With the shift towards digital television (DTV) and increasing use of large-scale high definition (HD) displays, the home entertainment market is expanding at an astounding rate. With this growth, the average living room has amassed a huge collection of cables and connectors for multiple devices, such as Blu-ray players, AV receivers, game consoles, set-top-boxes, PCs and many more. Understandably, consumers are looking for a better way to provide point-to-point connectivity and multimedia distribution in the home entertainment environment.

Additionally, the introduction of flat panel displays that can hang on the wall like a picture frame has created a need to reduce the number of cables and connectors to a minimum.

Once the TV is on the wall, it is no longer necessary to place the different entertainment devices right next to it. In fact, the majority of consumers, especially women, prefer these devices to be hidden.

So how many cables do you really need today?

First, one HDMI cable is needed for uncompressed video and audio. To support full HD content, the HDMI cable should be HDMI1.3 CL2 rated to handle uncompressed 1080p, 60Hz, 48 bits per pixel, which stands for 10.2 Gbps.

Video and audio are important, but what about Internet? You surely would like to use the full capabilities of your new Internet-enabled TV to access favorite music, enjoy YouTube on the 50” display and receive constant updates with RSS feeds. So for Internet, add an additional LAN Cat5e/Cat6 cable.

And what about gaming? Imagine playing Guitar Hero. You will need an additional cable to carry your signals/controls to the game console that is also hidden, or even located in a different room. USB can do the work for you, but it is limited in terms of distance.

And how about power? Imagine powering your Blu-ray without connecting it to the external power jack. Wouldn’t it be great? Why not drive the power from the TV? Well, for that we need another cable.

So you now have four cables. If that seems like a lot, imagine what it takes to install these cables and connect them to a Blu-ray player or game console located 10 to 100m away. In that case you are dealing with the issue of installation which is a different topic and not an easy one to handle.

When it comes to installation, there are a few elements to be aware of, such as cost of installation, maximum distance, ease of installation, the ability to do an in-wall installation, as well as the ability to work with passive connectors and to use field terminated connectors. When the cables are in place, you would like to ensure that the installation is highly robust since you don’t want to redo it.

You need a solution that is robust enough to handle environmental interferences such as EMI. Standard cables and connectors that are widely available are the answer. Whether you do the installation yourself or hire professional installers, you better look for a cable that is reliable, cheap and easy to work with.

So you know what it takes to connect your Blu-ray player to your new 50” display. We need between two and four cables and a way to install them. Think you are done? Not so fast. There are other limitations to consider.

Thinking of using HDMI? Well, think again. HDMI is limited to a few metres, it is very expensive especially when considering HDMI cable that is 3m long or more, and very hard to install due to its thickness and soldered connectors. Is there any other alternative? You can either forget about the impressive look and feel of your living room or look for the technology that can do the work for you.

This might be your lucky day. An Israeli company has developed a cable, HDBaseT, that will streamline your home theatre set-up.

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