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  • 802.11n Wi-Fi Will Dominate Wireless HD Video


    802.11n Wi-fi technology will see off competitors in the wireless HD video market, at least for the next several years, according to In-Stat .

    Three other technologies are competing in this space – Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI), WirelessHD, and Ultrawideband (UWB).

    However, Brian O’Rourke, In-Stat analyst, said the ubiquity of Wi-Fi technology is proving unstoppable.

    He said 802.11n is the next generation of the immensely popular Wi-Fi family.

    "It promises data rates above 100Mbps and is backwards compatible," he said.

    "The installed base of Wi-Fi is immense, and effectively includes all mobile PCs, many mobile phones and a wide variety of CE devices.

    O’Rourke said the primary drawback to 802.11n is expense, since it requires codec technology on both ends to transmit HD video.

    Neither of its primary competitors, WHDI and WirelessHD, requires codecs.

    Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

    • UWB will not be a major factor in the consumer electronics market. Many chip companies are leaving the market in late 2008 and 2009.
    • Nearly 24 million digital TVs will ship with some type of Wireless HD video technology in 2013.
    • WHDI and WirelessHD are being promoted by startups, but they are new, expensive, and power-hungry, which is generally not a recipe for quick market success.
    • WHDI and WirelessHD will see a slow start, with fewer than eight million devices with those technologies shipped in 2013.

  • Coming Year Important for New Wireless HDTV Products

    Wireless High Definition Special: Over the coming weeks hdtv.biz-news.com will be interviewing representatives from the competing wireless high definition TV systems to assess their current state of readiness and future viability.

    To kick things off, Steve Wilson, principal analyst at ABI Research, which recently produced a report Wireless Video Cable Replacement Market and Technologies, gives his opinion on wireless HDTV developments.

    The end-of-year shopping season, followed by the annual CES trade show in January, will give the next indications of the likely short-term prospects for wireless high-definition television systems in the consumer space.

    Holiday sales of existing products and new product announcements at CES will help paint a picture as to which of several competing systems – if any – is likely to lead the charge towards wide consumer acceptance of wireless HDTV.

    There are three contending technologies, loosely characterized as: 5 GHz, 60 GHz, and ultra-wideband (UWB).

    Small numbers of 5 GHz and UWB devices are currently shipping; demo products of 60 GHz systems are expected early next year.

    “Over the next two to three years, we’re going to see one or two of these wireless HDTV approaches emerge as the primary ones,” said Wilson.

    Two industry groups have emerged to promote 5 GHZ and 60 GHz solutions.

    Israeli company Amimon, around whose technology the 5 GHz platforms are based, took an initiative in July, forming the WHDI Special Interest Group, which has been joined by Hitachi, Motorola, Sharp, Samsung and Sony.
    Hedging their bets, the latter two vendors are also members of the competing industry body, WirelessHD, which is intended to promote the 60 Hz approach designed by SiBEAM, Inc.

    Other members of WirelessHD include Intel, LG Electronics, Matsushita Electric, NEC and Toshiba.

    Samsung is said to believe that WHDI should be seen as a stopgap technology until WirelessHD becomes “the ultimate solution in the long run”.

    But until then, Wilson believes “the WHDI group has the early momentum”.

    He continued: “Announcements at CES of systems using the 60 GHz band will give some indication of whether consumer products will actually make it to market in 2009.

    “The coming year will be a very important period for the introduction of all types of new wireless high-definition TV products.”

  • Race towards wireless HD hots up

    Sony and Samsung join new consortium supporting technology that could replace tangle of video cables with wireless transmission of HD video

    A group of consumer electronics manufacturers and wireless technology firms has joined forces to develop a new standard that could send HD video signals wirelessly from a set-top box to screens around the home.

    The consortium – comprising Sony, Sharp, Samsung, Amimon, Hitachi and Motorola – expects to have specifications for its Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) technology finalised by the end of the year.

    Based on technology from Amimon Ltd of Israel, WHDI is the latest addition in the race to replace video cable.
    A key ingredient of WHDI technology is a new video-modem that operates in the 5GHz unlicensed band to enable robust wireless delivery of uncompressed HD video (including 1080p).

    WHDI allows secure, encrypted HD video delivery through multiple rooms and other potential signal obstructions, such as people and furniture, while maintaining superb quality and robustness with less than one-millisecond latency.

    The consortium plans to enhance the current WHDI technology to enable wireless streaming of uncompressed HD video and audio between CE devices such as LCD and plasma HDTVs, multimedia projectors, A/V receivers, DVD and BD 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.

    TVs with Amimon’s chips could reach stores by next year, costing about US$100 more than equivalent, non-wireless sets.

    Noam Geri, co-founder of Amimon, said: “If you have a TV in the home, that TV will be able to access any source in the home, whether it’s a set-top box in the living room, or the PlayStation in the bedroom, or a DVD player in another bedroom. That’s the message of WHDI.”

    The quest for wireless streaming of high-definition video has seen various contenders emerge.
    Among them is WirelessHD, centered on technology from SiBEAM Inc, of which Sony also forms part of the group to enable it to have “wider options”.

    Another hopeful is ultra-wideband, or UWB, which requires less compression than Wi-Fi but its range is more limited.
    WHDI is less exotic than either WirelessHD or UWB. It uses a radio band at 5 gigahertz that’s used by some Wi-Fi devices.

    Motorola has looked at competing technologies, but WHDI is the only group it has joined.
    The company plans to build the technology into its set-top boxes, but the first product is likely be a pair of adapters that talk wirelessly to one another. One could be attached to a set-top box, the other to a TV set.

  • Shift towards wireless HDTV expected to be gradual as technology evolves


    The race to perfect a wireless HDTV system is being contested by three competing technologies, each one with particular advantages without offering the complete package.
    But within three years one will have emerged as the dominant system, according to a study by ABI Research.
    This is expected to take global installations from an estimated 100,000 this year to the milestone one million by 2012.
    Steve Wilson, principal analyst on the report “Wireless Video Cable Replacement Market and Technologies”, said the wireless HDTV market was still in its “incubation” stage.
    He said a “battle of technologies” was being fought by the three contending systems, loosely characterised as 5 GHz, 60 GHz, and ultra wideband (UWB).
    “5 GHz technology is better understood and more proven but achieving the required data rates requires new approaches and more complex solutions,” he said.
    “UWB technology has bandwidth advantages at in-room distances but drops rapidly at greater ranges.
    “60 GHz allows high data rates, but so far only one company is even close to a viable solution.”
    Among the advantages of wireless HDTV are simplification of installation and the flexibility it offers in positioning TVs.
    There are both commercial applications – digital signage, for example – and domestic applications such as wall-mounting a flat-screen HDTV.
    “The initial sweet spot in the market is where wired installation would be difficult or complicated,” said Wilson.
    He said small numbers of 5 GHz and UWB devices are currently shipping, while demo products of 60 GHz systems are expected early next year.
    “Over the next two to three years, we’re going to see one or two of these wireless HDTV approaches emerge as the primary ones,” he added.
    All the wireless HDTV silicon vendors are venture-backed startups and most established wireless vendors are waiting to see how the market evolves.
    Product manufacturers are moving forward with different strategies.
    Some, like Westinghouse and Belkin, are initially targeting commercial and custom installers where there is clear value-add.
    In contrast, some TV manufacturers such as Sharp and Hitachi are targeting buyers of their latest technology, offering design-oriented, elegant products that come with a wireless connectivity option.

  • Wireless high definition transmitter removes clutter of cables


    Monster Cable has unveiled a transmitter that wirelessly sends HD video signals from a device such as a Blu-ray player to a high definition TV up to 10m away.
    The transmitter sends the video signal using ultra-wideband, or UWB, technology from Sigma Designs Inc.
    It will also upscale non-HD signals to high-def resolution before displaying on screen. A receiver plugs into a HDMI port on the back of the TV.
    To back up the short-range wireless capability, the boxes can also connect via coaxial cable to reach each other in different rooms, up to 110m away.
    Noel Lee, president of Monster Cable, which is better known for its expensive video and audio cables, said: “We had opportunities with lots of other systems that just didn’t have the quality of service.
    “Sigma is the first partner we found … that has a robust enough technology.”
    The Monster Digital Express HD boxes will be available in the US in October for $299.95 each.
    UWB is just one of several technologies being utilised for wireless HD connections, an area that has presented problems in maintaining a steady flow of wireless data at very high speeds.
    A consortium that includes Sony, Toshiba and Intel is promoting another wireless technology called WirelessHD, with transfer speeds that are even higher than UWB.