If you have recently setup a home theater system (or even considered doing so), you probably noticed what a pain planning out the cord situation is. You have power cables, video cables, audio cables and the volume can be doubled or tripled by adding a few different video sources (such as a DVD player or a game console).

Take, for example, my setup - I have a HD Tivo (I love it, by the way), Apple TV, Nintendo Wii, DVD player and a box from Comcast for on-demand (the HD Tivo with a cablecard doesn't support 2-way communications yet). This makes for a huge mess behind the television.

The promise of wireless HDMI, though, is that it can effectively eliminate at least half of the cables I'm using (all of the A/V cables - for the forseeable future there is no way to eliminate the power cables). This makes for a cleaner setup and, more importantly, a happier spouse. The next step is figuring out once and for all how to consolidate the remote controls.

Wireless HDMI requires both a sender and a receiver - the sender attaches to your source (ie, DVR) and the other end to your output (HDTV). Because this technology is still in its infancy not many TV's are coming with the wireless HDMI receiver built-in. In the future, however, this will be standard in HDTV's. Looking even further ahead, eventually HDMI source units will include the sender, completely eliminating your need to purchase or run any cables when setting up an HDTV.

Why is it taking so long?

Like every standard, getting everybody on the same page has proven to be a challenge. Even agreeing on basic development issues has proven difficult - for instance, should wireless HDMI utilize 802.11 (like wifi) or RF? This has caused a lot of delays in actual production of wireless HDMI extenders.

Early on (Q4 2008) a relatively new company, TZero, seemed to have a breakthrough and slowly units started making their way to market (like the Gefen wireless hdmi extender). This first version, however, wasn't quite ready for primetime (it was line-of-site and couldn't go through walls) and TZero closed up shop.

In Q2 2009 wireless HDMI extenders using 802.11 started slowly making their way to market. These appear to be a lot more reliable (less noise on the screen, better with audio syncing) and work seamlessly through walls. Gefen is also offering this new extender, though under their consumer brand name, GefenTV.

Current price points

Wireless HDMI is still out of reach for most consumers, but the prices have fallen rapidly since launch and are expected to keep falling as the technology becomes more widely adopted. When it was first launched the units cost around $1200. The lowest-end models are now coming out in the $400 range.

So what is the difference between a $400 and a $800 wireless HDMI? Mostly just features and quality. In our testing we saw a similar range between the 2 (about 150 feet through walls), but a definitely advantage in the quality of the resolution for the higher-end GefenTV model. It supports full 1080p as opposed to 1080i. If your TV isn't larger than 40" or so you probably won't notice a difference, but it's nice to know.

The other main difference is that the higher-end model (GefenTV) also supports "broadcast mode." Broadcast mode allows you to broadcast from one source to up to 5 televisions. This is great for digital signage or just adding a few TV's around the house. The lower end models don't support this, but for a lot of people it doesn't make sense to spend $400 more for this one feature.

HDCP Compliance

If you're worried about HDCP compliance (ie, displaying content from a source using HDCP, which most sources these day are), you shouldn't - these fully support HDCP. In fact, when you first connect the extender there is a slight delay while the sender and receiver initiate a handshake. Your content is secure and will display perfectly on the TV as if the sender and source were connected with a regular cable.

Where to Buy:

Gefen Wireless HDMI (~$675)

Sewell Wireless HDMI (~$400)

Sony Bravia Wireless Link (~$500)

Anticipated Wireless HDMI extenders:

Belkin Flywire (recently withdrew product, will not be released)

Philips Wireless HDMI (eta: unknown)