The appearance and proliferation of the HDMI interface has literally revolutionized the world of consumer electronics in general and home entertainment devices in particular, allowing for much simpler installation of home media centers, with a lot less cable clutter. However, a cable's a cable, and can get in the way, especially when we're talking about longer distances.

For this reason, as BoingBoing informs us, Flatwire, a manufacturer of specialized cabling that can be hidden in drywall, has come up with a HDMI version of its products with a length of 20 feet (around 6 meters). While this might not seem a lot, it should prove to be enough, because, beyond that distance, certain signal issues would most likely occur.

The solution presents itself as a flat, ribbon-like cable, a lot thinner than normal cables. It features two different connectors, one at each end, and can be very easily installed either on the surface of dry walls or even within them. The second solution seems to be the best, the entire cable thus “disappearing” from sight.

Of course, this wired solution is just something temporary, since wireless HDMI will most likely make it to the market, at some point. However, until that moment comes (and we certainly hope it will be sooner rather than later), all we're left with are these intermediary solutions, which are far from being perfect from an aesthetic point of view (or very affordable, for that matter).

For now, pricing and availability info has not been provided, but by looking at Flatwire's similar offerings (Composite, Component and S-Video versions), we can surely draw some conclusions. Thus, since a 20-foot component video cable sells for around 140 US dollars, you can be sure that the HDMI version will have at least that price point, if not more (and I'm willing to bet on more).


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