In previous posts, we discussed our HDM-GA1 and the three awards it won during CEDIA 2015 in Dallas. Awards are great but if our customers do not understand WHY this product is winning awards, then Metra Home is not educating our customers. Education is key to staying on top of the CI game and here at Metra Home we want to be the go-to resource for CI questions.

We made our name in the early days of HDMI® by providing the first “Made in America” long distance HDMI cable solution, and we have continued to develop and refine these capability with our latest (and still) “Made in America” extender the HDM-GA1.

4K and HDR are real, products will be shipping this Christmas and in the hands of your clients by the first of the year. How will this affect you and more importantly how do you plan your installs to accommodate this expanded bandwidth requirement?

Well… if your jobs are based around category cable extenders or current Redmere enabled cables, you will be in a world of hurt as neither of these technologies truly support 4K/60 4:4:4 or HDR content. If instead you use the older style passive HDMI cables (up to 15 meters in length) you can take your jobs forward and include ANY capability that HDMI 2.0A by using our HDM-GA1.

The HDM-GA1 allows the installer to utilize existing in-wall passive HDMI cables up to 15 meters in length to upgrade and support the full 4K/60, 4:4:4, HDR signal soon to be available in many video products. We know that there are a lot of systems already installed in the real world that have quality passive HDMI cables in them and we also know that as an integrator you must build into the job the best possible avenue for future technology expansion. Again the HDM-GA1 is the solution, why beat your head against the wall with worry about will a given format support what is coming when we already have the answer.

Here is what the HDM-GA1 will do for you.

1. It will take an existing passive HDMI cable up to 15 meters in length and allow it to support every single option that HDMI 2.0A can provide. That means 4/60, 4:4:4 Color, 3D, all available Multi-Channel Audio Codecs and (most importantly) High Dynamic Resolution [HDR].
2. When (not if) technology exceeds the HDMI 2.0A bandwidth all that you will need to do is replace the HDM-GA1 with the newer, higher bandwidth model.
3. My favorite, “ESD” damage, if you have an active that becomes damaged by “ESD” (electro static discharge) you can just write it off, there is no way to repair this damage and you must replace the cable. However if you are using a passive cable with our HDM-GA1, when this type of damage occurs you need only replace the HDM-GA1 and leave the cable alone.

An easy 4K/HDR upgrade solution. It. Just. Works.