WHDI Reviews – Wireless HDTV News

brite-View HDelight (BV-1222) Uncompressed 1080p Beam-to-TV Kit

Brite-View has brought out quite a few Wireless HD kits over the past one year and more. Their models have progressively become better with more input options and better signal quality. Credit for this also goes towards Amimon’s advances in the WHDI technology. This model was released towards the last quarter of 2010 and it has multiple input options. It also supports Apple’s iPad through a special adapter that must be bought separately.

The HDelight BV-1222 has a simple plug and play approach. The receiver and the transmitter need to be transmitted to their respective devices and the rest happens automatically. There’s no pairing required and the receiver automatically finds the transmitter and starts streaming the HD video signal.

This kit utilizes a 3Gbits/sec throughput and hence has no noticeable lag. This makes it perfect for activities that require a lag-free sync like gaming. It is also a welcome feature for those who would be using it to work on their laptop of iPad.

The kit is especially designed for use with a laptop and has USB connectivity. When connected to a computer, the transmitter draws power from the USB hub and does not require an external power supply. This is helpful because this way the laptop-transmitter setup can be completely wireless without the need to have a power brick trailing from the transmitter unit.

However, the transmitter needs to be plugged in to a power source when using with anything else; such as gaming consoles, Blu-Ray or DVD players and also iPads. That is because the HDMI connector is not meant to power a device. The receiver needs to be connected to a power source at all times.

The transceiver pair has a range of 30 feet and support full HD standards of 1080p@60Hz. There is a requirement for line-of-sight though, which means there should be no obstruction between the transmitter and the receiver that fully blocks one from the other. This is a small caveat for some customers, who would’ve like to set the transmitter behind a partition or in another room.

The signal remains uncompressed through the entire signal path, from the source through the transmitter-receiver to the display (TV/Projector). This preserves the a/v quality through transmission and remain faithful to the source

Customer reviews suggest that the features mentioned on the BV-1222 all work as advertised. Those using the set up for gaming have reported very good performance with no noticeable lag degrading the game play. There are no complaints regarding setup with most comments mentioning a fully plug and play experience. The packaged comes with a short USB-to-USB cable for plugging it in to a laptop.

Most reviewers reported high video and audio quality from various different sources. These included gaming consoles, Blu-ray players and computer content (both local and online such as Hulu, Netflix and YouTube). Some have used it transform their normal PC’s and laptops to home theatre systems (HTPC’s).

Warpia StreamHD Wireless PC to TV Full 1080P

The Warpia StreamHD is a WHDI based wireless HD transmission kit that is designed to work with PC’s. It consists of a base station style receiver and a transmitting dongle that plugs in to the USB port of a laptop or a desktop. The base station connects to the display via an HDMI port. This ensures that the receiver base will be able to connect to anything that accepts HDMI, including HD projectors and HDTV’s.

The receiver base also sports an S/PDIF port for full 5.1 digital surround sound and you can directly connect your home theatre system to it. If you are looking for plain stereo and do not have S/PDIF compatible audio devices, there’s also a 3.5mm stereo jack port. Warpia thus scores well on the audio connectors area where most comparable solutions tend to just leave it up to the HDMI out.

Since the StreamHD Wireless is a PC-based solution, it is as much at home in a boardroom as it is in a living room. The transceiver kit can easily be adopted in an office scenario where computers can easily be connected to HD projectors without the need to run cables through the length of the room.

This kit has a standard 30 feet range with a line-of-sight requirement. That means the transmitter has to be able to ‘see’ the receiver base in order to transmit a proper signal. There cannot be anything blocking the transmitter completely from the receiver, like walls or furniture.

However, once you have a clear line of transmission, the image quality is crisp and true HD. This kit supports full 1080p HD with a native resolution support of 1920×1280 pixels. Customers report an inconsistent experience when it comes to lag. There are reports of some online services having minimal lag and other having some noticeable lag. Skype performance seems to be consistent throughout with a slight drop in call quality but otherwise stable performance.

This kit plugs in to your PC and behaves as a standard external display for your computer. Hence, you can either mirror your desktop or extend it to make more screen space. For most home entertainment purposes, a mirrored set up would do. However, an extended screen would allow the user to work on something else while the extended area was occupied with something else.

This kit is a good option for watching high-resolution images, online videos and local media files on your HDTV or HD projector. However, this kit cannot support Blu-Ray movies played on your computer. Another point to keep in mind is that this kit supports only Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. There is no proper Mac OS support as of yet but some of Warpia’s other kits have beta versions of Mac drivers.

The StreamHD has received a fairly good line of customer reviews on Amazon and other places. Most professional reviewers have also rated it well. The only caveats are the minor lags in specific applications and the line of sight requirement.

IOGEAR Wireless HD Computer to TV Kit GUWAVKIT2

The IOGEAR Wireless HD Computer to TV Kit GUWAVKIT2 is meant to be a simple plug-n-play solution for connecting your computer to your TV/Projector wirelessly. It is a simple solution that does not require any technical knowledge whatsoever to set up. As long as you have a TV that accepts computer input, you have everything covered.

It comes with a USB dongle as the transmitter and a small base station as the receiver. Set up is quite simple. You have to connect the USB dongle to your computer. It does not require a second USB port to power it. You then install the required drivers for your PC. If you are running on Windows, you will find the necessary drivers on the included CD. If you are using a Mac, you will have to go online and download the appropriate drivers. Once you have installed the drivers, you are ready to stream your computers display wireless to a TV. Great for those who want a second screen to work on or simply to watch movies and play games on. And since it plugs in to the USB port, you can use it on computers that do not have HDMI output, which a older models don’t.

The downside that I can think of is the fact that the maximum resolution is SXGA. At 1400×1060, it is slightly more than 720p HD but it is not full HD. However, as long as you have HD content playing your computer, you should be able to enjoy good image quality on your TV screen as well. The base station has a VGA as well as an HDMI out. If you are using the VGA out, you will have to use a 3.5mm stereo jack for Audio support. You can also use a VGA to DVI adapter (sold separately) for DVI-capable displays but you will still need the audio jack. However, if you are using HDMI you will get both video and audio together.

With a range of about 30 feet, the IOGEAR Wireless HD Computer to TV Kit GUWAVKIT2 is a good investment for anyone looking to easily set up a second display with minimal effort. And with a $100 price tag, it’s a very affordable investment too.

The RocketfishTM - 4-Port Wireless HD Kit Rf-whd200

The RocketfishTM – 4-Port Wireless HD Kit Rf-whd200 is a wirelessHD transmitter-receiver kit that gets the job done with minimal or no hassle. The instructions are simple and the steps are more or less self explanatory. You connect the transmitter to your HD source. And then you connect the receiver to your HD output (TV or Projector) and then you switch the system on and voila! It works.

One of the main plus points of this specific model is that it supports 4 different inputs on the transmitter. So you can connect your PS3/Xbox, your cable box and more and then switch between the inputs quite easily. The bundled remote works well for all things except for the little problem that it is a bit too small in the hand. One way out of this is to program all the signals in to an universal remote and then enjoy switching back and forth between your cable and movies and games and other things.

Coming to the image quality, there’s nothing to complain about. The transmitted signal carries a full HD video signal to the TV/Projector. Sound is crisp and clear. You are unlikely to find any difference between the quality on the Rocketfish kit and actually running an HDMI cable all the way. Resolution changes will take a few seconds to execute but then that is expected to happen. So overall, performance is exactly what is says in the box. It does what it is supposed to do with no jitters or drop in quality. And it comes with its own connecting cables, which are quite good.

The Rocketfish HD kit transmits a 6GHz signal, which is a blessing for those running dual-band routers and that is an increasing number of people. It does not interfere with either of the bands and runs above the 5Ghz upper band of the router. It also does not require line of sight and works well through furniture and dry walls.

For under a $150 (online), the RocketfishTM – 4-Port Wireless HD Kit Rf-whd200 is quite the package. Recommended for anyone who wants get rid unwieldily wires from the home setup.

The ASUS U30JC-B1 13.3-Inch Laptop is an entertainment machine that looks small but works big. Loaded with a 2.4GHz Intel Core i3-370M multicore processor and 4GB of DDR3 1066MHz RAM (2GB x 2 slots, 4GB Maximum) it can handle your everyday tasks and multitasking with ease. It’s entertainment features come complete with a Nvidia G310M Graphics card with 512MB of dedicated DDR3 VRAM and Intel’s WiDi Wireless HD technology. This coupled along with NVIDIA’s Optimus intelligent graphics switching technology makes it a formidable machine that has a good battery life despite having powerful graphics.

It has a chiclet style keyboard with flat, isolated keys which make for comfortable typing and a smooth touchpad with a single bar button. The silver finish on it is spread throughout the laptop except for the bezel which is black.

It has a 320GB 5400RPM Hard Disk drive, a super multi optical drive and comes with a 64bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium pre-installed. The storage space is enough for the average user carry around his/her music collection, ebook, audiobooks and movies. The optical drive is capable of reading and writing DVD’s and you can easily watch your DVD’s on this laptop.

The 13.3 inch display is a good mid-ground between portability and a good amount of screen space. It has a native resolution of 1366×768, giving you a 720p HD display. The Nvidia G310M Graphics card makes it moderately good gaming laptop. It should be able to run most modern games at a acceptable FPS rates, with the exception of the really graphics heavy games.

With Intel’s WiDi built in and an HDMI out port readily available, this laptop gives you multiple ways of connecting the laptop to your HD TV or HD projector. To connect the laptop to your HDTV or projector wirelessly, you will need Neatgear’s Push2TV dongle that will allow the device to access the wireless HD stream from your laptop. This will allow you to enjoy your games and movies on a grand HD TV or Projector.

The ASUS U30JC-B1 13.3-Inch Laptop is a powerful entertainment hub and for under $800, it is a very good buy for those  looking to have a versatile machine that will take care of all their entertainment needs. Playing games, watching movies, surfing on multiple tabs and multi-tasking to boot — this laptop will do it all and also double up as a powerful office machine if you want it to.

The ASUS U30JC-X3K 13.3-Inch Laptop is a 13 inch laptop that packs in quite a bit of punch for its size. It is powered by a 2.26GHz Intel Core i3-35M processor, which is coupled with 4GB of 1066MHz DDR3 RAM and a super multi optical disk drive. But the reason behind our interest is that it comes with Intel’s Wireless Display (WiDi) wireless networking capability. This allows the user to wirelessly stream the contents of the laptop screen to any HD screen. It is similar to what the Wireless HD transceiver kits do but since this is built in, there’s no hassle of having to connect a dongle or similar to the laptop and then having to look for a power source or blocking up the few USB ports there are.

At 13 inches, the U30JC-X3k is the perfect size for a portable entertainment hub. It is small enough to to be comfortably carried around and has enough horsepower for smoothly playing back HD video content (local and streaming). It will also be good for some moderate gaming action thanks to the dedicated NVIDIA G310M graphics. Since it also comes with NVIDIA Optimus intelligent graphics switching technology, it also ensures that the battery life will be decent despite it having powerful graphics.

The display is standard fare — a 13.3 inch, 1366×768 pixel screen coupled with LED backlighting. It has a decent viewing angle and has a 0.3mp webcam on top part of the bezel, which is a slight let down because of the very low resolution. However, you can still have your video chats directly on your TV screen and if you are receiving HD video from the other end it will be all the better.

The 500 GB hard drive gives you a generous amount of storage space for all the media that you would like to carry around with you. As a portable entertainment machine, you can easily carry around handpicked HD movies on the ASUS U30JC-X3K 13.3-Inch Laptop is a 13 inch laptop and stream it to any HD TV using the WiDi receiver dongle. You will have to but the WiDi dongle separately. It is called Push2TV, is manufactured by Netgear an is available for purchase online.