Gefen, the company known for their signal switchers and converters, has announced the GefenTV Digital Audio Decoder, which remixes 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround audio for stereo (L/R) outputs. What this means is that the unit lets any movie or television program broadcasting in 5.1 Dolby digital audio to be decoded, and output on a pair of analog speakers.

This will give two-channel stereo systems the ability to convey some of the same surround sound information as a proper 5.1 system, but without the artificialness that usually accompanies such enhancement.

The GefenTV wireless HDMI extender will send HD video from the player to an HD display up to 100 feet away. The HD video delivered over the air will even deliver 1080/30p quality with Dolby 5.1 surround sound within that 100-foot distance.

It uses Amimon’s 5GHz wireless technology, which is able to deliver clean and lag-free HD video over air. The extender consists of just a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is connected to a video player, whIle the receiver is attached to an HD display.

I have a problem with the amount of HDMI inputs offered on most of the HDTV sets available today. Typically, you only get three HDMI connections and some TVs offer even less. That means for users with multiple game consoles with HDMI, Satellite boxes, Blu-ray players or an Apple TV you end up manually changing cables frequently.

Gefen has added a pair of new HDMI switchers to its line at different ends of the price scale that will remedy this situation. The GefenTV Multi Format Switcher retails for $499 and offers the ability to send composite, component, and s-video devices to the TV with one HDMI port needed. The device supports full 1080p resolution.

Gefen is out today with a new extender for pushing HD quality video up to 500 meters. It is called the DVI-1500HD and you’ll find it pricing around $600.

The Gefen DVI-1500HD works via sender and receiver units connected to the source. These units allow for support of resolutions to 1080p or 1920 x 1200 for computers to be delivered up to 1640 feet. This setup is used primarily for sending signals from DVI sources.

Gefen wants to help you push HDMI over a distance as well as offering control from a remote source. It is introducing its HDMI RS-232 CAT-5 Extender for around $600.

The Gefen HDMI RS-232 CAT-5 Extender lets one adjust their displays, change settings and access audio/video sources from up to 50 meters (150-feet) in distance. Sender and receiver units connect the A/V source to the remote display using category-5 cables that transmit 1080p full HD resolutions as well as RS-232.

Gefen is now making available a USB to DVI connector for those who want to add additional digital video displays or projectors. It is called the Gefen USB to DVI Graphics Adapter and it will cost you around $130.

The Gefen USB to DVI Graphics Adapter is designed to do as the name implies - bringing additional display options to your computer through a USB connection. It works with the Windows operating system and sports a DVI port to which you hook up a monitor. On the other end is a USB port for a computer connection. Output video to these monitors comes in the DVI-I format.

Gefen announced to the press via an email a few days ago its upcoming CES line up. Amongst the cables, switchers and other line items we noted something of interest: two personal video recorders. No specific release date was given for the items, now available for pre-order, but we did note there’s a hard drive based PVR for around $1,000 and a USB memory device based one for around $650.

Gefen’s HD-PVR, which will also connect to removable USB memory devices for storage, has a built-in 80GB hard drive. With this you connect the PVR to an HDMI enabled display, select the video source and function you want from the source inputs and off you go recording. Recording can be done up to 1080i and there’s an on-screen menu for control options. Through this PVR you can also scan storage devices for other types of media to interact with.

Not all home theater systems, especially older ones, have video upscaling as a feature in either the DVD player or A/V receiver. For those people Gefen has announced its new Home Theater Scaler Plus, priced at around $500.

The Gefen Home Theater Scaler Plus scales video signals to high resolutions ranging from 480i to 1080p, converting analog signals to digital. It comes equipped with with inputs for component video with left/right audio, composite/s-video with left/right audio, and two HDMI inputs each with digital TOSlink and S/PDIF audio. There’s also HDMI output and the video scaler is HDCP compliant.

Gone are the days of having your USB devices tethered within the standard 5 meter limit of a USB cable. The Gefen USB 400FO USB extender kit uses fiber optics with full USB 2.0 standard compatibility to stretch the reach of not just one but four USB connections up to 1,650 feet or 500 meters.

The kit comes with two externally powered boxes, the send unit (USB 400FOS) and the receive unit (USB 400FOR). Your computer connects up to four USB cables to the sender unit which sends the signal as far as 500 meters to the receiver unit where it gets converted back to a USB connection to power your RC Car or Missile Launcher from almost a third of a mile away.

How would you like to be able to use select USB devices a good distance away from your computer? That’s the idea behind the new Gefen Wireless USB Extender, priced at around $400.

The Gefen Wireless USB Extender makes use of a sender/receiver system to wirelessly transmit USB 2.0 signals up to 100 feet away. Gefen says it’s an ideal solution for those in particular who don’t want to run USB cables around the area. It requires no installation of USB drivers and can reportedly deliver data at speeds up to 54 Mbps.