HDMI

How do I get HD from one source to multiple TVs? (Morrison's Mailbag)

CNET reader Will asks:

When considering acquiring a second HDTV, I discovered that my satellite box cannot send such a signal over the house cable system. In fact, the box has only one HDMI port, so a new distribution system is required to get the HD signal throughout the house.

What are the best options for distributing HD signal from a provider's receiver? Should we just rent multiple boxes or buy a new system?

A complex question, but multiple easy answers.… Read more

Get an HDMI cable for $3 (or less)

Buying an Apple TV or Roku box? A Blu-ray player? A $99 Xbox 360? These and other TV-centric devices have one thing in common: they don't come with the HDMI cables necessary for the optimal connection to your TV.

Shoppers often make the mistake of assuming that whatever the local electronics store charges for an HDMI cable is just the price you have to pay. But although retail prices have come down in recent years, they're still way higher than what you can find online.

For example, Best Buy charges $24.99 for a Dynex 6-foot HDMI cable. … Read more

Top tablets with HDMI connections

Editors' note: This post was originally published August 8, 2011, but was updated April 19, 2012, with new products.

The iPad may be the most popular tablet out there, but there are still a few features it's missing. And competitors haven't been shy about pointing them out.

One feature still lacking from Apple's tablet is an integrated HDMI output. Sure, they'll sell you a $40 adapter cable or a $99 Apple TV that can connect to your iPad wirelessly, but there's no direct way to connect your iPad to a TV right out of the box.

Fortunately, there are plenty of non-Apple tablets that deliver an HDMI connection. Having a built-in HDMI output on your tablet makes it easy to share slideshows on a family TV, play videos at a friend's house, or display documents or presentations at company meetings.

With so many tablets on the market striving for an edge over the iPad, HDMI connectivity is a fairly common feature for high-end Android tablets. Still, some tablets pull off this feature better than others. To help you sort out which tablets do the best job of getting your tablet media onto your TV, check out this roundup of tablets with HDMI.… Read more

Two TVs, one room

Flat-screen TVs have gotten cheap enough that it's possible to get two midsize TVs for the price of one bigger TV. A quick search of Amazon found that you could get two 46-inch plasmas for the price of one 52-inch LED LCD. Or, you could add a new, smaller TV to supplement the one you already have for only a few hundred dollars.

Why, you may ask? A better question: How (would you use them), and even more important, what do you need?… Read more

Five things the next-gen MacBook Air needs to compete with ultrabooks

A new generation of slim, lightweight laptops has taken the PC world by storm. These ultrabooks (to use Intel's trademarked marketing term) are exactly what many laptop shoppers have been longing for, a PC version of Apple's MacBook Air that runs Windows.

But despite very strong showings from HP, Dell, Lenovo, and others, there still is not an ultrabook on the market right now that really beats the MacBook Air in a head-to-head shootout. That's not because of price, processing power, or features -- the Air is more expensive, has about the same CPU horsepower, and lacks … Read more

Get an HDMI switch and three cables for $11.99

Problem: you need to connect a TiVo, a Roku box, a game console, and other video goodies to a TV that's short on HDMI ports.

Solution: an HDMI switch box, which turns one HDMI port into many.

Over at Meritline.com, you can get a three-port HDMI switch and three-pack of 6-foot HDMI cables for $11.99 shipped. That's after applying coupon code MLC227VN at checkout.

That code will reportedly expire after 200 uses, after which the price jumps back to its regular $15.99--which is also a mighty fine deal for such a bundle. As of this … Read more

The 404 995: Where the damage is done (podcast)

Leaked from 404 Podcast 995:

Apple Mac OS X 'Mountain Lion' takes more bites out of iOS. Get started with iMessage for OS X. Low Latency No. 10: Good artists copy, great artists steal. Apple PR maintains a blacklist of journalists that it refuses to talk to. Bathroom break video : Live television texting-while-walking fail.

… Read more

Morrison's Mailbag: Why does my TV have a noise reduction setting?

CNET reader "Nindevo" asks:

In regards to your articles about the HDMI cables, I was just wondering why TVs have "noise reduction" settings. I thought digital signals (HDMI) couldn't have noise.

Interesting question.… Read more

Monoprice's ultraslim 60-foot HDMI cable with RedMere (hands-on)

All HDMI cables may be the same in terms of image quality, but that doesn't mean they're physically the same.

In the photo above, the thick cable on the right is Monoprice's current 50-foot cable; the cable on the left is the upcoming Monoprice 60-foot ultraslim cable. The new cable is dramatically thinner than traditional long-run HDMI cables--every editor at CNET who held the two cables was impressed by the difference.

RedMere: Unidirectional, thin, and enables long runs The difference between the two cables is because of the 60-foot cable's built-in RedMere chipset, which draws a small amount of power from the HDMI source (Blu-ray player, cable box) and allows less copper to be used in the cable.… Read more