The ZvBox 150 supports the distribution of Internet and Local HD programming.
September 28, 2009

If you have digital cable TV service for your entertainment center, you are likely aware you can distribute analog cable TV to other TVs in your home simply by connecting a coaxial cable from your room cable outlet to your TV. Now you can also distribute 720p HD to those other rooms with the ZvBox 150 from ZeeVee.

With the ZvBox 150 you can just as easily distribute multiple HD entertainment sources (e.g. Windows Media Center computer, DVD player, DVR, or any other device with an HD video output) from your main entertainment center to the other rooms in your home with a digital TV. If those TVs receive analog cable TV now, you can insert your HDTV channel onto an unused channel in the cable lineup. The ZvBox 150 has a built-in spectrum analyzer which scans the cable input to find empty channels.

If you're a satellite TV customer you can distribute the video component output from your satellite receiver to other rooms. Add a 3x1 component video switcher and you can include a Blu-Ray DVD output and a gaming box (or other device) component video output to the mix by switching the desired input to the ZvBox 150. Digital audio (optical or coaxial) can also be distrbuted over your RG5/RG6 coaxial network, and is switched in conjunction with the video component inputs. With the right universal remote or home automation system all the switching involved can be programmed to simplify using multiple sources with a single ZvBox 150. If you want to flexibility to be watching different HD sources at the same time in different rooms you can add a second ZvBox 150. For HDTV and HD DVD outputs only this would eliminate the need for the component video switcher mentioned above, but significantly increases the total up front cost.

The ZVBox 150 also supports distributing the VGA output from a PC over the same RG5/RG6 cables with resolution up to 1680x1050. The PC can be used to initiate the switch from HD source to VGA via a USB connection to the ZvBox 150, or a universal remote can also initiate the switch by sending an IR command. ZeeVee also sells the wireless ZvRemote and ZvKeyboard with whole-house range to facillitate the use of your PC in the other rooms. Up to 8 of the wireless remote/keyboards communicate with a single ZvReceiver connected to the PC via a USB port. This capability nicely integrates Internet programming such as Voodoo, Pandora, or Netflix instant plays with your other HD source devices for display in other rooms.

The ZvBox 150 retails for $999. This makes HD distribution over coax at minimum a break-even in up front cost for 2 rooms with cost effectiveness improving as more rooms are equipped with digital TVs to display the ZV distributed programming. And, of course, monthly fees for additional set top boxes are totally eliminated for those rooms.

For more details about the ZvBox 150 and other ZeeVee products click here.