REVIEW: Monoprice HDMI over ethernet wall plate

[ansat]

Ok, so I recieved my HDMI-WP(EXT)-1 from MONOPRICE to fix a cable problem I had...



First thing I noticed was that alot of money that could of gone into the equipment was spent on the packaging. The box is a nice cardboard wrapped in high gloss paper and it is secured with 2 pairs of magnets.



The box contained 2 HDMI converters attached to wall plates, 4 screws that are painted white (slightly whiter then the wall plates) and some documentation.

Things to note are that you need 2 sets of cat 5e or cat 6 in order to make this work and that there is a led light on the unit that glows bright red.

For the installation I used cat 5e since that is what I had laying around and the run I made was only 30 ft and according to the chart I was well within its limits.

CHART: distance in meters
freq cable distance (STP/UTP)
1080p cat 6 32 / 29
1080p cat 5e 25 / 28
1080i cat 6 47 / 52
1080i cat 5e 38 / 45
720p cat 6 47 / 52
720p cat 5e 28 / 45
480p cat 6 70 / 75
480p cat 5e 65 / 70

I didn't have any help so there are no pics of the install. But everything went smoothly with the exception that these will not fit flush into a orange low voltage box. You will need a standard blue outlet boox to make a flush install. Also with the design of the unit you will not be able to use a double gang box without some serious modifications.
You will also need the following tools:
Fish Tape (for old construction), cat 5/6 crimp tool, tape to mark between the 2 runs, Lan tester (dont really need however its nice to have if you dont have one) and a few hand tools.

now for the tests. I only tested using the PS3 (for 1080p) and the digital box for 1080i and believe it or not everything worked as advertised with no problems.


Finished product:
https://images.blu-ray.com/htgallery/19966_full.jpg

My final thoughts:
This HDMI extender for $19.38 at monoprice is a very affordable solution for a clean finish. It functioned just as advertised for what I needed it for and my only complaints would be that they will not fit into low voltage boxes and I would of rather paid a dollar less for bubblewrap or paid for well matched screws and wall plates instead of the fancy box. The total installation time for me was about 4 hours without help ( I could of cut the time in half if I had a extra pair of hands and wasnt worried about making a review)

Ansat