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One of the fastest changing sectors of the electronics industry for the past ten years has been the evolution of wireless technology. From analog to digital 3.5G mobile networks to wireless networking and the proliferation of Bluetooth, I have been spoiled by the pace of technological advances. Home theater has not been standing still either, with HDTV becoming mainstream and at price points ever lower and more accessible. IOGear's Wireless USB Audio Video Kit attempts to answer the question perhaps few were asking: can an HD AV system be freed from the shackles of cables and eliminate more cable clutter? Follow me on a tour as I get geeky.
Don't Miss...
Display Adapters IOGear Wireless USB Video Audio Kit Review
- High resolution support for wireless multimedia viewing
- Potentially invaluable gadget for those needing wireless video
- Multi-display solution for PCs with little/no expansion capability
- Works as advertised, robust in hostile environments
- A lot of pieces to connect, and cables everywhere
- Windows only
- No DVI or HDMI output
- No 5.1 audio support
- Relies on often-shared USB bandwidth
- Somewhat limited range
- Operation not always glitch-free
First Impressions
The IOGear Wireless AV Kit comes packed attractively in bright green. Unboxing the kit feels like unstuffing a stocking at Christmas - there are just SO many pieces and adapters and cables to use and lose. Fortunately, many of the supplied adapters and cables are easily available in any decent consumer electronics store, so your attention quickly turns from the quantity of packaged goodies to simply, "How the heck do I move on from here?" The main components, ignoring all the adapters and cables for a moment, are three little boxes which serve to provide wireless access to video and stereo audio streamed in real-time from your PC - on your TV. This might be most useful for those with lots of multimedia content on their PC, or PC laptop, who wishes that there was an easy way to enjoy all of that content, without the hassle and restrictions of cable extensions or having a dedicated PC in the living room. Of course, one could just get a standalone PC to connect permanently to the TV/audio system, but then it may not be the one that is regularly used, or the PC on which the content is stored. Suffice to say there are many other ways to deal with this content delivery issue, but IOGear's solution promises to be an integrated, high-bandwidth method of getting video and audio into your living or family room - wirelessly. Some applications may involve gaming, watching downloaded or streaming videos on the large screen, or even full-blown multimedia presentations in a theatre or boardroom setting. Whatever the application, IOGear's Wireless AV Kit lacks not for new technology, as it uses a Certified Wireless USB chipset from RealTek and also USB video extension technology from DisplayLink. Video is mirrored or extended beyond a single display and channeled out the USB port, and then, using the set of aforementioned adapters, hits the airwaves utilizing the very latest Ultra-wideband wireless radio platform for high robustness in the presence of other wireless signals (such as 802.11), and high bandwidth. Cable Clutter
Let me answer that for you - it's fairly simple if you're not intimidated by cables, drivers and adapters.
Now, do you see what I mean?
The Wireless USB DWA Host Adapter
Remote wireless video adapterNext, with the wireless video receiver in-hand, you locate the VGA port on the back of your display which can be either an LCD monitor, HDTV flat panel (plasma, LCD or DLP), or projector. Wait, don't have a VGA port? No problem as long as you have a DVI port instead. In this case, you would connect the DVI-A to VGA adapter first to the display, then connect the wireless video receiver via the supplied VGA male-male cable. However, it seems to be that most HDTVs these days lack a VGA or DVI port, substituting HDMI. This is fine...if you make another trip out to your local electronics retailer to pick up a DVI to HDMI adapter cable. Then, after returning back home, you can hook your video receiver via VGA cable to the VGA-DVI adapter and finally to the DVI-to-HDMI adapter and finally to your TV. Next, locate the power adapter that fits the video receiver, plug it in and you're half done. Whew. Told you, I didn't say it would be easy.
Pairing requires you connect the USB cable between the adapters and the PC.
Remote wireless audio adapterNow for the audio part. The audio receiver is a free standing box with curved sides that can be located both close to your audio system and ideally within line of sight to your PC. Using the stereo miniplug to RCA adapter, you are likely to be able to locate a spare input on your amplifier or home theater receiver. After you locate the second power supply (which does not fit the video receiver and has a different plug) and plug it in, you are nearly ready to go. Straight out of the box, you will likely find that your wireless video adapters will have located each other and made some image available on your TV or projector, if you have set up everything correctly. In my case, the units came from the factory pre-paired, so all I had to do was select the "mirroring" option and off I went. Lastly, your enthusiasm may be tempered slightly by the realization that audio doesn't work out of the box. I am not sure why, but IOGear makes you go through the simple process of pairing the video and audio receivers by plugging a USB to mini USB cable into the PC and the audio receiver. One more trip to the TV to disconnect the audio box, bring it back to the TV, pair it, and set it back and I was off! Of course, this annoyance could have been eliminated by either us reading the entire setup procedure properly, or by IOGear taking the trouble to pre-pair the audio and video receivers.
Once you've done all of this, you can bring up the Wireless USB Manager, which should you signal strength, and that you have two devices paired and working correctly.
The IOGear Wireless AV Kit implements a very similar overall solution to the numerous USB video solutions that have been in the market for quite some time. These USB video products are in use mainly for multiple display settings, digital signage, and the like. The trick here is the wireless implementation using a Certified Wireless USB platform, and also the audio, which to keep video and audio in perfect sync, must not be a trivial technical hurdle. In the IOGear Wireless USB Video Audio Kit, you get 720p or 1600 x 1200 pixel video streaming capability, including full stereo audio streaming within a claimed 30 feet line-of-sight range. Given that wired DisplayLink video solutions exist for under $100, and that the street price of the IOGear Wireless USB Video Kit (the version without audio receiver) has fallen below $150 USD, the pricing seems to be in line with expectations and no demerits are warranted. In fact, given all the tech (and all the extra adapters and cables), IOGear can't be making huge money on sales of this product.
The IOGear Wireless AV Kit comes packed attractively in bright green. Unboxing the kit feels like unstuffing a stocking at Christmas - there are just SO many pieces and adapters and cables to use and lose. Fortunately, many of the supplied adapters and cables are easily available in any decent consumer electronics store, so your attention quickly turns from the quantity of packaged goodies to simply, "How the heck do I move on from here?" The main components, ignoring all the adapters and cables for a moment, are three little boxes which serve to provide wireless access to video and stereo audio streamed in real-time from your PC - on your TV. This might be most useful for those with lots of multimedia content on their PC, or PC laptop, who wishes that there was an easy way to enjoy all of that content, without the hassle and restrictions of cable extensions or having a dedicated PC in the living room. Of course, one could just get a standalone PC to connect permanently to the TV/audio system, but then it may not be the one that is regularly used, or the PC on which the content is stored. Suffice to say there are many other ways to deal with this content delivery issue, but IOGear's solution promises to be an integrated, high-bandwidth method of getting video and audio into your living or family room - wirelessly. Some applications may involve gaming, watching downloaded or streaming videos on the large screen, or even full-blown multimedia presentations in a theatre or boardroom setting. Whatever the application, IOGear's Wireless AV Kit lacks not for new technology, as it uses a Certified Wireless USB chipset from RealTek and also USB video extension technology from DisplayLink. Video is mirrored or extended beyond a single display and channeled out the USB port, and then, using the set of aforementioned adapters, hits the airwaves utilizing the very latest Ultra-wideband wireless radio platform for high robustness in the presence of other wireless signals (such as 802.11), and high bandwidth. Cable Clutter
Let me answer that for you - it's fairly simple if you're not intimidated by cables, drivers and adapters.
Now, do you see what I mean?
The Wireless USB DWA Host Adapter
Remote wireless video adapterNext, with the wireless video receiver in-hand, you locate the VGA port on the back of your display which can be either an LCD monitor, HDTV flat panel (plasma, LCD or DLP), or projector. Wait, don't have a VGA port? No problem as long as you have a DVI port instead. In this case, you would connect the DVI-A to VGA adapter first to the display, then connect the wireless video receiver via the supplied VGA male-male cable. However, it seems to be that most HDTVs these days lack a VGA or DVI port, substituting HDMI. This is fine...if you make another trip out to your local electronics retailer to pick up a DVI to HDMI adapter cable. Then, after returning back home, you can hook your video receiver via VGA cable to the VGA-DVI adapter and finally to the DVI-to-HDMI adapter and finally to your TV. Next, locate the power adapter that fits the video receiver, plug it in and you're half done. Whew. Told you, I didn't say it would be easy.
Pairing requires you connect the USB cable between the adapters and the PC.
Remote wireless audio adapterNow for the audio part. The audio receiver is a free standing box with curved sides that can be located both close to your audio system and ideally within line of sight to your PC. Using the stereo miniplug to RCA adapter, you are likely to be able to locate a spare input on your amplifier or home theater receiver. After you locate the second power supply (which does not fit the video receiver and has a different plug) and plug it in, you are nearly ready to go. Straight out of the box, you will likely find that your wireless video adapters will have located each other and made some image available on your TV or projector, if you have set up everything correctly. In my case, the units came from the factory pre-paired, so all I had to do was select the "mirroring" option and off I went. Lastly, your enthusiasm may be tempered slightly by the realization that audio doesn't work out of the box. I am not sure why, but IOGear makes you go through the simple process of pairing the video and audio receivers by plugging a USB to mini USB cable into the PC and the audio receiver. One more trip to the TV to disconnect the audio box, bring it back to the TV, pair it, and set it back and I was off! Of course, this annoyance could have been eliminated by either us reading the entire setup procedure properly, or by IOGear taking the trouble to pre-pair the audio and video receivers.
Once you've done all of this, you can bring up the Wireless USB Manager, which should you signal strength, and that you have two devices paired and working correctly.
The IOGear Wireless AV Kit implements a very similar overall solution to the numerous USB video solutions that have been in the market for quite some time. These USB video products are in use mainly for multiple display settings, digital signage, and the like. The trick here is the wireless implementation using a Certified Wireless USB platform, and also the audio, which to keep video and audio in perfect sync, must not be a trivial technical hurdle. In the IOGear Wireless USB Video Audio Kit, you get 720p or 1600 x 1200 pixel video streaming capability, including full stereo audio streaming within a claimed 30 feet line-of-sight range. Given that wired DisplayLink video solutions exist for under $100, and that the street price of the IOGear Wireless USB Video Kit (the version without audio receiver) has fallen below $150 USD, the pricing seems to be in line with expectations and no demerits are warranted. In fact, given all the tech (and all the extra adapters and cables), IOGear can't be making huge money on sales of this product.
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