HD Extender rocks!

[mogrinz]

I had to order it early for my wife to give me on Christmas, and then agonize over all the discussion here until yesterday. I have to say, I am supremely pleased. I've eyed other solutions to the "how to distribute hdtv", but this is by far the best.

My previous setup was to feed the TV out of my Sage server (in the basement) into a channel remodulator, and create a custom TV channel (123) for Sage viewing anywhere in the house. IR commands to the server were sent over the same coax back to the basement with this:
http://www.hometech.com/infrared/rcvrs.html#17294

The remodulation solution was elegant, but the picture quality definitely suffered. Now, I can finally output the 1080p my set's been thirsting for. No slow-downs, skips, noise - nuthin'! Just quality TV viewing.

Anyway, Sage never had to enter the hardware area.. I'd probably have kludged some kind of small PC together myself. But that would have been more $$$, and nowhere near as quiet or simple. Hats off for an elegant solution in a crazy, fragmented marketplace. And of course, thanks to all the plugin-developers who continue to make Sage even better.

Mike

[Yooper]

I agree.

I got my extender for Christmas as well. I purchased a Sharp Aquos LCD in early November. I had the older MVP hooked up to this - but I found the picture quality better thru the TV via direct RG6 cable. My Sage usage diminished - although it still used it heavily when I travelled.

With the HD extender, I can run at 1080p full time. The picture thru the HD extender is just as good, if not better, than the direct cable. Now I use the HD extender exclusively, for both SD and HD stations.

With the HD extender, connected to my LCD TV via HDMI, the signal is completely digital after the server, even for my analog cable channels. I can optimize the cable signal for my server, and not worry about losses of analog signals thru the RG6 cable in my house.

I have not had any of the problems that others have reported. The remote works fine, there are not blotches at 1080p, and no stuttering. My video server load is down to just a few percent. I can do other stuff with the extra cpu cycles.

I will buy more HD extenders when they become available.