Gefen Video Equipment

May 12th, 2008 by Administrator

When it comes to video equipment it is no secret that we love Gefen. Sure, we sell Gefen stuff so we’re biased, but we sell a lot of brands and Gefen is consistently one of our favorites.

Here are 5 reasons we recommend so many Gefen solutions:

1) Scope of Product Line: Gefen is one of the most innovative manufacturers we have ever worked with. When we call to request a new video converter, adapter, extender, switch, splitter, etc. the answer is almost always the same - they are already working on it. If you have a suggestion for Gefen’s product line just give us a call and we will see if it is something that would make sense to mass produce.

2) Quality: Gefen’s products simply work - in the rare instance when there has been a quality issue Gefen swiftly moves to make changes to the hardware and firmware. We had a chance to speak with the founder recently and saw a rare desire to add value in every product Gefen releases.

3) Return Policy: We have a liberal return policy because suppliers like Gefen allow us to. With a better-than-industry 1-year warranty Gefen recently increased the length of the warranty to 2-years - if you buy a Gefen product you can rest assured that you will be taken care of (via Sewell or Gefen directly) for 2 years.

4) Consistency: Gefen products all have a consistent look-and-feel, but this goes way beyond aesthetics. When you buy a Gefen product you know exactly what you’re getting - whether it’s HDMI, DVI, audio, etc., you can be sure that you won’t be out in the cold in 6 months - with Sewell and Gefen you’ll be taken care of.

5) Reasonable Prices: Sure, you can find a company who sells cheaper video equipment - these companies have to save money somewhere, however, and they typically skimp on quality. Just go with Gefen and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing you invested a little bit of money in quality without breaking the bank.

Our Favorites:
Gefen DVI Dual Link Splitter
Gefen DVI Splitter
Gefen FireWire Repeater
Gefen HDMI Splitter

Posted in VGA, Video, Company | Comments Off

Splitternoia and the Gefen EXT-HDMI-142

May 8th, 2008 by g.vandagriff

Aside from the late-night Tokyo drift race scene, few things are both as exciting and intimidating as the kill-or-be-killed world of HDMI splitters. Neophytes to the dangerous discipline of digital displays are often completely paralyzed with fear when confronted with the inescapable choice between passive HDMI splitters and active HDMI splitters. In fact, the confusion surrounding this subject, often referred to as “splitternoia” has been cited by credible sources* as one of the leading causes of bruised technical egos, gang violence and [possibly] cancer. The only known cure to this debilitating condition is a bitter dose of technical education, one that will answer the legendary question of “what is the difference between active HDMI Splitters and passive HDMI splitters?”To answer this question we consulted technical mastermind and minor celebrity Mark Wainwright and cross-referenced his words with obscure passages from the Apocrypha. Now we will share our findings with the rest of the world.First, a thought to keep in mind: Passive HDMI splitters are incredibly cheap compared to active splitters. Anyone with a shred of training in economics will be able to draw some fairly obvious conclusions from this fact alone, but I digress.Passive HDMI splitters are just that: splitters. They literally split the HDMI signal into two halves and send each half to a different display. The result is an abominable image on two separate displays. Think of passive HDMI splitters as being the poor man’s way to accomplish absolutely nothing worthwhile.Active HDMI splitters, like Gefen’s EXT-HDMI-142, are similar to cloning machines. Like a piece of historically dislocated sci fi technology, these miracles of modern imaging hardware will take an existing HDMI signal, create a clone signal, then send the original signal and the cloned signal to separate displays. Result? You’ve got two quality HDMI signals showing on two quality displays.An analogy will help solidify your understanding: Passive HDMI splitters are like attorneys; they take a perfectly good thing (an HDMI signal) and turn it into incomprehensible garbage (two worthless half-signals). Active HDMI splitters are like vikings in that they are totally awesome in every possible way.So now you know the truth. Go forth and cure the plague of splitternoia by preaching the truth to everyone you know.*My cousin Bernard

Posted in HDMI, Video | Comments Off

Mobile Broadband

May 5th, 2008 by Administrator

Broadband is great, right? I use Comcast cable at home and for as much flack as Comcast gets (I have had my own set of customer service issues with them), the cable internet is fast and reliable (in two months we haven’t had any downtime).

So that’s great when I’m at home, but things are different when you’re on the road. I’m noticing a frightening trend - every WiFi hotspot I try to connect to wants me to pay money or join some sort of a service. Not cool…

I finally just sucked it up and got a Sprint EVDO card for my Dell. The card worked pretty well, but dropped out at times. I don’t know if this was Sprint or Dell’s fault (the wireless management tools didn’t seem to like each other).

Recently, though, I “upgraded” (depending on your point of view) to a Macbook Air. I love the laptop for traveling, but getting 3G on it from Verizon or Sprint requires a USB card, meaning I would have to get a new broadband card. I wouldn’t really have minded doing this, but with the speed of innovation it seems like within a year or two I’m going to have to upgrade again to get a 4G card (this may be wishful thinking).

Instead I just got a mobile broadband router (another type is the Kyocera KR2). The cool thing about these routers is that you can just plug your PCMCIA or USB 3G adapter and the router will auto-detect your settings and just give you a WiFi signal. You can also have several people share your connection (or lock them out if your selfish).

The one thing to keep in mind when you travel is that in order to use the router you will need to find an available power outlet for the router. I have had some challenges in the airport, but in general it’s not too hard.

Posted in Networking, PCMCIA | Comments Off

Mac Driver For USB DVI External Video Card Out, and Tested In-House

March 31st, 2008 by cameronp

SW-8769

At long last, Display Link has officially come out with their Mac driver for the Usb External Video Card.

One of the very few drawbacks of owning certain Macs is that it is nearly impossible to add extra monitors. For machines that you can’t open or install new cards in, like the Mac Mini or the iMac, you were pretty much doomed to the prison cell of a few inches. With the advent of the USB to DVI, thousands of users of these machines will be turned loose to be able to use more than one monitor. And since the DVI signal is a DVI-I, you can put a DVI-VGA adapter on it (which comes included) for use with a VGA monitor. If you look at the Mac demographic, it is accepted that many of them are designers, video editors, music producers, etc. These are all fields where having more real estate is key. What if you spent that extra bit of money and got a MacBook Pro for the extra DVI port, but still wanted more monitors? Now you can with the new release of the USB to DVI mac driver.

Display Link had a working version of the Mac driver back in January that they showed us at CES. In the last couple months they’ve worked out the kinks and bugs and have officially released their product which is now fit for mass use. We tested it today in-house on a Macbook Air and it worked beautifully. When you open the system preferences menu to change resolution, a resolution menu conveniently pops up on both screens simultaneously clearing up any confusion of which monitor’s resolution you’re changing. One thing we noticed is that dragging windows around on the extra monitor with the mac driver is slightly choppier than its PC counter-part. Display Link says they are working on it and hope to have updated drivers in the future that will fix it. I’m all for the release of this current version for Mac use now as opposed to waiting longer for them to tweak and improve it.

Another thing we noticed about this driver is that it wouldn’t work with the older USB to DVI version with the old chip set. The easiest way to know if your USB to DVI works with the new Mac driver is by looking at the logo on the unit. If the logo says ‘Sewell’, you can rest assured that it is the newer chip set and so will work with the Mac version. If you bought your unit from us and it is more generic, it’s the older chip set and probably won’t work with this driver (although trying it out won’t cost you anything if you’ve already got the adapter).

Mac OSX BETA drivers (These drivers are still in a beta form and are not guaranteed to work in all cases)

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment �

RIP Phoebus, Welcome KR2

March 21st, 2008 by cameronp

SW-4562 lg We’ve posted several times here on the Sewell Tech Blog about the Top Global Phoebus. This mobile router has been with us for years, allowing hundreds of our customers to access the internet from anywhere and create a mobile internet hotspot. The mobile router allowed you to plug in a PCMCIA card from your cellular provider that received a 3G signal from cell towers. It then translated that signal into an 802.11g signal that you and your posse could use while only paying one data plan fee.

Many people complained about the form factor. It is in the form of a pyramid. According to leading geometrists, the only shape less portable and convenient to carry around would be a cubic rhombus.

SW-8940 The latest in mobile routers comes from Kyrocera. The Kyocera KR2 makes all other mobile routers pale in comparison with some necessary modernized features. Note however that you can only use this router if you are using the EV-DO network.

Kyocera’s KR2 now features the long-awaited ability to use all three common interfaces that receive EV-DO signals: PCMCIA, ExpressCard, and USB. The new router also features the newer 802.11n standard, which uses MIMO technology, allowing for bi-directional up and down streams of data. This essentially makes data transfer max out at twice the speed. 802.11n also allows a much wider distance and increases transfer speeds for areas that are further away from the router.

With a price point lower than the Phoebus, the KR2 is a no brainer (as long as you’re on an EV-DO network).