HDMI:A Home theatre perspective

I am not technically competent to comment about the quality of HDMI vs some other technology. But HDMI combines the audio and video connection into one, which takes away a lot of clutter behind the Entertainment center, especially with so many devices occuping the rack these days, Blue ray player, Media player, Some game center, Apple TV/ Roku/Amazon Fire to name a few.

The real challenge though, comes when you want to conceal wiring. The HDMI connectors are big and a conduit to pass these later, will have to be equally big, mostly to a level of being prohibiting. Unlike many other connectors, you cannot crimp/end the HDMI on your own according to experts. Another limitation is HDMI does not work well for beyond 25-50 Feet.

A lot of google later, I found that there are few alternatives available.
1. You can have a Mini HDMI to HDMI conversion connectors at both the ends and the cable concealed can have a Mini HDMI both the ends.I haven't found the challenges in this yet, but something tells me, this is not a good solution
2. There are Faceplate pairs available with HDMI female ports exposed to the front and back. The HDMI female port behind the plate, you can connect using a cable laid inside the conduit. This will work if the conduit size is not a concern for you as you are required to still pass the fat end of HDMI to be passed through the conduit first. Just that the external connection part does not have to bother you.
3. You can have a conversion between HDMI and Cat6 or Cat5 cable and use that as the middle tier. There are converter face plates as well as devices which does this for you. They are called "Balun". There are Baluns with or without power supply.

When you evaluate all these options, one thing you have to keep in mind is what kind of digital content are you planning to transmit. Is it 3D, Full HD or just 1080i? The HDMI connectivity is not just the same across. There is something called Highspeed HDMI which is required to transmit the 3D content or Full BlueRay content. Else there will be a degradation of quality across. Again, I am not sure if the 3D will stop working all together if you use a lower spec HDMI or it will just loose the impact, but one should know there is such a difference before plunging in to buy one of these solutions. Somewhere its said that its better to buy a powered balun since this will ensure reduced loss in transmission and better quality.

So I am off now to educate my Automation consultant on these because, I think he has not considered the connection between the Media center and TV as his head ache or he is planning to have some channel disguised as something else to be there as an eye sour to take care of this!