PCD Bigstream iPod / iPhone dongle revealed, looking to one-up AirPlay next month

And now, there's a name. The iDevice streaming adapter that we spotted a couple of months ago finally has a proper affiliation, with the PCD Bigstream being quasi-revealed today as the run-up to CES continues. Fundamentally, it's pretty simple -- just plug a nub into the 30-pin Dock Connector of your iPod, iPhone or iPad, and then connect the tent-like transceiver to your television. Once connected, users will purportedly be able to beam "Netflix, Direct TV NFL Sunday Ticket To-Go, and iTunes content, among other apps," directly to their set sans cabling. It's difficult to tell if PCD has actually landed licensing agreements with these media portals (or if it's just really, really good at circumventing DRM), but all should be revealed at the 2011 edition of CES next month. The system relies on a 5.8GHz wireless RF link to distribute signals, and as you can tell, it's entirely more flexible than AirPlay -- a protocol that can only stream video from Apple's own iPod and YouTube applications. Curiously enough, the first version will only support 480p transmissions, though a 1080p model should hit shelves later in 2011. Here's hoping we'll get a good look at how exactly it performs in Vegas.

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