Vision has launched an HDMI repeater with a pro-audio extractor built-in. The repeater comes with a power supply and a new chipset which allows up to three units to be daisy-chained.
To extract audio this product modifies the EDID handshake. For example the display tells the source device 'send me a 1080P video signal with 5.1 surround audio signal', but the extractor changes the message to 'send me a 1080P video signal with 2.0 stereo audio'. It can then extract – or de-embed – the stereo analogue audio signal.
Unlike other audio de-embedders which don’t modify the EDID, and take the 5.1 signal and simply convert the Left and Right channels to analogue which means the content on the surround and centre audio channels is not included, Vision’s product ensures all audio content is combined into a stereo signal.
The HDMI audio extractor’s built in EDID library can also be used to solve HDCP and EDID compatibility issues. These issues are not uncommon with HDMI and the HDMI audio extractor can override with an EDID that works for both the source and the display.