Gefen Seeking Broader Support for Receiver-Free Multi-Room AV Solutions

Gefen, a supplier of home theater accessories for custom installation, is heading to the CEDIA show next month hoping to broaden dealer support for a new approach to multi-room audio/video distribution to address needs not being met in the market by existing multi-room AV solutions. “We wanted better control over HDMI signal path,” said CEO Hagai Gefen, citing challenges and “a lot of confusion” over the implementation of HDMI. “The main issue is the way everybody is conceiving audio/video distribution -- that the signal goes through the [AV receiver],” he said.

Gefen hopes to solve that confusion by offering installers a switcher-to-speaker multi-room solution that delivers all the features of HDMI 1.4 over a single Cat 5 cable and removes the audio-video receiver from the equation. The company’s HDMI extender (CED July 27 p4) is the enabler in Gefen’s multi-room solution, allowing the HDMI signal -- which carries 3D, Ethernet, the audio return channel of HDMI 1.4 along with all the features of earlier HDMI versions -- to run from the source, through a Gefen switcher in a central location, to small Gefen amplifiers up to 300 feet away, all uncompressed. The amplifiers feed five Gefen speakers in the same room.

Sources at the headend can include Blu-ray players, game players and set-top boxes that can support multiple rooms. “We believe the video is the main part of the signal processing, and that it’s not the AVR that needs to be at the center,” Gefen said. “The matrix switcher is going to be the center box.” Gefen noted that most AVRs have coaxial or optical inputs for audio, which use compression, and that HDMI can push through a full, uncompressed signal. “By adding HDMI we can offer the highest audio resolution possible,” he said, in addition to other Dolby surround-sound decoding formats and volume-leveling technology. “Since we have all the switching technology at the headend, we only need to worry about HDMI going into the amplifier and then out to the TV,” he said. “You can simplify the whole receiver end and make it cost effective without taking up a lot of space."

The company designed the speakers to match the amplifiers so it could offer dealers a complete solution, although the homegrown speaker effort is a bit experimental. A powered subwoofer is coming, Gefen said, “but we haven’t brought one out because we want to see how well we do with the speakers we designed.” The company is owned by Linear LLC, so it has access to speaker and amplifier technology from sister companies including Sunfire, SpeakerCraft and Niles Audio, but Gefen didn’t commit to which, if any, of the companies would supply the technology for a powered sub. The current solution offers 5.1-channel audio support with 7.1-channel surround-sound on the horizon, Gefen said. A single-room room system, including amplifier and five speakers, lists for under $2,000, he said.

Gefen is leveraging the HDMI investment by positioning the system as a solution for conference rooms so it can mine the commercial installation market, too, Gefen said. “As people do more multimedia and video conferencing during meetings, [our solution] makes the room more multi-purpose,” he said.

Trying to alter the infrastructure of AV distribution won’t happen overnight, Gefen conceded. “People are slow to adapt to new technology, so when you come out with something like this, people will look at it as futuristic,” he said. “We're building the infrastructure and hopefully we'll win a lot of people over, but we'll have to be the one to promote HDMI 1.4 in order to sell all the other parts.” To Gefen, HDMI 1.4 is essential for future AV distribution needs. “You really need the Ethernet and the audio return so you can do what you want to do in every room,” he said.

HDMI is also largely future-proof, Gefen said, because of built-in backward-compatibility. “For example, when 3D TV came out, we immediately adapted,” he said. “You can rewrite the code, prioritize it on the incoming signal and you have 3D support,” he said. “It isn’t difficult and I assume that whoever is designing future versions of HDMI is taking that into consideration so it’s just as easy.”