Product Spotlight - Hot Link Pro
Product Spotlight features interesting products relating to home theater and PCs.
This week's featured product allows you to extend the reach of your remote controls around corners or inside the cabinet holding your A/V equipment! This is a great product that maximizes your remote control performance, and enhances the appearance of your home theather area.
The Hot Link Pro is a clever device that has a super-sensitive receiving eye that receives the infrared commands from your remote controls. These signals are then amplified and sent to six infrared emitters, which are positioned in front of each of your A/V components. This lets you place your components inside a cabinet and operate your equipment even when the cabinet doors are closed! (Don't forget to provide adequate ventilation in the cabinet if you have components like receivers which produce a lot of heat).
Hot Link Pro also works great when your remote controls don't have the range to reach your components, or if the components are located behind furniture or around a corner from your remote.
I found the Hot Link Pro to be easy to set up. The first step is to find a good location for the receiving eye. This small eye can be located in a hole in a cabinet, under a cabinet, behind your equipment (using the light reflected from a wall), or in other convenient locations. A coax cable connects the sensor to the small Hot Link unit, which can be mounted almost anywhere convenient (such as inside, under, or behide a cabinet). A ribbon cable with six infrared emitters then runs from the Hot Link unit to each A/V compnent that you want to control. Just peel off the paper on each emitter, and stick it on the component near it's infrared receiver. Next, there is a green "command received LED" that plugs into the Hot Link Pro that can be placed in a visible location to confirm when the Hot Link receives an infrared command from a remote. Finally, plug in the AC adapter and you are ready to go!
I placed the Hot Link Pro under the cabinet holding my A/V equipment. I also placed the receiving eye under my cabinet, positioned to receive infrared commands bounced from the floor. I then positioned the emitters in front of each of my components, and placed the "command received" LED to show through the top of one of the cabinet doors.
When I tested the Hot Link Pro, I found it worked great from anywhere in the room, up to 25 feet away even in bright sunlight (the Hot Link Pro literature says that it works up to 65 feet from a remote!).
The bottom line on the Hot Link Pro is that it is a great device for extending your remote controls! Now you can place your A/V equipment in a cabinet or other location so it fits into your room's decor, yet is still easy to use. Another benefit for some users is that your equipment will be safe from children.
Hot Link Pro would make a great gift for Home Theater fans!
To learn more about the Hot Link Pro or to place an order, click here to visit the manufacturer's web site!
Previous Product Spotlight: SMC Barricade Cable/DSL Router and Switch
If you would like to suggest a product to be featured in the Product Spotlight section, please send me a message at dvd-deals@monmouth.com.
