Hall Research Designs Fiber-Optic Extender for HDMI, VGA, Audio, and RS232

The Hall Research fiber-optic extender, model HR-733, extends uncompressed HDMI, or VGA video with audio and bi-directional RS-232 to over 3,000' using just one multi-mode fiber optic cable.

The HR-733 provides three AV inputs: two HDMI (or DVI) and one VGA (or YPbPr) with corresponding audio via 3.5mm L/R stereo or S/PDIF digital. The VGA video input is converted to HDMI and automatically scaled to the native resolution of the remote display. The receiver simply connects to the display using an HDMI cable. The unit is fully HDCP compliant and supports EDID pass-through from the remote display to the selected source. Virtually all PC and HDTV resolutions are supported, the company says.

The HR-733 also extends a bi-directional data channel (CEC, or RS-232 Serial) along with the video and audio. The RS-232 port can also be used to select inputs by means of special command prefix.

A user-friendly front panel with alphanumeric LCD is used for easy setup and control of the system. Advanced features include: automatic scaling of the analog video input to match the native resolution of the remote display, diagnostic messages on the front panel LCD (e.g. RS-232 strings sent or received), audio delay of the analog input to correct lip-sync, support for CEC data channel of HDMI (choice of RS-232 or CEC extension), and 3D deep-color HDMI 1.4 support.