What do you do if your projector cannot be reached with a long HDMI cable? Or if you want to put a player close to you, and not close to the television. Find a wireless solution of course. We brought this recently introduced Marmitek extender and put it on the test bench.
Marmitek Gigaview 911 UHD – specifications
- What: Wireless HDMI Extender Ultra HD 4K
- Video / Audio: 4K 24/30 fps, 1080p 60fps, 1080p 3D 24fps, 1080i, 720p (3D), 576p, 576i, 480p, DTS HD Master Audio, Dolby True HD, LPCM 7.1, DTS 5.1, Dolby AC3, PCM Stereo
- Connections Transmitter: 1x HDMI in (v1 .4, CEC)
- Connections Receiver: 1x HDMI out (v1.4, CEC)
- Features: Range 10m Line Of Sight, No Latency (<1 ms), Visual Lossless Compression
- Dimensions: transmitter and receiver both 54 x 90 x 60 mm
- Weight: transmitter and receiver both 148 grams
- Recommended price: 379.95 euros
Marmitek Gigaview 911 UHD – Contents of the box
In the box you will find next to the transmitter and receiver two USB power adapters and two micro USB to USB cables. Two angled HDMI adapters are also included. These are useful for neatly tucking away the cables. Please note, HDMI cables are of course not included, you must provide them yourself. You need two.
The transmitter and receiver itself have a fairly remarkable design. They are made entirely of metal and give a particularly strong impression. Due to the upright part you may not be able to place them anywhere. But we will soon find that placement is quite important anyway.
Connections and indicators
Both the transmitter and the receiver have an identical set of connections. From left to right:
- a 5V DC connection (which you probably won’t use, there are no power supplies included)
- the HDMI connection. On the transmitter that is of course an input, on the receiver an output
- a 5V DC micro USB connection, this only serves as power supply
- the transmission led (indicates if there is a signal)
- the power led (indicates whether there is power)
- a reset button
Please note, the website states that the receiver has an IR input, which is not the case.
Marmitek Gigaview 911 UHD – Placement
Connecting and using the set is simplicity itself. Place the transmitter with your source device and connect it with an HDMI cable. You connect the receiver to the TV or projector with an HDMI cable. The included USB power adapters are available as an emergency solution, you can also use a free USB connection on the television (for the receiver) and on the source device (for the transmitter). Both the transmitter and receiver are provided with recesses on the underside so that you can carry out a simple wall mounting with two screws.
The placement is very important, and you do well to read the specifications (and even the online manual) before you do this. set. The most important limitation is not that the maximum distance is limited to 10 meters, but that the two devices must be in line of sight from each other. Specifically, there must be an uninterrupted line of sight between sender and receiver.
The manual does not recommend placing the units in a cabinet to prevent overheating. Moreover, you also interrupt the line of sight between the two and that indeed caused connection problems. Ditto when you want to hide a device behind the television. The manual also states clearly that it is best to point both devices with the front facing each other. That also limits your options a bit. In short, this wireless extender is quite picky when it comes to placement.
Marmitek Gigaview 911 UHD – Ease of use
There are no menus or extra remote controls and the two LEDs tell you everything you need to know. If the transmission LED flashes slowly, the other device is switched off. If the transmission LED flashes quickly, they are connected but the source does not provide an or an invalid image signal. If you really don’t get a picture, you can try the reset button on either device. In some cases it took about five seconds for us to get an image, but otherwise we had no trouble using the set.
Marmitek Gigaview 911 UHD – Features
What image and sound signals does this wireless extender support? In the manual we find that it is an HDMI 1.4 connection. That means that you cannot pass on HDR (not a single HDR format). For Ultra HD 4K you are also limited to 24fps content (film). This is not a good choice for gamers who want to connect their 4K console. If you have an extensive 3D movie library, the Gigaview 911 UHD supports 3D images up to 1080p at 24fps or 720p up to 60fps.
All major audio formats can be transmitted, from uncompressed LPCM in 7.1 channel configuration to DTS HD Master Audio or Dolby True HD. This Marmitek set also supports HDMI-CEC so you can control a connected device via the remote control of your television and by aiming at the television. Please note that such operation is often quite limited and depends on the extent to which the source device supports HDMI-CEC .
Marmitek Gigaview 911 UHD – Image quality
This set comes out with ‘ Visual Lossless Compression ‘for perfect image quality, and no latency. Those are two things that we still want to test.
We measure the delay (latency) with our Leo Bodnar tester. For practical reasons, the sender and receiver are close together. We measure an additional delay of approximately 3-4 ms. That is more than what Marmitek claims (<1 ms), but will not be a problem for anyone. Gamers need absolutely no fear in that regard.
When we start our image tests, we initially notice that the set only transmits a Full HD image. Upon review of the setting of our Sony Ultra HD Blu-ray player, it appears to be in “Auto” resolution. We therefore manually select “4K”. In that case we will receive 4K images. The UHD Blu-ray of “Blade Runner 2049” comes through fine, but not as expected in HDR. YouTube content also comes through well. We have some problems with Netflix. Netflix absolutely does not want to deliver Ultra HD, Full HD is the maximum.
To test the image quality, we view different test patterns and film fragments with the transmitter and receiver about six meters apart. It soon becomes apparent that the transmission is indeed very sensitive to interference. A hand in front of the sender (or receiver) is enough to disturb the image. Even when we are somewhere in the middle of the two devices, but clearly break the line of sight that way, interference is visible in the image. This is then visible as subtle block noise, intense block noise, or the image that partially or completely disappears.
The image below illustrates the effect. On the right you see undisturbed transmission, on the left is the effect of subtle macroblocking. If the effect happens briefly and you are at a normal viewing distance, you may not see it. But with longer or more severe disruptions it can be visible. So it is not really “visual lossless” unless you have a perfect connection. And as we noticed, that does require some attention for the placement. If you can position the devices optimally, then the image indeed seemed to be almost perfect.
Marmitek Gigaview 911 UHD – Conclusion
This wireless HDMI extender from Marmitek delivers good image quality if you use the ( meets stringent) placement requirements and is very easy to use. But unfortunately there are many limitations. The setup requires an unhindered line of sight between sender and receiver. If you really want the best image quality in a reliable way, then you really have to meet that requirement. That way you also avoid someone walking through the signal. But those who hoped to bring their HDMI signal wirelessly to another room should be disappointed. The set also uses HDMI 1.4 connections, so that you cannot transport HDR (problematic for film fans), and you are limited to 4K at 24fps (problematic for gamers). Moreover, we did not receive Ultra HD content from Netflix. Finally, we also noticed a slight delay on the audio.
Is a cable really not an option, then the Marmitek GigaView 911 UHD provides a solution for your setup. By the way, there are few alternatives for the time being, although given the hefty price, we would have preferred a set with HDMI 2.0 and HDR support (such as the IOGear GW4K30GH60).
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