KanexMiniDisplayportAdapter
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Macworld 2011: Kanex brings full HDMI capability to Macs
This morning I spoke with Jessica Cole from Kanex, a two-year-old company which offers many products that add HDMI capability to your Mac. The current generation of their line adds audio pass-through via HDMI. The offerings range between the iAdapt HDMI V2 (US$29.95), a small box that plugs into Mini DisplayPort and allows you to plug in an HDMI cable, giving you audio support and 1080p video to a TV, projector or anything else with an HDMI input. I was shown the Mini DisplayPort to HDMI 10-foot cable ($44.95), which is sold exclusively at Apple stores and contains a 10-foot HDMI cable so that you don't have to buy and plug in your own. "We're very excited to have our product as an Apple Store exclusive," said Jessica (whose favorite three apps are Facebook, Pandora and Facegoo). The most interesting product that I found was the Kanex XD ($149.99), a magical box that gives you the ability to connect the HDMI output of a Blu-Ray player, PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 and have resolution of up to 1920x1200 appear on your iMac 27". This lets you use your 27" iMac display as a full HD display device. The Kanex HD is controlled by the iMac keyboard. A press of Command-F2 switches the display between the computer and the HDMI device, and both sound and brightness are controlled with the usual keys on the Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard.
Kanex Mini DisplayPort Adapter will take your Mac mini to HDMI town
Your Mac mini cranks out its video via DisplayPort and audio via a mini Toslink. Chances are your home entertainment system doesn't like either of those. It will, however, like the Kanex Mini DisplayPort Adapter, which can turn a DisplayPort video signal into a 1080p signal over HDMI, and will even integrate either digital or analog audio into the mix. It's USB powered, so there's no need for a clunky power adapter, and while $70 isn't particularly cheap for a chubby cable ($50 for the USB analog audio model), it's about the cleanest way to get your Mini pumping tunes and vids through your system. [Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog]
