OTHER TECH

Most new A/V trends are slow out of the gate. It seemed like forever before high-definition TV got off the ground, and audio formats like DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD are still struggling for recognition. By contrast, radical advances in computer technology seem to take the world by storm at least once a year. First there was the Web, which bleary-eyed users accessed via sluggish dial-up modems. Then came broadband, a much-needed boost in connection speed that helped trigger yet another phenomenon: music downloading.

The newest computer craze, Wi-Fi - short for wireless fidelity - delivers broadband Web access without any need to physically connect your computer to a network (click to read "What Is Wi-Fi?" for details). Better yet, for A/V fans, you can now use the same technology to send music and video to far-flung rooms without having to run cables through the walls. That capability puts us on the brink of a new, unwired era in entertainment, one in which A/V gear can be integrated into your home elegantly and almost transparently.

Whole-house audio/video isn't new. For years now it's been possible to hire a custom installer to wire your home with an advanced distribution and control system that lets you access CDs from any room or tune in CNN on DirecTV in the kitchen as you sip your morning coffee. But installations like these remain very expensive. There are a number of low-cost wireless kits that use radio frequencies (RF) to send audio and video between rooms, but their functionality is limited and their signals are prone to interference from cordless phones and some other appliances.

Compared with wired installations, a Wi-Fi-based A/V network can be relatively inexpensive. Running cables in a house that wasn't originally wired for audio, video, and data is time consuming and difficult, and the electronic components required to control A/V gear from remote locations don't come cheap. But you need to add only a few pieces of basic equipment to your computer setup to install a Wi-Fi network.

The easiest way to create a Wi-Fi-based home-entertainment system is to use an existing wireless computer network to send signals to various TVs and audio equipment in your home (click to read "Leveraging Your Network"). But if you don't already have a home network, there are other Wi-Fi-based options to consider, some of which we'll explore here. In one case, you don't even need a computer! The following solutions to the problem of shuttling signals around the house give a preview of where things are going in the rapidly expanding world of wireless home entertainment.