Nathan Davis02 November 2006, 3:24 AM
Wireless, high-definition media streaming between your local A/V devices could be hitting your hands early next year.
Wireless technology that can handle uncompressed, streaming high-definition media may soon become a reality.
The interface is called
WirelessHD, truncated to WiHD, and it aims to remove all the switches and the evil spawn of Cables and Co. noosed around your tangled media devices.
A collection of companies have formed a special interest group and are now promoting the interface. Presently being written up, it is hoped the specification will reel in wide support throughout the industry and ultimately be approved by the IEEE as a standard.
The first generation WiHD interface will transmit both audio and video at speeds of 2 to 5Gb/s on the unlicensed 60GHz band. Future implementations could be scaled up to as fast as 20Gb/s.
One of the goals is to overcome the inherent line-of-sight requirements at this frequency with a 'smart antenna.'
It will be designed to be scalable for future media formats and other data types and it will likely feature some form of encryption, with 'Secure communications' as a listed objective.
Plans are in motion to have it ready for use in real-world consumer electronics relatively soon, with its specifications due to be complete '... in Spring 2007.'
Of course, consortiums using seasons in place of slightly more globally-persistent months doesn't help anyone. It probably means March to May.
The collaborating companies involved in this steamy conglomeration are LG, Panasonic, NEC, Samsung, SiBEAM, Sony, and Toshiba.
It's actually an odd mix, mostly because the two next-gen optical media archrivals, Sony (BluRay) and Toshiba (HD-DVD), are jumping into bed. It's good to see they seem to realise universal standards are necessary. Could this be a rare splash of common sense?
There is apparently a fundamental issue with the technology, however. Stephen Wood from WiMedia, of which all the new WiHD consortium's companies are also members, says WiHD is jumping too far ahead with an immature technology.
"The regulations for 60 GHz radios are not all in place, and the standards aren't ready," says Wood. That could prove a hiccup, although he's inclined say such things, as he's in charge of promoting ultrawideband technologies (think wireless USB).
How WiHD compares to the previously reported UWB wireless HDMI remains to be seen.
Don't trip on the pun.