You know how setting up your PC to output video on your TV has always been somewhat difficult? I mean there are different settings regarding AR, signal type and god know what other details that most of us know nothing about. Granted things have gotten a bit easier in the last few years, since HDTV's have become widespread, but things still aren't as straightforward as they should be.

If you have a native HDMI graphics card, things tend to be pretty easy, but these are still pretty rare. So a company going by the name of Atlona has come up with a pretty much universal solution. They've decided to build an adapter that captures video from the most popular connector out there and converts it to HDMI. Yes, it's a USB2HDMI cable.

It's called AT-HDPiX and it uses the full bandwhidth of an USB 2.0 connection to provide output resolutions of up to 1600x1200 or standard 720p. Audio is captured from the 3.5mm stereo jack of the PC and gets mixed with the video signal to provide for full audio/video output at the other end of the adapter (the HDMNI connector).

The device supports True 32bit colors and is also capable of switching between standard and widescreen AR. Although the black box supports Windows 2000, XP and Vista, Mac OS X 10.4.1 and higher, it's not really plug and play because the USB port hasn't been designed for standard video output, so the device comes with the necessary software.

Now I know companies want to make money, but at a price of $179 for the AT-HDPiX, the Altona could have bundled an HDMI. Especially since they manufacture and sell a wide range of multimedia cables. Despite this little nag, the device comes with everything users need to setup a connection between their PC and HDTVs: the device itself, software CD, audio and USB cable.