HydraConnect is adding compatibility with more home-control systems and planning to launch additional HDMI matrix processors later in the year.
HydraConnect’s $7,999 HSS-3 combines an 8×8 HDMI matrix processor and an 8×16 audio-distribution processor.
The company, which is a supplier of HDMI matrix processors for multi-room-A/V installations, currently has two processors offer dynamic extended display identification data (EDID) transfer over HDMI to optimize video and sound transmission in custom installations with multiple centralized video sources and multiple displays, all with a mix of capabilities. That could include installs with a mix of centralized 2D and 3D sources, a mix of 2D and 3D displays, a mix of 1080p and 720p displays, and the use of A/V receivers in some rooms and built-in TV speakers in other rooms.
HDMI matrix processors are designed to overcome an inherent HDMI limitation in which an HDMI video source talks to only one HDMI display at a time, said president David Schanin.
The company’s two processors, based on the Unix OS, are the $5,999-suggested HSS-2 and $7,999 HSS-3. Both are 8×8 HDMI matrix processors combined with a separate 8×16 audio-distribution processor in the same chassis. The HSS-3 adds HDBaseT transmitters on all HDMI outputs to send HDMI video and multichannel audio over less-expensive CAT-5e or CAT-6 cable. The HSS-3 has been available for three months. The HSS-2 has been available for a year.
The 3U-size products include HDMI CEC control of connected TVs, A/V receivers, and Blu-ray players in a distributed-A/V system.
To these processors, HydraConnect just added the ability to integrate with Elan home-control systems, and the company plans to offer compatibility with Savant home-control systems in a couple weeks. The processors can also be integrated with Control4, Creston, RTI and iRule home-control systems.
Later this year, the three-year-old company plans to expand its selection of HDMI matrix processors and, at the CEDIA Expo, will show multiple new models, said Schanin. One priority will be launching larger matrixes, but adding 4K by 2K compatibility “is not on the short list” of new-product capabilities because of the lack of sources and displays, he said.
The company, which has “several hundred” installer customers, positions its processors as offering a lower-cost alternative to competing solutions, and it claimed its dynamic-EDID solution works better than competing matrixes that use other methods of resolving conflicts between source and display capabilities.
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