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The HDTV and Home Theater Podcast



February 5, 2008 - Podcast #247
All the HDTV and Home Theater news and information you need, without all the reading.


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Recently Australia celebrated Australia Day (January 26th) and Paul of Melbourne Australia asked us to do something nice for our Australian listeners. We decided that we would educate the rest of our listeners on what Australia day is. So from Wikipedia:
 
Australia Day, celebrated annually on 26 January, is the official national day of Australia, commemorating the establishment of the first European settlement on the continent of Australia. The date is that of the foundation of a British penal colony at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson, New South Wales, by Captain Arthur Phillip, who was to become the first Governor. Australia Day is an official public holiday in all states and territories of Australia, and has also been known as Anniversary Day, Foundation Day and Invasion Day.

On Australia Day each year, the Prime Minister announces the winner of the Australian of the Year award, presented to an Australian citizen who has shown a "significant contribution to the Australian community and nation", and is an "inspirational role model for the Australian community". Subcategories of the award include "Young" and "Senior Australian of the Year", and an award for the "Australian Local Hero".

Records of the celebration of Australia Day date back to 1808, and in 1818, Governor Lachlan Macquarie held the first official celebration of Australia Day. In 2004, an estimated 7.5 million people attended Australia Day celebrations and functions across the country.
 

Today's Show:
We go over an article published at ElectronicHouse.com entitled How Much Will my Home Theater Cost? It describes what you can expect to get for $5K, $10K, $20K, $50K and $100k. We give your our take on the article. This is an audio feature but you can follow along with the link to the original article.
 
We also review the Monoprice HS-102 1X2 HDMI Distribution Amplifier. 
 
Monoprice HS-102 1X2 HDMI Distribution Amplifier

Every once in a while we'll receive an email asking us how to send one HDMI signal to multiple TVs. In most cases sending a single signal to multiple sources is done for testing or in a big chain store where they want the same thing displayed throughout the floor. Regardless of the reason the we got hold of the Monoprice HS-102 1X2 HDMI Distribution Amplifier and put it through its paces.

Connecting the device was simple. Make sure all the source equipment, TVs, and the HS-102 are off, then power on the HS-102 and then your equipment. That's it! You now have one source feeding two TVs. You can even cascade multiple amplifiers. The device supports all resolutions up to 1080p.

We did have an issue when trying to use the device in between the source and our Yamaha receiver. We could get audio but no picture on the screen. When we moved the device between the Yamaha receiver and the TV we could get picture but no audio. That was to be expected as the Yamaha does not pass the audio through to the TV. For proper performance you should use the device directly between the source equipment and the TVs.

The HS-102 is available at Monoprice.com for $71.50 and works as advertised! They also have 1X4 and 1X8 splitters as well.







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