SANTA CLARA, CALIF. – Help is on the way for the millions of HDTV owners who remain unaware their sets need an HD signal to view a proper HD picture. On the horizon is a new delivery technology that can send uncompressed HD video right to the set without bothering with wires. But users who hope to trade in their tangled mess of connection cables for wireless may first have to endure another format war.
Four leading consumer electronics companies announced today they are backing a wireless multimedia CE interface developed by Amimon, by forming a special interest group devoted to the technology. Hitachi, Motorola, Samsung, Sharp and Sony, together with Amimon, have formed the Wireless Home Digital Interface SIG, designed to develop products based around Amimon’s 5-GHz wireless technology.
The WHDI special interest group (SIG) says it plans to embed the technology in a host of household components including HDTVs, multimedia projectors, A/V receivers, DVD and Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, game consoles, and PCs. The new interoperable standard aims to ensure that CE devices manufactured by different vendors will simply and directly connect to one another.
The technology is already out there as Sharp began shipping an Amimon-based wireless HDTV in Japan earlier this year, about eight months after Amimon shipped its first product. Amimon uses the same 5-GHz unlicensed band of spectrum as 802.11a (WiFi), although its WHDI technology uses its own protocols. The company claims that it can use two 20-MHz channels to transmit secure, encrypted 1080p video wirelessly 100 feet, through walls.
“WHDI technology complements other wireless and wired standards with a new class of connectivity within the home,” says Dr. David Lee, the founder of the HDMI standard and a member of Amimon’s board of directors. “WHDI’s connectivity matrix introduces to consumers new possibilities to enjoy their high-definition entertainment network.”
“The development of the new standard will ensure that when consumers purchase CE devices and take them home, they will enjoy a fast, easy and hassle-free wireless connection that delivers the highest quality,” says Dr. Yoav Nissan-Cohen, chairman and CEO of Amimon.
But some CE companies, like Samsung and Sony, view WHDI as only an interim solution until the competing format, WirelessHD, takes over. WirelessHD is a high-definition digital interface standard operating in the unlicensed and globally available 60GHz frequency band, and represents the first consumer application of 60GHz technology. JaeMoon Jo, Samsung’s vice president of TV research, said the company believes WirelessHD will be the “ultimate solution in the long run.”
Another contending wireless technology is ultra-wideband, or UWB, which is supported by Intel. It requires less compression than Wi-Fi, but its range is limited to in-room networking.
It appears that with the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war finally over, a new wireless one is just getting started.
