HD Anywhere 4×4 Matrix review

If you’ve filled the A/V rack in your home cinema but occasionally like to watch Blu-ray films, catch-up TV or satellite broadcasts in another room, you may think your only option is to fork out for a second set of equipment. However, that isn’t the case if you opt for a multiroom streaming system such as the HD Anywhere Multiroom+, which lets you share four set-top boxes, Blu-ray players or games consoles with up to four TVs, wherever they may be within your house.

The Multiroom+ 4×4 HDBaseT system comprises a main unit that’s roughly the same size as the average set-top box, as well as four receiver units that each connect to a different TV. The silver finish and industrial-looking blue LED activity lights aren’t exactly attractive, and neither are the IR receiver cables plugged into the front, but this is largely forgiveable as the system is designed to be hidden from view.

Around the back, there are four HDMI inputs for all your equipment, as well as two Ethernet ports for network access and four more for video signals. There’s also an RS232 control unit, which home cinema aficionados will be able to use for triggering blinds, drop-down projector screens and controlling lighting conditions, and ports on the front for four IR transmitters which need to be pointed at the equipment you’ll be using. This adds up to a lot of wires, so you’ll either want to use your DIY skills or hire a professional to avoid a mess of cables, but it does mean you can hide everything away from view or even relocate you’re A/V rack away from the TV.

The receivers are similarly well connected, with an HDMI video output, twin Ethernet ports for adding network connectivity throughout the house and a third HTBaseT Ethernet port for receiving video and audio signals from the main unit. Each receiver unit has its own power supply, so you’ll need a spare plug socket next to each TV, and you’ll also need to route the external IR receiver to pick up your TV remotes if you want to be able to change channels in different rooms.

You’re able to send four separate HDMI streams at once, so you aren’t limited to what one person wants to watch. You could have up to four TVs playing different content all at once, without any performance impact. The system comes with a bundled remote control, which is purely for source selection and best left near the main unit for quick switching between components.

The main drawback to a system like this is that it relies on Ethernet cables to send an HDBaseT signal throughout the house. If you use Wi-Fi or homeplugs, have yet to network your house or have a wired network that runs through a switch, you’ll need to completely re-wire your house specifically for the system. Houses networked using a patch panel are good to go, although you’ll need to run four Ethernet cables from the main unit to the patch cabinet before the system is up and running.

On the plus side, it fully supports 1080 video in both 2D and 3D formats, and is also 4K future-proof so you won’t need to upgrade when 4K content finally arrives. We tested the system with a range of different content on several set-top boxes and Blu-ray players, and were hard pushed to spot the difference in video quality between the connected TVs. We even connected our HDMI capture card to check for any variation, but the signal it transmits is effectively lossless.

The other downside is that to control individual equipment away from your primary TV, you need a compatible remote control. The most cost-effective way to do this would be to buy a universal remote for each TV and program it with the necessary controls, because otherwise you’d need up to four remotes in each room of the house. If you’ve connected a PlayStation 3 or Xbox, be aware that the controllers use Bluetooth and proprietary 2.4GHz wireless respectively, and won’t work with the bundled IR blasters.

You need to be serious about home entertainment to spend £1,500 on this system, particularly if installing it means networking your house as well, because that won’t be cheap either. However, if you have a top-end home cinema system in your front room and don’t like the idea of buying a Blu-ray player, Freeview HD box and Satellite receiver for the other rooms in your house, this might just be worth the cost and effort.