Review: Netgear Universal Push2TV HD

At the school where I work I needed a way to connect audio and video to wall mounted projectors in a wireless manner.  The best solution at the time was to use a LiteShow III adapter by InFocus.  This was a reasonable solution, it worked great for sound and slideshow presentations, but suffered when trying to keep up with video other then the occasional web clips.  The units are also priced at $299 each, so I have kept my eyes open for an alternate solution. 

I recently had the opportunity to demo the Netgear Universal Push2TV HD as a solution.  Netgear states that the two part unit will project up to 1080p video and support 5.1 surround sound.  While I had my doubts about this, I was plesently surprised when it lived up to it's promises. 

While the LiteShow III uses 802.11N WiFi for connectivity, the Push2TV unit requires a separate USB based PC Adapter.  The adapter is angled and will rotate out of the way so this was no a major drawback in my mind.  Since I was not using WiFi for connectivity, I could stream HD video from the Internet without competing for throughput.  Setup was very easy and only took a few minutes, but every time I would plug in the PC Adapter, my display resolution would switch to 800 x 600.  This is an easy adjustment, but annoying, and since this product is primary for teaching staff it is an interruption in the classroom.  I also quickly discovered that video quality is best when the PC Adapter and the Base are within 10', after 20" the connection dropped.  Quality also suffered when I moved the Tablet PC I was using around the room.  When I teach I typically stroll around the room with my Tablet PC on my arm so the limited distance and movement are big disadvantages.

I did appreciate that for the $99 price tag that Netgear includes a HDMI cable with the product, which by the way is the only connection type for video.  For audio you have your choice of a 3.5mm jack or digital audio via a S/DIP port.  Full HD video also requires a computer with a 2.4GHz Core2 Duo processor or higher with 2GB of available RAM.

In the end I am conflicted.  For the living rooms and conference rooms that need wireless HD video, this is a excellent solution.  It is low cost and delivers as it promises.   In a classroom it would be more difficult to stay within 10' of the Base and with frequent connection changes, the having to reset the resolution every time is enough to make me continue my search for a better solution.

Netgear Universal Push2TV HD