Yeah, we saw plenty of HDMI sockets while cruising through Gefen's booth at CEDIA, but now Xantech is apparently looking to hop in the HDMI accessory biz head first. The company has recently announced that it will soon be delivering a full line of HDMI and HDMI-compatible products, which will include "cables, switchers, splitters, extenders and boosters." More specifically, customers can look forward to HDMI 4x4 ($2,500), 4x1 ($500) and 3x1 ($325) Switchers, HDMI 1x4 / 1x2 splitters, a $250 HDMI Signal Booster, a point-to-point HDMI / CAT 5 extender, and a bevy of cables to boot. Hit the read link for the full rundown.

That wireless USB hub you peeked this morning was just the calm before the storm, as Gefen has now unveiled a smorgasbord of HD converters, extenders, and other accessories that you just can't do without. Up first is the $249 Component + Digital Audio to HDMI Adapter, which pipes that recently one-upped component and Toslink connection into a single HDMI cable. Next, it looks like Gefen is expanding its PVR lineup with an HD iteration that supports HDMI and is capable of recording HDCP-compliant sources in 1080p. Moving on, you'll find a 4x4 HDMI CAT5 Matrix to string your HDMI signals along up to 200-feet using vanilla CAT5 cabling, and the $399 Component Audio Extender enables nearly any audio source to be transferred 330-feet away over Ethernet. Last (but certainly not least), the $699 Wireless HDMI Extender delivers a plug 'n play method of extending HDMI signals up to 33-feet over the air with no loss in quality. Unsurprisingly, Gefen's latest niche convenience products won't enter your AV system without a premium, so be sure and avoid the gallery below if you're already being negatively tempted to pick something up.

Read - Component + Digital Audio to HDMI Adapter
Read - Personal Video Recorders
Read - 4x4 HDMI CAT5 Matrix
Read - Component Audio Extender
Read - Wireless HDMI Extender

In this latest chapter of the format war the BDA is once again patting themselves on the back because according to estimates by Home Media Magazine, the two Pirates movies outsold The Matrix box sets by a margin of over 3 to 1. While both of these titles got a lot of people excited and motivated people to buy, we're not impressed. For starters the box set includes 3 feature films, so 3-1 should be expected. The other important factor is cost, while the Pirates movies sold for $25 each, the box set was closer to $70 (depending on the version). Considering the differences here, we'd say they were pretty even, -- with the slightest edge to Pirates -- but when you consider that one of the Pirates titles was a day-and-date release, this really isn't news at all. What will be interesting is when The Matrix finally gets released on Blu-ray and we get compare title for title after all those new HD DVD players hit the market.

Just in case you didn't already piece it together, many (if not all) of the new HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc titles set for release on May 22nd will feature the latest revisions to AACS. Right, the update hinted at by those forced user updates to the WinDVD and PowerDVD software. Yeah, well no worries... it's cracked. That's right, a week before the disks have even hit the shops, the kids over at Slysoft have already released AnyDVD HD 6.1.5.1 (beta) which kicks AACS MKB v3 swiftly to the curb. Thus you can continue to rip all your newly purchased HD DVD and BD flicks for playback any damn way you like. The update has already been demonstrated to work with an early-shipped release of The Matrix Trilogy on HD DVD and will likely work for Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest when it arrives on Blu-ray. Come on AACS LA, you're gonna have to at least try. Better yet, why not just give up this silly charade.

[Thanks, Garth M.]

One of the reasons why we still love component video is because of the availability of component video matrix switches. Matrix switches are like a Ethernet switch for HDTVs, they allow any source to connect to any HDTV throughout your house. That way you can stack up all your equipment in your closet, and enjoy any one of your sources on any one of your HDTVs. Finally regular consumers can get the same matrix action out of their HDMI gear, with Gefen's new 4x4 HDMI Matrix switch, which routes your video and sound, and can be controlled via IR or a RS-232 connection for your home automation system. As cool as this product is, it isn't for everyone. The switch costs $1,999, and who knows how much those long HDMI cables from the closet will cost you, but if you have four HDTVs, a Series3 TiVo, an Xbox360, an HD DVD and a Blu-ray player, you can probably afford it.

May 22 is right around the corner folks and frankly, we don't feel everyone is ready. That day you are going to have to decide which high-def Matrix film collection you are going to buy. Are you going to go for the 'The Ultimate Matrix Collection' which includes all the films, the IME HD DVD features, tons of extras, and the Animatrix short? Perhaps you don't want all that extra stuff like the Animatrix short and those extra features so you should be considering the 'The Complete Matrix Trilogy' which trims down the from from $119 to a more modest $99. But what if you only want to buy, lets say, the first film from the trilogy - what then? Well, it looks like you might have to find the discs from some third party sources where they are going to split up the collections as it seems Warner doesn't have any plans to release the films individually. The final option is to wait 6 months for the Blu-ray version to be release but why? You could look at this as an opportunity to jump of that Blu-ray bandwagon and onto the HD DVD's so you can watch the Matrix before any of your former Blu-ray buddies.

Blu-ray owners waiting for more Java features and highly interactive releases like the recently announced Matrix compilation on HD DVD could be due for a hardware upgrade this winter. VideoBusiness is reporting that the BDA has mandated all hardware launched after October 31 must support BD-J enabled picture-in-picture video playback, 256MB of persistent memory, and (for players with an internet connection) 1GB of memory for downloads. Currently these features aren't required and picture-in-picture support isn't in the PlayStation 3 or Sony's lower priced BDP-S300 that will debut this summer, ahead of the deadline. BD-J support has been sketchy so far, with many players needing upgrades to run titles like The Descent, which was able to do PiP by including two different versions of the movie on one 50GB disc. High profile DVD producer Van Ling (Star Wars, T2: Special Edition) is working on his first (unspecified) BD-J release, but is worried about supporting so many players with different capabilities. HD DVD mandated PiP and persistent storage support in all players since its initial launch; we'll wait to see if new Blu-ray hardware can implement new features and still continue the downward price trend.

Depending on your perspective, we have good news and we have bad news. The good news for HD DVD is that The Matrix Trilogy will be released on HD DVD May 22nd and that Blu-ray doesn't have a date yet. The bad news for Blu-ray is there is yet another title delayed, for what we would bet our latest payment advice is because of a BJD authoring problem. The Ultimate Matrix Collection ($119) and The Complete Matrix Trilogy ($99) will be on 8 discs and include 35 hours of bonus features and iHD HDi Advanced Navigation HD DVD's In-Movie Experience (IME). This might just be one of the last Warner titles not released as a TotalHD disc and we can see why, they are going to need every layer they can get for all that bonus footage.

[Via AVSForum]