I'm looking for some simple HDMI to HDMI wireless transmitters. Basically, just like a normal male-to-male HDMI cable, but without the cable part. Something that would look similar to two USB thumbdrives, but for HDMI ports and transmitting both Audio and Video at a reasonable quality ("Reasonable" as in YouTube videos and Netflix website streaming quality).

Looking at the prices of these online, they are absurdly expensive. $100 for a wireless cable?

My guess is these are overpriced not because of the construction costs, but because that's what the market will bear.

If you go to someplace like Walmart or BestBuy, you can find normal HDMI cables for $50 to $100, being sold as 'gold plated' and 'magnetically sealed' because people think it actually helps (but it doesn't). You can find the same HDMI cables for $12 on Amazon.

So my question is, where can you buy non-expensive wireless HDMI 'cables'? Am I out of luck and do the cables really cost $120 to manufacture and sell, or is 90% of that just profit margin bloat and I can find more reasonable prices elsewhere?

Considering that the better models of wireless HDMI still cost in the $500-1000 range, $100 sounds pretty darn reasonable.

Considering that HDMI video at 1080p needs roughly the same amount of bandwidth as is provided by wifi-N, I wouldn't expect it to be a whole lot cheaper than a wifi-N bridge setup...

I was happy to find out that AirPlay Mirroring will be coming to OS X with the Mountain Lion update this summer. A little later than I was hoping for, but better late than never.

Well, all my machines are running Windows 7. My intent was to have a HDMI switching box to switch between output from two laptops and a desktop in the living room, to the TV on the other side of the room.

Desktop -> cable -> Switching box
Laptop A -> wireless cable -> Switching box
Laptop B -> wireless cable -> Switching box.
Switching box -> 40" cable -> TV

Considering that the better models of wireless HDMI still cost in the $500-1000 range, $100 sounds pretty darn reasonable.

Wow, definitely more expensive than I thought. I just did a few Amazon/NewEgg/Google searches, and $120-200 was the price range that kept popping up, with the few odd $350s, but these were more like set-top boxes rather than wireless cables. I assumed if I can digitally stream Netflix to a laptop over WiFi, I could stream it from the Laptop to the TV over WiFi.

At that price, I'd rather just stick with a cable. I'm only going 40 feet or so, and was just hoping to have a solution that wouldn't require me re-running wires (since I'll be running it along ceiling to hide it) if equipment moved around too frequently, as well as from tying down the laptops to certain locations were the cables can reach to.

I'm only going 40 feet or so

Then you are really out of luck, because the majority of cheap wireless HDMI options have a maximum range of 30ft.

What about something like these:
http://www.amazon.co...29435148&sr=8-3
http://www.amazon.co...29435148&sr=8-4

Ignoring the whole "premium! gold! speed! magic! warp speed!" buzzwords, it's a 50ft cable, and claims to be able to do 1080p. Does it have some drawback that makes it un-usable for my purposes?

Although, that warning against 'hotplug connections' (the first link) sounds like they are trying to cover their butts from some kind of manufacturing defect.

No, those are fine. It's only wireless that has severe distance limitation.

no WiDi support from your laptops?

What about something like these:
http://www.amazon.co...29435148&sr=8-3
http://www.amazon.co...29435148&sr=8-4

Ignoring the whole "premium! gold! speed! magic! warp speed!" buzzwords, it's a 50ft cable, and claims to be able to do 1080p. Does it have some drawback that makes it un-usable for my purposes?

Although, that warning against 'hotplug connections' (the first link) sounds like they are trying to cover their butts from some kind of manufacturing defect.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57372595-221/monoprices-ultraslim-60-foot-hdmi-cable-with-redmere-hands-on/

Pay special attention to the article linked in that at the top:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20056502-1/why-all-hdmi-cables-are-the-same/

[quote="davepermen"]

no WiDi support from your laptops?[/quote]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]

Never heard of that acronym until now; quick check of the laptops and google says 'no'. They are modern laptops (both bought within the past 18 months, both are Win7 x64, about 17" screens), but cheaper models. They function fine for how they are used (web browsing, MS Word and Excel, and Netflix), but aren't cutting edge, so I doubt they'd have bonus goodies built in.[/font]

No, those are fine. It's only wireless that has severe distance limitation.

Ah, okay. I misread your previous statement as "the majority of cheap ... HDMI options have a maximum range of 30ft", missing the 'wireless' part.
Thanks for the info!

I'm only going about 20ft wirelessly as the byte flies. The 40ft-50ft estimate is for running an actual cable up the wall, across the ceiling, and back down the wall to the TV.

I would just go with one of those Roku things, or a similar set-top-box, except I occasionally need to project Powerpoint slides (in unpredictable order, switching from powerpoint file to powerpoint file on the fly) on the TV as well.

It seems like the best option for me is a HDMI switch box, a few short HDMI cables, and one long (40ft-50ft) HDMI cable from the switch box to the TV. Cheaper, garunteed to work, and more flexible than the other solutions I've been looking at. I'll give wireless HDMI cables another two or three years to lower in price. $15 for a 50ft cable, or $120+ for a wireless 30ft-range cable. The geek in me loves the wireless idea, but logic tells me the extra cost doesn't bring enough value to make it worthwhile.