Belkin FlyWire Wireless 1080p HDMI

The Belkin FlyWire system announced at CES 2008 will help solve one of the most difficult challenges in setting up a front projection home theater system.

Typically, home theater components like the receiver, cable box, and DVD player are located in a cabinet or rack in the front or side of your media room. The problem has been to run an HDMI cable from the equipment rack up and over to the ceiling-mounted projector. That usually means lots of work fishing the cables through walls or an ugly, black cable snake tacked to the wall.

It looks like the Belkin FlyWire system will help simplify getting the video signal over to your projector. It is relatively small, only 4 inches square by 1 inch thick, so it will fit discreetly in the space above a ceiling-mounted projector. You will, however, need to plug the FlyWire receiver into AC power, perhaps using the same ceiling receptacle that your projector is plugged into.

The Belkin Flywire transmitter includes a six-input, remote controlled HDMI switcher. Belkin says that the FlyWire system can transmit a 1080p signal up to 100 feet. Available sometime in the summer of 2008 for between $499 and $599.