buying an HDBaseT Matrix I'll tell you that.

The hardware I'm using for this video is sold by  and was provided to me by TESmart.

While they did supply me with the hardware,no money changed  hands, and I reached out to them asking for  

these products to do a video. So, hopefully you  can jump in with me as I explore HDMI over IP  

and how using standard networking protocols can  drastically reduce the cost of HDMI distribution.

So, this is the box I got let's take a look  at what's inside. So we got a user manual  

We got a piece of foam

two units, I'll take a look at these in a second

under that we've got

We'll see what that is in a second, and another one

Looks like an IR receiver, IR transmitter,  and a remote with 16 buttons I'm guessing  

that corresponds to the 16 transmitters you can  tune to.

So this one I believe is a power supply

Sure is so it looks like we've got 5 volt  2 amp, it's got a pretty standard Barrel Jack  

I didn't measure it but doesn't look oddly sized  it's not USB but that is the same voltage as USB  

so if you want to power it off like a TVs USB port  or something I'm sure that's possible and

I guess this one is another power supply, yeah same thing  So one for each side and star of the show itself

Receiver

Transmitter. So this is everything we got here in  the box so we got the transmitter, transmitter's  

power supply, the IR Blaster because IR goes from  receiver to transmitter, transmitter blasts it on  

whatever device uses IR, the receiver, this is where  the TV goes, receiver's power supply, IR receiver if  

you need, IR remote if you need it, taking  a look at these boxes, so they got 5 volt in, it's  

labeled UTP but it is Ethernet, so you can connect  this to Ethernet switches and Ethernet devices, it  

will work and the bandwidth it uses isn't even  that high as we'll see later, and then HDMI input  

so if you just need HDMI you just have to use  this one side of the device. On the other side we  

have the infrared out USB, out that's a full-sized  USB B, so it's not USBC or micro, and then there's  

a seven segment display for what address it  is one through 16 and a button to change it.

The receiver is similar, interestingly this side has Ethernet  

and this side has it on the receiver  so it almost looks kind of upside down  

receiver you got the same story, power, Ethernet, HDMI out, so if that's all you need you don't  

have to mount it with the other side accessible.  And on the other side we have IR in, keyboard and  

mouse, this is strictly for keyboards and mice  it is not passing through raw USB data

it's just passing through the hid keyboard and  mouse data, and the address of the receiver

So to do the most basic test of these HDMI  extenders I've got a pretty basic setup  

here we can test with. This is a Thin Client I  reviewed in a previous video, it has a DisplayPort  

output that's going to monitor with an HDMI input,  so I have a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter cable  

I've got this little keyboard and mouse plugged  in over USB. so you can see it's booted up  

it's running Ubuntu it's working so now we're  going to bring in the pair of extenders here  

so we've got the HDMI input side, and the HDMI  output side, so let's put them like this  

so this is HDMI from The Thin Client we're  going to go into the input on the transmitter  

power both of these from the ugly  purple power strip power

okay the USB keyboard

this is USB to my keyboard, I'm going to plug it into  the receiver. Here is a USB cord I have. Important  

to note if you're actually going to use USB it  doesn't come with one of the USB cables in the box  

so I have to buy one they're not super common  anymore even though it is a USB standard  

connector and it has been for decades. Now HDMI, so HDMI to the monitor going to the receiver

so I've got everything connected except  ethernet. So this little logo came up  

that means we have no connection, they  wouldn't connect anyway because this  

one's a five and that one's a one. Let's  plug in the network and see what happens

tiniest little ethernet cable here

so now we need to match their addresses so I'm  going to put the transmitter on address two  

so just keep clicking the button until we're on  two, and I'll put the receiver in two as well

There's my Thin Client! Keyboard connected to  the receiver, monitor connected to the receiver  

ethernet connected to the transmitter, USB  to the Thin Client, HDMI to the Thin Client  

so this is the most basic setup you could do, you  could take this cable and extend it hundreds of  

feet, gigabit Ethernet supports 100 meters which is  330 feet, if you need to go that far that's a thing  

but the real advantage that these things  propose is that they should be able to use  

ethernet switches to hook up more than one of  these, so we should be able to share a network  

with our existing home network and not have  to run all new cabling just for this HDMI  

So now we brought this little thing in  intercepting our traffic this is a Mikrotik hEX

and it is basically a low-cost router switch, and  it can act as a network switch or as a router  

and do a couple other things, and I'm going  to use it to measure how much bandwidth is  

going across this link because in theory these  things could be using a full gigabit per second  

which would mean they're not compressing  the image a whole lot, but they could also  

be using something like h.265 compression and  compressed to go down to a few megabits, so we  

will see. The reason it's important to know  how much bandwidth they're using is because  

if we want to connect a bunch of these all over  our house, and we want to use the same cabling  

that we're already using for our home network  and for our Wi-Fi, we don't want a gigabit of  

bandwidth from one of these to start causing  problems for our Wi-Fi. So I've got Winbox (Mikrotik GUI)

pulled up and I have the transmitter connected  to Ether 4 and the receiver connected to Ether 3.  

so we can see the transmitter sending about two to three megabits per second  

which is not outrageously high but the screen  isn't really doing anything, so what happens if  

we play back a video is the bandwidth going to  go up? So I've got a video playing full screen

and it looks like our bandwidth is jumping up to  between four and five megabits per second here 5.5  

is roughly the peak that I've seen and this isn't  a super intense video so I guess that makes sense  

Another thing to note about this is this uses  IP multicast, so what that means is instead of  

broadcasting this video from the transmitter to  the receiver, or from the transmitter separately  

to each receiver it's sending it out to the group  the multicast group and letting the switch decide  

which receivers it should send it to, and  if your network supports igmp and multicast  

then the bandwidth of these devices can easily  be shared across the network, so if you're using  

unmanaged switches that don't support igmp, or  multicast you'll end up flooding the network with  

a bunch of data because this is running at like  five megabits per second and five megabits per  

second from each of your transmitters broadcast  out to everyone is not a great thing, so you  

might want to have separate switches if you're  going to go that approach. Another approach you  

can have is to use managed switches or smart  switches that do support igmp and then the switch  

will know which receivers would like to receive a  certain multicast group and only send it to those  

destinations. So in this case this device I'm using  from Mikrotik does support igmp and it is enabled,  

so it's only sending data to the receiver on Ether  3 because that's the only one that's subscribed to  

it. And this is not anything fancy this is a pretty  common internet standard for multicast, so it  

should not be hard to find equipment that supports  multicast and igmp to build a network out of this. 

okay if any of you are really curious how  it does IP, it looks like the devices are  

self-assigning IP addresses in the 192.168.167  region, so hopefully you're not using that region  

for your network, but if you're not that won't  really conflict, because you can have  

more than one IP subnet on the same Layer Two  they just won't be able to talk to each other.  

And in general it's using the  multicast group as I expected it would  

It looks like it's using two different  ports, but I guess that's for it to decide  

And then occasionally we'll see unicast  traffic as well, and I believe that is USB data  

Ao now that we know these things do work, and they  do work with standard Ethernet hardware let's set  

up a bit of a more real world test.

So I've got  the transmitter hooked up to my desktop computer

it's mirroring this screen on the HDMI output  to the transmitter. I have USB connected back  

to the desktop and ethernet is connected to  my home network, so I'm relying on my home  

Network's wired ethernet switches to transmit  video. I'm going to try gaming on this setup  

from another office around the house. So for the receiver side of this experiment  

got the IP KVM extender, it's hooked up to  a network cable it goes all the way down  

to the basement to my network switch, I've got a  monitor attached over HDMI, I've got my keyboard  

my gaming mouse, this is a wireless mouse but it's  not Bluetooth, it has a dongle and it's plugged in  

to one of the keyboard and mouse ports. For audio  I have a pair of earbuds they're plugged into  

the monitor, the monitor supports HDMI audio but  doesn't have speakers, so I have to plug into an  

output from the monitor, or otherwise separate  the audio out of the HDMI because this does  

support audio but it only over HDMI. So as you  know I've used Portal for testing in the past  

I'm pretty good at it I like to think, I guess  you'll be the judge of that, let's see how this goes

It's my favorite part of the game, the old  section, I love this section. We gotta go up there

not letting you guys hear the audio because  I don't want any copyright strikes here

It feels fine to play on, I've usually done  60fps gaming, I don't do high frame rate gaming

but if you're comparing this to something  like Steam remote play or moonlight  

it's on par with those for sure

It seems like the volume keys on the keyboard aren't getting passed through, something to be aware of if you need those.

So for this test I wanted to throw in a lot of the  features that it's supposed to support all at once  

so we've tested directly linking them, we've tested  them over my home network, now we're going to test  

multiple transmitters, multiple receivers. So this  TV here has the second receiver and as you can  

see it's connected to my gaming PC of my bedroom  but using their infrared remote that came with it

you can switch over to the TiVo. TiVo is down  in the cabinet, it's got its own transmitter  

transmitting ID 2 so when I click 2 on the remote  I get the TiVo. Now if you're like me you probably  

had a really hard time finding devices that use  infrared, and the TiVo is the only device I could  

find in my house that use an infrared remote. I  normally use the Apple TV which has an RF remote  

so I tried to test if the infrared  forwarding works through the system  

and it didn't work with the TiVo. That doesn't mean  it won't work with anything else, but if I aim my  

TiVo remote at the receiver here, I've got an IR blaster  facing into the TiVo and I don't get anything  

but if infrared's important to you compatibility  might not be perfect, I don't have any other  

devices I can test with really so this is what  it is.

Now I can game from down here on the couch because why not?

So I'm back up here at another  TV in the house and I have the second receiver

The first receiver was downstairs, the first  transmitter is connected to my gaming desktop

the second transmitter is connected to the TiVo  and the second receiver is connected up here  

so you can see I'm able to see the  TiVo over the network, I did confirm  

also that the TiVo is using HDCP and  it has negotiated HDCP so I'm not sure  

what the requirements are for that but it  works. I've got the IR receiver here again

can switch back to the gaming desktop. So all of  these little HDMI boxes are just connected to  

my home network with wired Ethernet. I'm not doing  anything special. I have a switch that does support  

igmp snooping, it is a managed switch but other  than using a managed switch. I'm not segregating  

them with vlans, I'm not using a separate switch,  they're just plugged into regular network drops  

around my house, they go down to the basement,  they get switched, they come back up everywhere  

so the cost of cabling to set up  something like this is the same as  

setting up a home network, you don't  have to pull HDMI through the walls  

it's pretty great if this is what you care  about.

So for the next trick I've hooked up

the Apple TV. So the Apple TV is one of the  most modern devices I have and it is working

I use its RF remote

good stuff

one test I wanted to try was to see if  I could use the TVs remote over HDMI CEC  

so CEC is a protocol that's part of HDMI  that allows the TV to send commands to  

devices downstream or devices downstream  to send command back upstream to the TV  

so for example the Apple TV uses this when you  say "sleep all connected devices" it's using CEC  

to turn off the TV. But likewise the TV can share  its remote buttons with other things over HDMI

which unfortunately is not working over the HDMI  over IP Bridge, so another feature to consider if it's important to you

Now for using the computer  none of this matters you'll use a keyboard  

and mouse probably some sort of wireless  keyboard plugged in there all will be good  

So thanks for coming along on my tour of HDMI  over IP. These units specifically have worked  

very well for a lot of the use cases that I  care about, specifically, working with computers  

keyboard and mouse support is just fine the  latency is very low and I can do general  

desktop office work, video editing, gaming, all  that good stuff. In addition, while working with  

these I found a bunch of use cases that  I hadn't expected going into this video  

so in addition to running a YouTube channel I  also mentor a lot of Elementary through High School

robotics teams, and I run competitions  for them. During these competitions, I often  

have to set up a dozen Windows laptops to show  rankings and statistics all around the event and  

that's a giant pain. using these extenders I can  connect all of my screens around the event to  

my network that I'm already running, and use one  HDMI output on my desktop to drive all of them  

I didn't think of that before I started this  video but now I want to use these for that too  

There are also some business use cases, if you're the  kind of business that likes having screens all  

over with information or advertising whatever your  business is into you can drive them all with this  

instead of having a little Raspberry Pi (which  you can't buy anymore!) at every single display  

and since they're based on IP you can trunk  them over fiber long distances like you would  

with any other IP traffic. So what about downsides?  If you're using them for media they don't support  

HDMI CEC, so you can't use the remote control on  your TV to send commands to devices over HDMI  

now this was not advertised as a product feature  but it's a feature that would be useful to me I  

also wasn't able to get infrared to work with my  TiVo now that doesn't matter to me because I don't  

use TiVo I use Apple TV which has an RF remote  but if you still like using infrared something  

to consider. These are also limited to 1080p at 60  frames per second which is clearly advertised in  

the product page and it's perfectly fine for my  office use cases but if you're trying to do 4K  

or high refresh rate gaming it won't work for you.  I've got a huge list of projects coming up doing  

all sorts of weird stuff, so like and subscribe  if you want to see more of that in the future  

if you want to chat directly or have suggestions  for future videos you can slide into my Discord  

link down in the description below. I do always  love hearing from subscribers about how they've  

used my videos to develop something cool in their  life and I would love to hear from you as well so  

hopefully you can come along for my future topics  and as always I'll see you on the next adventure