QUICK PICK REVIEW: DECEMBER 7, 2007
Radiient Repeat-6 HDMI Distributor
Need to send an HDMI signal to more than one HDTV? Here’s one way to do it.
Radiient is one of many companies manufacturing HDMI switches and interfaces. My first experience with the company was with its Select-4 4x1 HDMI switch. This product has for the most part worked very well, although I did have trouble with it interfacing to Samsung’s BD-P1200 Blu-ray player from time to time.
Now, Radiient has expanded its product line with the Repeat-6, a 1x6 HDMI distribution amplifier. Granted, the average consumer needs to switch more HDMI sources to one HDTV, but there may be an instance where you’d want to drive one HDMI signal to two or more displays.
Certainly the professional and CEDIA channels would find a product like this useful, inasmuch as some pro AV displays also support HDMI input connections. The HDMI ports will also work with DVI connections, as long as HDCP is either present at both ends, or a non-HDCP source is connected to a PC-style HDMI/DVI-D input on a display.
Figure 1. Radiient Technologies’ Repeat-6 HDMI Distributor.
FORM AND FUNCTION
The Repeat-6 comes in a matte-finish black chassis that’s pretty small (8 3/8” x 5 ½” x 1 5/8”) and uses an external power transformer and DC supply. It has six inputs across the back panel, split in the middle by the lone input. The chassis has a recessed pocket for a small remote control, with which you can control any and all of the 6 outputs.
The front panel uses tri-state LEDs to show the status of any output. No indication means the output has been turned off, while a blue LED indicates the output has been switched on, but no active signal (EDID) has been detected from a compatible display. An orange LED means that the required handshake has been made between the Repeat-6 and an HDMI-equipped display.
Each HDMI port supports version 1.3 and 1080p signals with a bandwidth specification OF 150 MHz. That means almost anything equipped with HDMI outputs can be connected to the Repeat-6, including PlayStation 3 and XBox consoles, Blu-ray and HD DVD players, and HDMI PCs.
Figure 2. Rear view, showing the translucent input/output connector panel.
OPERATION
HDMI was originally designed to be a single-port connection that can be looped-through other components, using repeaters as needed. That means only one display can exist in an HDMI connection, and it is that display’s EDID information that is required to make the handshake.
EDID, which stands for Extended Display Identification Data, was first developed to communicate the optimum set-up parameters from a given display to a computer video card. (It has since been ported into the HDMI specification.) Conventional signal splitting won’t work with EDID, as the HDMI source (DVD player or set-top box) would be confused by two different sets of EDID data appearing in the same channel.
The Repeat-6 gets around this problem by dynamically creating EDID addresses for every connected display so that display thinks it’s talking directly to the program source. The Repeat-6 also generates one set of EDID data for the input device. HDCP copy protection is supported over all links.
Figure 3. There’s a colorful, super-thin remote to control everything.
In my tests, I was able to split an HDMI 1080p signal from a Samsung BD-P1200 Blu-ray player to Panasonic’s TH-50PZ77U 1080p plasma, Samsung’s FP-T5084 1080p plasma, and Mitsubishi’s HC6000 1080p front projector. The same held true with a 1080p signal from Toshiba’s HD-A30 HD DVD player and 1080i/p signals from OPPO’s DV-981HD and 980HD upscaling DVD players and Toshiba’s HD-A2.
I did hit a bump in the road with Motorola’s DCT6200 cable box. This box is equipped with a DVI-D output connector and doesn’t like the Repeat-6, although it works fine with the Select-4. When I tried to connect it, I got an on-screen message stating “this cable TV receiver is not designed to work with digital signal repeaters.” Then it went black.
I had a similar problem with LG’s LST-3410A digital TV tuner, which is also equipped with a DVI-D output. But things were hunky-dory with Samsung’s DTB-H260F ATSC/QAM receiver, which is equipped with an HDMI output jack. (Note that both audio and video are split through all six connectors.)
THE PICK
If you’ve got to divvy up an HDMI source to two or more HDTVs, projectors, or “sinks” (as HDMI Licensing calls them), the Repeat-6 is a good way to go. You’ll have better luck with newer HDMI sources than older DVI-equipped set-top boxes and DVD players, though.
