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brite-View Air HD
Writer/Reviewer Richard Waters
Photographer Alex Russel
Design
Features
Functionality
I recently had the chance to spend some quality time with the brite-View Air HD a.k.a. Zinwell ZWD-2500. This product’s main purpose is to stream HD content from different sources in your house wirelessly. The Air HD is capable of streaming video from devices like your Rogers PVR, your DVD player, your Blu-Ray player, etc., to your 1080p capable TV. It is a product that definitely solves a problem, and is really useful to many people, though it is not the only one available. After playing around with this product, I got a good impression of its strengths and weaknesses.
The first thing to note about the brite-View Air HD is its form factor. The system itself is comprised of two units, a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is the “box” that all your devices plug in to; it’s like the back of a TV. The inputs at the back include 2 HDMI ports, and 2 component ports, which allow you to stream a total of four devices. The receiver just has a power input, an HDMI port, and an RFID input. The transmitter is relatively large, but looks very sleek and modern. The receiving unit is noticeably smaller. A nice feature about the receiver unit is that it is wall-mountable. Included with the kit are screws to build the unit into the wall, which can be useful, especially if your TV is hanging, as there would be no visible wires. I think the units themselves are extremely light. Looking at them, you’d expect them to weigh a lot more than they do. This lack of mass gives the units a rather insubstantial feel, although they look sleek, cool, and modern.
[from left] transmitter, remote, receiver
Transmitter
Remote
Back of Transmitter
The set-up of the brite-View Air HD was relatively pain-free. All you have to do is plug your devices in to the transmitter, and plug your TV into the receiver. There isn’t a real interface on the devices; no configuration is needed, which is really convenient. All you do is plug and play, which makes the brite-View Air HD extremely easy to use, especially for anyone non-technical. The set up is quick, easy, and painless.
Once I got the Air HD working, there were a couple of bugs that came up. The way the brite-View Air HD sets the resolution of the device it’s streaming from is probably not the most efficient. It uses some type of a “guess and check” system. I had trouble getting a decent picture to play on my flat screen and it definitely was not in 1080p. I streamed a DVD over to my TV, and the resolution was extremely poor. I don’t have a Blu-Ray player, but I cannot imagine it being any better.
Due to the nature of the brite-View Air HD streaming on frequencies close to those of most cordless phones and Wi-Fi routers, as well as other appliances like microwaves, there was a lot of interference. When streaming a movie, the quality wasn’t great, but to add to that, when the phone rang, the screen would go blank, and when the picture came back, the audio and video were out of sync. Also, when operating my microwave, the video and sound would get all choppy and pixilated. Another major problem was my Wi-Fi. When I was using the computer, the quality would drop, but after turning off my router completely, the quality was restored.
Overall, the Zinwell ZWD-2500 is an extremely easy to use device, with a decent appearance, though the build quality could be improved upon greatly. The configuration of the device couldn’t be easier, and the set up is not horribly complex. It’s a great concept, but it still has a way to go. The copious problems brought about by interference can’t be overlooked. Many home electronics could potentially interfere with the stream, which would make this device very frustrating to use. The overall quality of the product, both the look and feel, and its performance could be greatly improved. It could be designed to be much smaller and thereby make it feel more substantial, it could also try to use frequencies that aren’t so crowded, improving the look, feel and performance.
brit-View Air HD
Manufacturer specifications:
- Air-bridge your AV devices and TV in uncompressed HD quality
- Support up to 1080i@60Hz & 1080p@24Hz HD picture quality/30Hz HD quality
- Less than 1ms latency for playing video game console
- Plug & Play, Auto setup and easy-to-use
- Long transmission distance - LOS: 65 feet, NLOS: 32 feet
- IR Sensor Extender Cable and IR Blaster Extender Cable
MSRP $449.99 USD
Receiver
Back of Receiver
