Home Theater View

Flexity PowerSquid Swims Its Way Into Apple Stores

OK, the press release [warning: PDF] is somewhat gratuitous, as the product itself was announced what seems like ages ago. But Flexity's PowerSquid line is such an elegant solution to such an annoying problem that it's worth plugging them again (sorry about the pun). Sure, some home theater components include standard narrow plugs, which fit nicely onto a surge protector, but as the digital/gadget quotient rises in home entertainment, so do the wall warts (those big brick things that you can't fit onto a standard surge protector).

To be completely truthful, I haven't even used the PowerSquid sample Flexity sent over in my home theater at all. At first it was upstairs in my home office, and then migrated from the floor to the desk itself, where it serves as a gadget recharging station. As I write this, its tentacles are connected to a set of Bluetooth headphones, a digital picture frame, an Internet tablet, a WiFi MP3 player, a musicphone, and a subnotebook. The subnotebook is literally the only one of the six devices with a "normal" plug; the MP3 player's brick is a monsterously large rectangle, the digital picture frame's plug looks like an oversized peanut, and the smartphone's cord originates in a giant oval thing. Standard surge protectors - even the ones with extra spacing - can't connect half of those things.

If Flexity is serious about the home theater market, they'll move upscale with versions branded for "home theater," perhaps with power line conditioning. But, as it is, these are product samples the vendor is not getting back.

-avi

Update: Flexity responds:

Our product is actually conditioned for high end Home Theater systems, with the Calamari running our PureStream EMI/RFI filters that protect up to 58dB. While we certainly are not the fanciest home theater option, the PowerSquid is a solid choice that will cost a great deal less than many models from the competition.

That's not quite the same thing as what Richard Gray's Power Company, Monster, or even Belkin is promising, but I'll grant Flexity that the Calamari should be sufficient in many home theaters assuming line conditioning is even needed in the first place. More importantly, a picture of the Calamari [just added, see above right] demonstrates why it should sell well in the Apple stores - it's white!

LIVEDigitally Reviews Gefen Switcher

I always wondered how well Gefen's line of switchers would work in the real world. Gefen used to make switch boxes for the broadcast world which began finding their way into HDTV households as connectivity formats increased without a commesurate number of inputs on TVs or receivers. Lately, some of Gefen's products have been picked up by home theater distributors, and Jeremey Toeman over at LIVEDigitally gives a 4 x 1 unit (4 HDMI inputs, 1 DVI output) a strong review.

One side note: simple boxes that switch analog formats can be had for $29.99 at Radio Shack, so there's often sticker shock when people see what looks like a simple product with a price tag 10x higher. Gefen's 4 x 1 sells for $300, and while there are certainly healthy margins built into the price tag, it is not a simple mechanical device like that speaker selector box. For now, most of Gefen's boxes have been sold to professionals (either in the broadcast industry or custom installers), but as its products move into retail, the company should spend a few dollars on packaging and POS (Point Of Sale) marketing materials extolling the virtues of passing along HDCP signals, bandwidth specs, and pretty pictures of the innards. Monster does this to great effect with their entire product line. Of course, the HDMI or DVI cables for each of the devices are also much more expensive than RCA video cables, too. Consumers can easily double the price of the Gefen switcher by the time they're done setting up a system (and they thought they blew the budget on the big plasma TV...). HD connectivity can be pricey.

-avi