Gizmodo: Gefen

Gefen USB to DVI Adapter Can Handle Up to 6 Monitors

Sean Fallon — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:35:08 EDT

This is not the first time a USB to DVI adapter had come down the pipeline, but the new Gefen adapter can drive an impressive 6 additional displays at 1600X1200 resolution. It is not great for larger monitors by any means, but at only $129 it could be a relatively inexpensive solution. Gefen also notes that it "uses little computer resources" which means that there is at least a chance that this thing won't be a huge processor suck. Additional images after the break.

[Gefen]

Gefen's HDMI-Over-Coax Means No New Wires for HDTV Everywhere

Charlie White — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:58:16 EST

Gefen says it's figured out exactly how to move HDMI signals over the coaxial cable that already exists in many homes all over the world. The company plans to show the technology at CES next week that it says will ship in April. Gefen has been working on this tech that could make it much easier to move HDTV signals all over your house for a while, in fact, we saw a working demonstration of HDMI over coax at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention last April. But there's a twist that makes it a lot more convenient.

Now the company's added a back channel that lets you transmit infrared signals back to the source, controlling your components over coax, too. Neat. Maybe now that Gefen has teamed up with Pulse~LINK, a company that's pretty good at squeezing HD signals through various cables, this will move beyond vaporware and into the real world. It sure could be useful, sending HDMI signals all over a house that's already wired with coaxial cable. [Gefen Press Release]

Gefen Home Theater Scaler Plus, 1080p Goombas

Mark Wilson — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:26:10 EST

Home Theater Scalers are simultaneously becoming less and more relevant in my eyes: they're more relevant as more people own HDTVs, but less relevant as the HDTV buyers purchase other HD components. Still, the Gefen Home Theater Scaler Plus will be a nice solution for some setups.

The Mac Miniesque Gefen upconverts a small but decent selection sources to 1080p (2 HDMI and 3 analog sources), but what we find most promising is its ability to upconvert game consoles. While there's only so much improvement that upscaling can do, the Gefen Plus only delays the A/V signal by one frame, meaning that it's viable to play SNES' Super Mario World in semi-stunning 1080p. If you're interested, the Gefen Home Theater Scaler Plus runs $499. [product via slashgear]

Fiber Optic USB Hubs Extend Devices 500 Meters

Jason Chen — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 17:20:25 EDT

Wireless USB is all well and good if your house is free of things like walls, but for everyone else, this Gefen Fiber Optic USB Extender manages to boost USB connectivity up to 500 meters. You can use it for any device, such as USB hard drives, burners, keyboards, printers, or humping dogs—fiber optics degrade much slower than standard copper cabling. However, this kind of advanced tech won't be able to be picked up at Fry's on your way home from work—it costs ~~$16,000~~ $1,600. [Gefen via Everything USB]

Gefen Offers Wireless HDMI Extender for Pre-Order

Charlie White — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:04:26 EDT

Before you start smashing holes through drywall and turning your home theater upside down, you might want to take a look at this Gefen wireless HDMI extender, sending 720p or 1080i video up to 33 feet away and perhaps saving your marriage. This box looks a little different from the one we saw at CES last January, and uses a wider frequency band, 3.1 to 4.8GHz compared with that 3.3 to 3.5GHz band we witnessed at CES.

The downside?

You need two boxes to get 'er done, and that receiver looks a bit cumbersome to mount atop a projector. Also, this unit is HDMI v1.28-compliant, not the latest v1.3, and it can't do that coveted 1080p resolution, which Gefen told us it was working on back in January. That capability might take a while longer to develop, because 1080p is one huge bandwidth hog.

We've also seen wireless HDMI transmitting 720p from Amimon and Sanyo, but who will be first to market with wireless HDMI at 1080p?

Meanwhile, this Gefen unit is not actually even available yet—it's a pre-order, and to put your name on the list it'll cost you a cool $600. – Charlie White

Product Page [Gefen]

8-port HDMI Switcher Needs to Wait for More HDMI Devices

Adam Frucci — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 09:45:00 EDT

Does anyone out there really have enough devices to warrant an 8-port HDMI switcher? I mean, you could have a PS3, an Xbox 360 Elite, a HD DVD player and a Blu-ray player, and despite the redundancies and pointlessness in having all of those things you'd still have four empty ports.

But then, I guess this thing isn't really for regular consumer use, seeing it's meant to be mounted in a rack and not sit on top of a receiver. And $900 isn't a very consumer-friendly price for a boring old switcher. But hey, if you're one of the half dozen or so people out there who really need to be able to switch between eight HDMI devices, go nuts. –Adam Frucci

Product Page [Akihabara News]

Gefen's Wireless USB with 100-Foot Range - For Real This Time?

Noah Robischon — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 13:00:52 EST

At last year's CES, Gefen announced a wireless USB hub with 30-foot range. It was pure vapor, like most of the ultra-wideband wireless USB gear we saw. For this year's CES the company is announcing a wireless USB hub with a 100-foot range—along with wireless extenders for component audio, HDMI and VGA. Gefen claims that three of these products are already in production, and I sure hope the HDMI extender is one of them. Here's a rundown:
* The four port USB extender uses Wisair's 3.5GHz ultra-wideband and will have up to 400 Mbps throughput for $249.
* The component audio extender can deliver up to 1080i resolution within 300-feet line of site. It will cost $1,499.
* The wireless HDMI extender uses TZero's ultra-wideband, will have a 30-foot range, and support resolution up to 1080i and 400 Mbps transfer speeds for $499.
* The VGA extender has a 100-foot range and supports 1280x1024 or 780p resolutions, no word on pricing.

Gefen's new wireless extenders will all be available in Q1 2007—we hope. –Noah Robischon

Gefen Announces UWB Products (Again) [Wi-Fi Networking News]

Gefen DVI-3000HD

johnb — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 14:14:13 EDT

Need to transmit USB, HD video, and serial over six miles of fiber optic cable? Sure! We all do! The DVI-3000 HD delivers 1280x1024 pixel video with HDCP compliance and costs $1,999.

While we can't quite figure out why you'd want to do this—maybe wiring up a campus for video?—we'd love to transmit video to Staten Island from our home here in Brooklyn. – John Biggs

Product Page[Gefen]