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CYTEXONE to provide a C4 driver for Just Add Power's HDMI over IP


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Here's a brief explanation of how it works, so you don't have to dig into the 4+ page thread from a few months ago: (reposted from Ed's Engadget post)

The system uses the new JPEG2000 for the CODEC, and we were demonstrating it with games on an Xbox and a PS3 -- there is no detectible lag (tested by some serious gamers).

Here is an overview of the dataflow:

A - At the Transmitter the HDMI source is converted to TCP/IP packets with a realtime JPEG2000 CODEC. We encode the video, 5.1 audio, and PCM audio. We do NOT support the lossless audio for the whole house distribution (i.e. keep the HT room connected directly to the Blu-Ray sources and live with 5.1 in the kitchen and bathroom).

B - Each encoded source is broadcast on the network by an imbedded HTTP server using multicast (i.e. the bandwidth requirements are the same whether you are sending to 2, 20, or 200 screens).

C - The Receivers use realtime JPEG2000 to convert the TCP/IP stream back to HDMI and the integrated scaler downscales/upscales the image to match the native resolution of the attached display as reported in the EDID.

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Sorry, I cant access the video from work and my home internet is out of commission temporarily...

Just to clarify you connect one HDMI source to the input box, connect that box to the managed switch, and output from the switch to the output boxes. Also, you can have multiple input boxes if needed. What exactly controls which inputs go to which outputs, do you have to have software running on a PC/Mac 24-7?

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Control4 connects to the switch via RS232 and tells the switch how to route the video depending on what input you select in what output zone (room).

Also, I saw that the device is mentioned in today's Engadget podcast, about an hour and 13 minutes into it. I haven't listened yet, should be interesting.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/09/15/engadget-hd-podcast-155-09-15-2009/

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Got it, thanks.

There are lots of interesting applications for this... for IP enabled TVs eventually I could see something like this functionality built into the TV itself, so you would just need one ethernet cable running to the TV to handle video, audio, control, and network connectivity... How awesome would that be!

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Got it, thanks.

There are lots of interesting applications for this... for IP enabled TVs eventually I could see something like this functionality built into the TV itself, so you would just need one ethernet cable running to the TV to handle video, audio, control, and network connectivity... How awesome would that be!

It would be awesome but I think that network and A/V & control on a single cat cable might be difficult unless the pair use does not conflict.

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Got it' date=' thanks.

There are lots of interesting applications for this... for IP enabled TVs eventually I could see something like this functionality built into the TV itself, so you would just need one ethernet cable running to the TV to handle video, audio, control, and network connectivity... How awesome would that be![/quote']

It would be awesome but I think that network and A/V & control on a single cat cable might be difficult unless the pair use does not conflict.

Keep in mind that the HDMI over IP solution uses 100BT Ethernet, so we are only using 2 pairs (Orange/OW and Green/GW). That does leave 4 conductors in the CAT5/6/7 cable "available". Of course this is not recommended by IEEE and the Ethernet standard, but I have done several times over the years for a variety of reasons. 100BT Ethernet is very forgiving.

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Got it' date=' thanks.

There are lots of interesting applications for this... for IP enabled TVs eventually I could see something like this functionality built into the TV itself, so you would just need one ethernet cable running to the TV to handle video, audio, control, and network connectivity... How awesome would that be![/quote']

It would be awesome but I think that network and A/V & control on a single cat cable might be difficult unless the pair use does not conflict.

Keep in mind that the HDMI over IP solution uses 100BT Ethernet, so we are only using 2 pairs (Orange/OW and Green/GW). That does leave 4 conductors in the CAT5/6/7 cable "available". Of course this is not recommended by IEEE and the Ethernet standard, but I have done several times over the years for a variety of reasons. 100BT Ethernet is very forgiving.

Interesting....:D

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We have the pieces here in the office. Initial test are positive, I mean, it's freakin' HDMI over IP! There is definately some noise in the darkest grays and the video/audio is a bit delayed from the source (obvi). This is a very promising solution and I hope to have some more updates in the very near future.

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We have the pieces here in the office. Initial test are positive, I mean, it's freakin' HDMI over IP! There is definately some noise in the darkest grays and the video/audio is a bit delayed from the source (obvi). This is a very promising solution and I hope to have some more updates in the very near future.

Hey Andrew, glad to hear you got the devices running. It would be interesting if you could put a tangible measurement on the delay you mentioned. We have had some serious gamers put in overtime testing HDMI over IP with Xbox and PS3 games, and they all agreed that the delay was not noticeable and did not impact game play. While it is impossible to this without some delay (that's the nature of a CODEC), we contend it is totally acceptable.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Is the driver written for a specific router?

The driver is for a switch not a router. The driver would need to be written for a specific switch since each brand of switch would require different configuration commands to make it work.

So is the driver being written for a specific switch? I would think it would have a default working code. This would be nice to just be able to pick up the correct "switch" and have my dealer simply customize the connections.

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Is the driver written for a specific router?

The driver is for a switch not a router. The driver would need to be written for a specific switch since each brand of switch would require different configuration commands to make it work.

So is the driver being written for a specific switch? I would think it would have a default working code. This would be nice to just be able to pick up the correct "switch" and have my dealer simply customize the connections.

Right now the driver is being developed for the Cisco Catalyst line, we are looking into other models as well like the Dell PowerConnect and HP Procurve.

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The driver is for a switch not a router. The driver would need to be written for a specific switch since each brand of switch would require different configuration commands to make it work.

So is the driver being written for a specific switch? I would think it would have a default working code. This would be nice to just be able to pick up the correct "switch" and have my dealer simply customize the connections.

Right now the driver is being developed for the Cisco Catalyst line' date=' we are looking into other models as well like the Dell PowerConnect and HP Procurve.[/quote']

Is it known that the commands are shared across the board for this specific line of switches? Basically I'd like to go ahead and pick some of this up for my installation, but I'm concerned that the driver won't work at all with the exact model I decide to get.

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So is the driver being written for a specific switch? I would think it would have a default working code. This would be nice to just be able to pick up the correct "switch" and have my dealer simply customize the connections.

Right now the driver is being developed for the Cisco Catalyst line' date=' we are looking into other models as well like the Dell PowerConnect and HP Procurve.[/quote']

Is it known that the commands are shared across the board for this specific line of switches? Basically I'd like to go ahead and pick some of this up for my installation, but I'm concerned that the driver won't work at all with the exact model I decide to get.

Which is why we're looking into it and can only recommend switches that we know we've tested the driver against - more specifically the 2900 series right now. Also, at this point, I'd recommend the switch for JAP to be dedicated to that and not shared with the other network traffic (control4, computers, network cameras, etc). So let's just wait until the driver is officially out and we'll let you know what switches it will work with.

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The JAR file is the "backup" of the switch configuration that is created by the Cisco Network Assitant program. Theoretically it can be used to quickly configure another 2960 to the same settings. The TXT file has all the necessary commands to manually configure the switch to achieve the same results.

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I see. I am a Cisco command line guy so I didn't recognize the file backuped by the network assistant.

Ed, this is some fine work. I have grown to like this solution. I admit, I was a bit skeptical at first. Keep up the great work.

When will we have the Gig Ethernet version of this product? More bandwidth = less need for compression.

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We have the first ever Just Add Power Control4 driver available for download at C4Central.com.

The direct link is here.

Remember, you read it and got it first at C4Central!

Well technically speaking we had it too but wanted to test it before posting. And if "read it" first means about the driver i guess thats true, but "read it" about the product that may be a bit inaccurate considering Andrew @ CytexOne wrote an article for CE Pro about it at Cedia. Here is a link

Like I've posted before we're all about your site, including promoting it but the guerrilla marketing methods are a bit lame.

So everyone is aware we are working on an SNMP driver that will control any type of switch. Also the driver will not fail when the switch is rebooted. The driver posted is "ok" as an alpha driver BUT it is not something that could go into a production system, unless the client is ok with Downtime.

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We have the first ever Just Add Power Control4 driver available for download at C4Central.com.

The direct link is here.

Remember' date=' you read it and got it first at C4Central![/quote']

Well technically speaking we had it too but wanted to test it before posting. And if "read it" first means about the driver i guess thats true, but "read it" about the product that may be a bit inaccurate considering Andrew @ CytexOne wrote an article for CE Pro about it at Cedia. Here is a link

Like I've posted before we're all about your site, including promoting it but the guerrilla marketing methods are a bit lame.

So everyone is aware we are working on an SNMP driver that will control any type of switch. Also the driver will not fail when the switch is rebooted. The driver posted is "ok" as an alpha driver BUT it is not something that could go into a production system, unless the client is ok with Downtime.

Dan - I certainly don't mean to offend you with my post. I don't want to offend anybody.

I will update the post with a link to your post (here), and share your thoughts. I know that we are all very excited to see your driver. When I said you "read it" I wasn't talking about the product, but rather the release of the driver. I certainly don't want to step on any toes here, feel free to shoot me an email and we can have a private discussion about it.

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Hey it's cool... Like I said would love to work together as it will benefit the community tremendously...

E-Tones of Messages are always interpreted wrong... I"ll shoot you an email so we can figure out how to take it to the next level :)

Dan

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