Understanding Wirewize

What is Wirewize?

Wirewize is a an integrated set of tools, applications and protocols that help consumers get the most out of their home electronics by providing optimum hookup and step-by-step connection instructions. It has been developed by CE Interactive with guidance and support from both the industry's leading trade group, the Consumer Electronics Association, and HDMI.org, the group that oversees development of the HDMI connection specification.

Wirewize's acts as a "virtual installer" and management system that helps customers make sense of their home entertainment technology. Think of Wirewize as a "mapping software" for home electronics hookup.

How Does Wirewize work?

Wirewize's intelligence engine "understands" a user's specific products (brands and models), and is able to apply information from those products toward specific hookup scenarios. Over 8,000 home entertainment products, including receivers, TVs, DVD players, set-top boxes and other devices have been processed though the Wirewize system, and another 50-100 products are added each week, from dozens of popular brands. This processing includes extensive analysis of each device's input and output connections, as well as variable data from each product, such picture and sound resolution.

Wirewize's intelligence applies its knowledge of each device to specify how they will best work together in a system. When products are entered into a Wirewize "System Locker," the software determines the optimal path for connections between the components entered into the Locker, even when there's a mix of old and new products, and even if the end user adds or replaces products over time.

What Are Wirewize's Rules?

When it comes to connecting products and systems, Wirewize is designed to favor the highest possible quality connections for video and audio playback.

What are the best quality connections? In an ideal world, their order of potential quality would be as follows, from top to bottom:

Video Connection	Quality	Audio Connection	Quality
HDMI	Always best, as long as all devices have it, or if an A/V receiver is capable of HDMI "upconversion" of other types of video signals.	HDMI	Often best, not always. Depends on specific devices and specific systems.
Component Video	Often best, used when HDMI is unavailable.	Optical Digital Audio (also known as Toslink)	Often best, and sometimes better than HDMI, depending on devices and specific systems.
S-Video	Sometimes best, but only for older gear. On new gear, this is rarely the preferred connection.	Coaxial Digital Audio	As good as optical, but optical is preferred over coaxial when available, because it is immune to interference.
Composite Video (yellow jack)	Used only when better quality connections (above) are not available.	Analog Audio (red and white dual jacks)	Used only when digital audio connections are not available.
RF Video/Audio	A connection that carries both video and audio; used only if there's no other choice.	RF Video/Audio	A connection that carries both audio and video; used only if there's no other choice.

The reason why we use the qualifier "in an ideal world" is because the world of consumer electronics is anything but ideal. Not all components have the same connection types. Specifications like HDMI are in their early stages, and incompatibilities do occur, even among devices that would seem to be compatible. Everyone's system is different.

Why The Obvious Isn't Always Obvious

Let's say there's a system that has a TV, a DVD player and an A/V receiver, and all three components have an HDMI port. In theory, all you'd need to connect this system for the best picture and sound is two HDMI cables, one from the DVD player to the receiver, and one from the receiver to the TV right?

Unfortunately, this is not always true. Some devices — like some DVD players — only carry video signals over HDMI, and not audio. Some TVs only accept video and not audio over HDMI. Some DVD players only carry stereo audio over HDMI, and not full Dolby Digital surround sound, so in order to get surround sound from this system, you might have to make a second, audio-only connection using optical or coaxial cables.

The world of home theater gear is made by many manufacturers, each with their own ways of building devices. Incompatibilities and workarounds between components are quite common.

Wirewize is designed to take all these factors into account when showing how components should be connected. Wirewize collects an extensive amount of data on each product, and is able to make the best hookup decisions based on the specific models the end user wants to connect.

When Results That Look Wrong Are Actually Right

As shown in the prior example, best picture and sound connections for a given system aren't always as cut-and-dried as picking the "best" cables. And in some cases, getting the best picture and sound from the components in a system means making a judgment call.

Fortunately, Wirewize's extensive knowledge of individual products and how they work together in a system is able to make intelligent judgments that that favor best picture and sound quality from any given setup.

This favoring may sometimes take priority over other connections that may, at first, seem more "intuitive" to the end user.

As an example, let's say an A/V receiver might have two high-quality component video inputs, one labeled "DVD" and another labeled "DVR". Let's also say your system has two high-quality video source devices that need a component video connection, but one is a DVD player and the a satellite TV system. How should you connect the satellite TV?

Since Wirewize is designed to look for the best-quality connection, it would tell you to connect the DVD player to the DVD player input and the satellite receiver to the other available component video input — which in the case of this receiver, happens to be labeled "DVR." This means that when choosing to watch satellite TV, you're actually clicking the button on the remote control marked "DVR" — even though you may not even own a DVR. This system may occasionally seem counter-intuitive, but it is actually providing the best quality picture and sound that your system is capable of.

It's worth remembering that many of today's A/V receivers and TVs let you re-name the inputs, and many advanced remote controls use "soft" labels that can also be re-named, instead of fixed, labeled buttons that can't. If you need assistance with this kind of advanced setup scenario, Wirewize offers Wirewize LIVE assistance, described at the end of this document.

Why Am I Getting Strange Results From Wirewize?

Sometimes, Wirewize will give results that on first glance, seem to go against what "looks" right. In most cases, it is because the system has identified a feature or condition of one or more devices that may be hidden from obvious consideration.

As an example, you might have a system that consists of a new TV with HDMI, an A/V receiver with HDMI, and an older DVD player without HDMI, which has component video instead. What's the "best" way to connect these components?

Unfortunately, there isn't any one answer that will fit all situations.

If the receiver is able to upconvert component video to HDMI, then this setup might require only two cables — component from the DVD to the receiver, and HDMI from the receiver to TV. But if the receiver does not perform upconversion to HDMI, then this setup might need several connections — two component video cables (one from DVD to receiver, one from receiver to TV), and an audio cable to get sound from the DVD player to the A/V receiver. Otherwise, there might not be a picture — the TV is expecting HDMI, but the A/V receiver is not providing it.

In this same example, if the DVD player only sends stereo audio through HDMI, which is not uncommon, Wirewize will ask for a digital audio connection (optical or coaxial) for the sound. This is so the system gets surround sound from the DVD player, instead of just stereo.

As you can see, Wirewize's logic engine is able to see these conditional situations and deal with them correctly. Even if a setup "looks" wrong, odds are that Wirewize's recommended connections are correct.

Why Separate Device Routings Are A Bad Idea

In some cases, particularly when the system includes an older A/V receiver, you may be tempted to connect video signals from a source component (like a DVD player or cable box) straight to the TV, while at the same time, routing the sound signals into the A/V receiver. A common scenario for this is when the TV and a DVD player both have HDMI, but the A/V receiver does not. You'd think you could just connect the DVD player straight to the TV through HDMI, and route the DVD player's audio (only) into the A/V receiver, for the best picture and sound. In theory, this setup works. In practice, it does not, with artifacts that range from noticeable to dramatic.

The reason for this is timing. When you route video straight into a TV, and audio into a receiver, the timing of the two signals are different. Audio and video are being processed in two different ways, by two different devices. What's lost? Synchronization. Sound will always be slightly off from the picture. And while newer HDMI devices have some control for picture and sound sync, these are often difficult to find in the menu system, much less adjust, and rarely able to fix the problem completely.

If your setup has either an A/V receiver or a home-theater-in-a-box audio system, use these devices as the "gateway" for all connections. Separate connections that bypass these components rarely, if ever, yield optimum picture and sound quality.

How Is Testing Done For Wirewize?

All products in the Wirewize database have been tested and reviewed by our QA team to ensure accuracy. The first step for any product that is added to the database is for all relevant data to be extracted. This includes its features (audio codecs, disc formats, up-converting modes, etc.); specifications (physical dimensions, native resolution, power consumption, etc.); and the accessories the product comes with (cables, power cords, etc.). The manual is also processed, with Wirewize extracting the rear panel, front panel, and jack panel images. All of this data is then fed into our system, where Wirewize's logic engine rules are applied. Before any new product is added to the database, the panel images from its user manual are re-checked and tested in several different setups.

We take pride in the accuracy of our results and work diligently to find and correct any issues that come up. As anyone who has read a product manual would agree, they can often be unclear and difficult to interpret. While we do our best to extract the data accurately, there will, of course, be occasional examples where the data was misinterpreted, extracted incorrectly, or where there is a bug in the system that causes an incorrect result to be produced. As each "gap" is repaired, the system becomes more accurate, handling even rare and difficult setups more easily.

You Make Wirewize Better!

Your feedback is invaluable to us in finding and correcting incorrect setup issues. Wirewize is a tool that "learns" — as incorrect results are corrected, the system becomes more intelligent and makes fewer errors going forward. We have found that for most setups, Wirewize will correctly identify the proper cables and setups over 95% of the time. If you find instances where cable recommendations or setup instructions are genuinely in error, please let us know using our feedback tool.

Coming Soon

Wirewize is a platform through which new tools, helpers and plug-ins can be devised over time. In the coming months, Wirewize will include new functionalities to make the consumer electronics experience even better!

Wirewize will soon include intelligence that will help users through the front-panel setup menus of TVs, DVD players and A/V receivers, among other devices. Wirewize will allow setups based on user preferences, rather than only best picture and sound quality. Enhancements like these will remove confusion over issues such as the one where the user has to press the remote control's "DVR" button to watch satellite TV; an example mentioned earlier in this guide.

Wirewize will also soon include more collaborative features, so that end users can communicate with us more directly, and assist other users with tips and advice. They'll also be able to "send" a system to their friends as a recommendation, or to exchange connection solutions with friends or support personnel. Watch for these Wirewize enhancements in the coming weeks and months!

Don't Forget Wirewize LIVE!

Wirewize LIVE is the "human" side of Wirewize, where end users can call trained product specialists over the phone for product education and basic troubleshooting. Unlike support offered by the manufacturers, Wirewize LIVE assistance is truly cross-brand, a major step forward in consumer electronics support.

Let's say you've just bought a new Samsung TV to go with your Sony receiver, Toshiba DVD player and Motorola cable box. When you hook everything up, you don't get the expected results — who should you call? One manufacturer's support team won't help with another manufacturer's products. Most will blame the other brand(s), or simply advise you to call the retailer who sold you the new TV. This lack of cross-brand support has been the weak link in the consumer electronics experience, and is the cause of many unnecessary "no fault found" product returns. Wirewize LIVE solves this problem.

While Wirewize functionalities are free to the end user, Wirewize with Wirewize LIVE assistance is available in three different paid versions, to cover most customer needs. The Wirewize LIVE 7-day package is designed for consumers who have just bought new equipment and want to get it hooked up right away, but need a helping hand to do it. The Wirewize LIVE 30-day package is meant for consumers who might be buying gear in more than one trip, or are waiting for a service appointment, such as a satellite TV installation. Finally, the Wirewize LIVE 365 package offers a full year of product training and assistance; perfect for people who are building their home theater over time.

In all three versions, Wirewize LIVE assistance is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Click here to learn more

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