At CES 2007 Philips introduced a device that can transfer an uncompressed HD signal over the air. Philips’ wireless HDMI box ($299) is designed to replace the HDMI cable to transfer signals to an HDTV from various source components such as DVD, HD-DVD or BlueRay DVD players.
“Wireless HDMI presents an entire new category. For consumers who want the most advanced technology with the simplest connectivity, this is the only way to go,” said Glen McIlmail, CEO of Philips Accessories, North America.
Wireless HDMI is an in-room solution that can transfer a 1080p signal without any signal loss. The signal is never compressed and retains all the attributes as if it were transmitted through a standard HDMI cable. It operates in the ultra wideband (UWB) range, and is said to functions free from obstruction of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cordless phones, microwaves and cell phones. Wireless HDMI can be placed anywhere within a 25-foot range.
The wireless HDMI device (SWW1800), using UWB technologies, will be available in May with a suggested retail price of $299.99.
Philips’ solution offers an uncompressed, lossless signal, but it is not the first to move HDMI signals through the air using UltraWideBand. Last September, Tzero Technologies and Analog Devices announced their own wireless HDMI solution, which also makes use of UWB technology.
The Tzero and Analog HDMI Devices use compression. On the transmit side, video data is compressed using Analog Devices’ ADV202 JPEG2000 video codec, combined with audio, then packetized and encrypted, and transmitted via the Tzero MAC and PHY chip. The RF chip transmits over the air to the receiver where the audio/video data with HDMI is decompressed and presented to the display device via the HDMI port.
The compression introduced by the Tzero and Analog Devices product is not a lossless one, and thus there is a drop in fidelity. Their design supports only up to 480 Mbps, though the bandwidth requirement for an uncompressed 1080i image is 2.2Gbps.
Another approach has been offered by six top consumer electronics vendors who formed the WirelessHD group to carry uncompressed high-definition video on the unlicensed 60-GHz band.
WirelessHD chairman John Marshall said TVs, DVD players and other high-def gear could actually provide better resolution, with less latency and cost, by using 60-GHz radios rather than ultrawideband. That’s because the typical 480-Mbit/s bandwidth of UWB requires recompressing packaged or broadcast video, forcing OEMs to put expensive encoders and more RAM into their systems, losing video content and adding latency in the process.
The 60 GHz radios carry up to 5 Gbits/second. But 60 GHz WirelessHD gear seemed to be non-existant at CES 2007 and their website lacked any recent news.
And what about using good old 802.11n Wi-Fi for the wireless connection? There were a ton of “N” Media Hubs at CES.
The Vista Media Center Extender can connect five TVs, including the X-Box 360.
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