UWB
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Researchers develop world's smallest ultra-wideband antenna
It's hard to say if ultra-wideband (UWB) will catch on (or get squashed by WHDI) in the wireless HD realm, but the applications for UWB outside of your living room are still many. Researchers at Virginia Tech have reportedly "developed an efficient compact ultra-wideband antenna (CUA) for a range of home, automotive, medical, and military applications," and according to inventory Taeyoung Yang, it has "achieved a near optimal performance for size and bandwidth." Better still, the design is said to be "cheap and simple to produce," which makes us hopeful for embedded wireless devices (receivers, STBs, Blu-ray players, etc.) sooner rather than later. We can't say for sure if this stuff is any closer to taking off in the mainstream, but at least we're making progress somewhere.
Gefen's UWB / WHDI-based wireless HD solutions face off at CEDIA
After last night's discovery that Gefen was proudly supporting both Tzero's UWB technology and AMIMON's WHDI alternative, we just had to stop by and see if it was true. After chatting it up with a company representative, we discovered that Gefen is indeed introducing two new wireless HD products, each of which uses a separate technology. The Wireless for HDMI Extender (UWB) was seen sporting a black outfit, and we were told that it'll ship in about a fortnight for $800; the WHDI-based GefenTV (that's the pair in silver) will begin shipping "later this year" for around a grand. When directly asked if Gefen had any plans to choose one protocol over the other, the rep simply stated that Gefen would be riding things out and supporting both until one took over. %Gallery-31290%
JVC demonstrates prototype wireless HDMI box, plans to launch in Q1 2009
With Belkin's FlyWire just about to hit the market, JVC's planning to ride the wave and produce a wireless HDMI box of its very own. The unit was said to be a last minute addition to its CEDIA arsenal, and the representatives on hand weren't even briefed on what wireless technology the demo was using. Of note, there was a live demo involving no smoke nor mirrors, where the box received a 1080p signal via HDMI and beamed it out to a hidden receiver that was connected to an HDTV via (you guessed it) HDMI. JVC is obviously aiming for consumers with just one primary set-top-box (a PS3, for instance), and the plug-and-play nature means it can work with any source and any display so long as HDMI is involved. Pricing hasn't been set, but we were told to expect a Q1 2009 launch. Check out the prototype in the gallery below.%Gallery-31282%
Gefen hedges its bets, announces UWB and WHDI-based wireless HD solutions
For awhile now, ultra-wideband (UWB) has been on the way down in terms of popularity, and all the while, AMIMON's WHDI technology has been racking up an unprecedented amount of support. At this year's CEDIA conference, we've got adapter manufacturer Gefen backing both sides by introducing separate wireless HD solutions built around Tzero's UWB tech and the aforesaid WHDI. It's hard to say if both of these formats will continue to be supported (though if we had to guess, we'd say WHDI has the upper hand), but at least for now, Gefen's playing it safe rather than casting a vote. We've a term in Washington for your kind, Gefen, and that term is fencesitter.Read - Gefen supports WHDI!Read - But wait, Gefen supports UWB!
HANA Entertainment Box looks to pass along HD content over coax
Coaxial cabling has long since been viewed as a premiere option for passing along high-def content within the home. After all, in most places it's already neatly installed within the walls. The High-Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance (HANA) has announced its intentions to release a HANA Entertainment Box reference design based on the new (UWB-based) 1394 Over Coax standard; products based on said design will enable consumers to "download HD content from any broadband connection or HD cable set-top-box and watch it in any room in their home with a coax jack and a remote control." HANA is hoping to have the reference design and initial prototypes out the door in Q4, though we wouldn't hold our breath.
US patent office supports Tzero, rejects Pulse~LINK patent
While it was Pulse~LINK winning the last (but obviously not final) round of this multi-year tiff, the tables have turned once more. Tzero Technologies has just announced that the US Patent Office "issued an office action rejecting all claims of US patent number 6,970,448 asserted in a lawsuit brought by Pulse~LINK against Tzero in June 2007." This decision, coupled with a stay issued by the district court, will evidently bring the lawsuit to a close "for the foreseeable future." We're told that the legal struggles between the two are now officially over, but we're admittedly hesitant to believe it.
Lenovo's ThinkPad X200T tablet with UWB confirmed by FCC
There it is, the X200 Tablet courtesy of the FCC. No more guessing, no more burrowing into the bowels of asian Baptist organizations, the X200T is real and packing a bit of UWB special sauce for UltraBase docking. We expect to see it appear on Lenovo's retail site with loads of misprinted features, errant pricing, and bogus delivery dates any day now.
Pulse~LINK's UWB-based CWave wireless HD tech gets DCP approval
Boy, that's a mouthful, is it not? Shortly after Motorola, Sony and a whole crew of others teamed up to support AMIMON's WHDI wireless standard, in limps Pulse~Link attempting to act like it still has a shot at gaining traction. The left-for-dead CWave wireless-for-HDMI platform -- which is based on UWB (ultra-wideband) -- just received certification by Digital Content Protection as an Approved Retransmission Technology. This, along with the FCC certification received in 2007, enables CWave to start shipping in commercial products. As expected, a couple CWave-equipped Westinghouse HDTVs are slated to hit stores this fall, but it remains to be seen if anything will actually be released to take advantage. Format wars never end pretty, do they?
WiQuest makes secure pairing simple for display-less Wireless USB devices
Pairing up display-laden Wireless USB device with another machine is quite possibly one of the easiest processes known to man, but what if your W-USB device is screen-less? Enter WiQuest, the self-proclaimed leader in WiMedia-based ultra-wideband solutions, which has just revealed a new Wireless USB PIN Association method "specifically designed for Wireless USB-enabled devices that do not have a display." In its words, "once the Association process is initiated, a software screen on the host PC requests that the unique PIN printed on the Wireless USB device be entered and the secure pairing is completed -- wirelessly." We just love it when a good plan comes together.
Federal court ratifies Pulse~LINK UWB patents in Tzero case
At long last, it seems the legal spat between Pulse~LINK and Tzero has come to an end. Federal courts have ratified the former company's patents in a UWB-over-coax patent infringement case against Tzero, affirming that Tzero will now have to pay licensing fees to use Pulse~LINK's technology. In the settlement, it was noted that Tzero had "suspended development of products that were the subject of the legal action," and if it chose to re-introduce any of those wares, it would first cut a check to Pulse~LINK. Time to hug it out? Nah, we thought not.
CoAir: world's first UWB chipset with wireless, coax and gigabit Ethernet
Sigma Designs has been dabbling in wireless HD technologies for eons, so we aren't going to get too excited until we see this here system-on-chip (SoC) actually hit some products that we care about. Still, the CoAir is a fairly sweet concept, wrapping integrated wireless, coax and gigabit Ethernet capabilities into one single chip aimed at whole home networking. Put simply (or as simply as possible), this chip is the world's first to "simultaneously deliver multiple independent streams of video and data over coax cable, Ethernet cable and wirelessly without compromising quality of service and throughput." Based on the WiMedia standard, it can reach speeds of up to 480Mbps with UWB (ultra-wideband) wireless streaming, and room-to-room linkage via UWB-over-coax can peg those same rates. What we have here is a great basis for building a whole home server on, but until said device emerges and performs flawlessly, we'll just smile and carry on.
Study confirms that wireless HD is still far from mainstream
A lot of things in the high-def world are going down in 2012, so it's not shocking at all to hear that we've got yet another thing to look forward to during that fateful year. ABI Research has just loosed a new report that tags wireless HD as being in its "incubation" stage, with fewer than 100,000 devices in the sector scheduled to ship in 2008. Furthermore, analysts are suggesting that 2012 would be the earliest point in which one million wireless HDTV installations occurred worldwide -- and that's an "optimistic forecast." We posed the question a few months back wondering just how long it would take for this stuff to take off. 'Spose we have our answer, huh?[Via Connected Home News]
Hitachi's UWB-based TP-WL700H wirelessly transmits HD to Wooo HDTVs
Funny -- just this week we heard Hitachi President Kazuo Furukawa make mention of a forthcoming Wooonet networking scheme for its Wooo HDTVs, and now we're getting a few more details on potentially related peripherals. Analog Devices has just announced that its Advantiv technology is playing a huge role in the TP-WL700H. Said device is an ultra-wideband (UWB) based wireless transmission hub, which is currently available exclusively in Japan and designed to bring high-definition material to Wooo HDTVs sans extra cabling. There's not a peep about the unit ever heading Stateside, but given that everyone and their second cousin once removed is wondering when wireless HD will ever take off here, we'd sure like to see it make the journey.[Image courtesy of Impress]
Monster Cable prepping wireless UWB gear
Monster Cable -- the firm famous for grossly overcharging for its wares and suing nearly every company on Earth with "monster" in its title -- is going wireless. Yep, rather than gouging customers for Unicorn-like wiring, it'll now be promising to transmit signals through the purest air -- the kind only a Monster box could attract, most likely. Over at Hometech 2008 in Dubai, CEO Noel Lee affirmed that it would soon be "coming out with wireless," also noting that the elusive product(s) would be based on ultra-wideband (UWB) technology and support 1080p. Beyond that, it looks like we'll be waiting for specifics, as an official announcement of the device won't come until the "second week of June." Lee also stated that it "[wouldn't] be inexpensive," and threw out a $600 estimation for "a pair of boxes," while each additional room would cost $200 to connect. Color us absolutely unimpressed.
Macnica demonstrates UWB-over-coax HD transmissions
Not that Macnica is the first to offer up a method for transmitting HD / HDMI over coaxial cabling, but it has taken the time in Tokyo to showcase a new system that relies on a Sigma Designs UWB transmission chipset (dubbed Windeo). The display saw high-definition content passed 100 meters over coaxial cable without noticeable degradation, and booth attendees at ESEC 2008 stated that the effective throughput was close to 120Mbps. We're still quite aways from this stuff being commonplace in the home, but with Pulse~LINK and Tzero battling it out in the courtroom over patent issues, we suppose someone has to pick up the slack.
Hitachi lets loose UWB-packin' Wooo LCD TVs, plus some plasmas
Hitachi has been touting its slim, UWB-packin Wooo UT series LCD TVs for some time now, but it looks like the company has now finally gotten around to dishing them out, and it's thrown in a few other new models for good measure. On the UT series front, the sets are the same 32-, 37- and 42-inch models we've seen before, with each boasting a 250GB hard drive, and a so-called iVDR port to accommodate Hitachi's iVDR hard drive cartridges for further expansion, with that aforementioned use of UWB helping to keep the thickness down about 1.4 inches. If you don't need your TVs quite that thin, you can opt for one of Hitachi's new Wooo XV LCD sets, also available in 32-, 36 -and 42-inch varieties (1366x768 and 1920x1080), which drop the UWB and internal hard drive but hang onto the iVDR port. Those that prefer plasmas can also take their pick of Hitachi's new 50- or 42-inch Wooo 02 series sets, both of which also boast an iVDR port, although only the 50-incher packs a 250GB internal hard drive (no UWB on these either). As if that wasn't enough, Hitachi also took the opportunity to announce its new Wooonet service for its UT series sets, which will not only let you transfer video from a PC to the TV, but give you access to a video on demand portal as well. No word on prices, but they're apparently all available in Japan now.
Dell's leaked E6400 ATG for mustachioed, overall types (just not Mario)
So you like the looks of Dell's 14.1-inch Latitude E6400 do ya? Well what if we told you that Dell plans a semi-rugged E6400 ATG version? While it won't replace Dell's fully-rugged XFR D630 when the ATG launches in June, we can't help but be intrigued at the prospect of a dust-proof, shock-proof, and spill-proof, humidity and altitude resistant Centrino 2 laptop with super bright 750cd/m2 (or 650cd/m2 touchscreen) display, GPS, UWB, DisplayPort and more. It can get pretty rugged working unwashed in our robes and slippers, you know. Full features listed after the break as our Week o' Dell scoops continues.
Dell's leaked Latitude E6000 and E5000-series of laptops pack GPS, DisplayPort, WWAN, UWB and much more
Our week o' Dell scoops continues with what Dell calls its "mainstream" and "essential" series of Latitude E-series laptops. While the enterprise-ready, mainstream series packs just about everything (and more) that you could hope for in a balanced spec-for-size lappie, the essential series is only essential if you're on a tight budget and just can't live without the comparatively low-end chub. The 15.4-inch E6500 and 14.1-inch E6400 models will replace Dell's D830 and D630 whereas the "essential" 15.4-inch E5500 and 14.1-inch E5400 carry on the low-end tradition of Dell's D531 and D530. With any luck, these will be Dell's first Montevina / Centrino 2 class machines if they all hit the targeted June release date as planned. AMD fans will see the E5500a and E5400a configurations at about the same time. So what can you expect under the hood? Well, just look at the 5.1-pound E6500 which reads like a suit's, geek fantasy: UWB, Bluetooth 2.1, mobile broadband Integrated GPS, yes GPS New 84WHr slice batteries for "all day" computing LED backlighting, 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution, discrete nVIDIA graphics and DisplayPort out Hard, Hybrid, and Solid State disk drive options with eSATA jack for more Optional camera and mic Plenty of security options including contact-less smart cards and encrypted hard disks Time to pad those budgets a bit, eh CIOs? Full low-down in the gallery below.%Gallery-18965%
Hitachi's Ultra Thin LCD lineup to boast Tzero's UWB technology
We knew Hitachi's Ultra Thin HDTV family would boast ultra-wideband technology, and while little was said about this aspect during CES, we've now learned that Tzero will be responsible for handling the aforementioned UWB duties. As expected, the UT HDTVs will "be able to receive high-definition video wirelessly from any HDMI equipped audio / video component," as Tzero promises that users will see transmission speeds of up to 480Mbps. Interestingly, we're told that the UWB-equipped sets are available in Japan right now, but only time will tell if those luscious wireless abilities will make the trip stateside in Q2.
Bluetooth SIG looks at Bluetooth-WiFi to hasten transfers
If you'll recall, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group already had plans laid out to speed up Bluetooth by teaming it up with UWB, but needless to say, that didn't exactly take the world by storm. Thankfully, it seems the crew is trying something else in an effort to speed up BT transfers, and judging by the ubiquity of WiFi, we reckon this endeavor has a much better chance at gaining traction. According to Michael Foley, director of the Bluetooth SIG, these so-called Bluetooth-WiFi (just a temporary name, folks) devices will "use the regular low-power Bluetooth radios to recognize each other and establish connections, and if they need to transfer a large file, they will be able to turn on their WiFi radios, then turn them off to save power after finishing the transfer." For whatever reason, Foley also noted that it wouldn't be letting the dream go with regard to Bluetooth-UWB -- we're sure consumers will adore the confusion.
