I'm sure many saw the article on CE Pro:
[Link: cepro.com]

I'm not tremendously versed in HDBaseT, but I appreciate the simplistic nature of the spec along with its benefits of muxing multiple signals on a Cat5e/Cat6 cable.

From the limited info that has been provided so far, how should a home be prewired to support this in the two standard configurations:

Rooms with TV and no amplifier
Homerun Cat6 directly to behind the TV. The RS232 can be plugged into legacy TVs (that don't support HDBaseT) or the IR eye can be plugged into the HDBaseT and run to a URC IR basestation for example

Rooms with TV and an amplifier
Homerun Cat6 to the amplifier if it's not located in the main rack and plug that into a HDBase receiver. Run that HDMI to the amp and run the IR to the URC IR basestation for example

That sound right? Or should you homerun a Cat6 to TV and Amp just in case as products get onto the market in a year or so? (Naturally, we'd already be home running numerous other Cat6/RG6/etc... cables) Just trying to stay current...

Until we have TVs that can be fully powered by the 70-100W this can provide, we'll have to support all of the legacy hardware out there.

Thoughts? Looking to start a healthy discussion.

Well to start, HDBaseT 2.0 has twice the hyperbole as 1.0
Lets look at actual facts (as posted by HDBaseT).

This is a spec release NOT a product release;

"With HDBaseT 2.0 now introduced, Risling expects manufacturers to now begin working on chipsets and products that will incorporate its capabilities. There’s no timetable for when the first products will launch with HomePlay, he says."

Mfgr. inside info indicates 2 years to product.

This is designed to be more consumer friendly and remove the "CI" from the equation.

"The new feature set, based on the HDBaseT 5Play capabilities, will “make it simpler and more cost-effective for consumers to turn their entire homes into multimedia entertainment centers,” according to the alliance’s announcement."

There is no indication of HDMI 2.0 support in the release (this spec will be released very soon).

"Additional features to improve performance margin including for 4K video and optimize the existing infrastructure and bandwidth:

Flexible A-Symmetric/Symmetric/Partial Link configurations.

Double throughput (300 Mbps) in upstream sub-link local retransmission."

There is of course the USB support (which is cool) and the ability to (in theory) to treat the system as a network type.
This could be a boon for us, but hold off selling this until actual product is shipping.

Got this note from a manufacturer last week. It appears all components don't have to be 2.0
"Just for everyone's reference, there is no benefit of implementing 2.0 into a receiver. The new spec was made for building HDBASET switches (Like a ethernet switch). The output of our AVR would connect to this switch. There is the benefit of USB, however this is for allowing game controllers (XBOX/PS3) to be used in a remote room if wired on both sides..

Also, more importantly, even though the spec was announced two days ago, actual chipsets will not be available until Q2 or Q3 of 2014.....

Indeed, it's still far away and there are some rumblings about its (in)compatibility with HDMI 2.0.

Some kind of Cat 5/6 scheme will prevail - if not HDbaseT, then AVB.

Hey Julie,

I'm thinking it's possible that some other proven Cat 5/6 scheme could come out on top.

Not to get into a pissing match, but products using existing twisted pair and network infrastructure rely on codecs which means a HD picture that is never as good as what one gets with an actual HDMI cable or HDBaseT solution. It may have other advantages but PQ is not one of them. It's hard to believe that network switches will have greater throughput without fiber or HDMI cables as their backbone? New, better codec may get a picture on the screen but it is not going to be as good as the solution that does not require compansion.

If I were going to wire and fiber and conduit were out of the question that multiple shielded CAT6 would be my suggestion. I'd think about conduit real hard, in any event. Considering how tentative these specifications are who know how many of what time of wires you'll need.

Also keep in mind ... this is not mass-market stuff. We're still looking at a $100+ per node with HDBaseT ... at the very minimum.