WirelessHD
Latest
Belkin kills the FlyWire -- does wireless HD / HDMI even have a chance?
We sort of saw the writing on the wall, but now Belkin has went and made it official: the FlyWire is dead. Originally showcased at CES 2008 and at practically every AV-related trade show since, the wireless HD-enabling FlyWire was seen as the poster child for wireless HD / HDMI by many, and the death of this product certainly doesn't bode well for the technology as a whole. It's true that AMIMON -- the wireless startup responsible for the WHDI technology within the FlyWire and a few other devices -- just landed an extra $10 million in VC funding, but still, we've literally been waiting years for this so-called "promising technology" to get a foothold in the market. Or even make a wave, really.As has become customary these days, Belkin is also pinning the cancellation of the FlyWire on the economy, with a spokesperson telling us that the "retail price of $1,499 would be out of line given the current state of the economy." She continued by stating that the company has "opted to halt production of FlyWire" and "will no longer be introducing [it] to the market." Granted, the company does seem somewhat apologetic, concluding that "there will be some disappointed folks out there, but [Belkin's] end goal is to introduce products that are accessible and that make sense in the current environment." Frankly, we're not buying it. In April, Belkin affirmed to us that while AMIMON's WDHI technology was "solid," it was taking its sweet time in order to "pay very close attention to the user experience, such as the packaging, setup, and the quick install guide." We could be way off base here, but we'd say the economy was sucking quite a bit harder in April than it is today. And honestly, that's beside the point. A $1,500 device that enabled a Blu-ray player to communicate wirelessly with an HDTV is obviously a luxury item, and regardless of unemployment numbers, Belkin had to know that the FlyWire would only appeal to upscale consumers. You know, the same folks who also put in an order for a Ferrari California in 1H 2009 while their hedge fund dived. To us, the sudden death of the FlyWire is more of an industry signal than anything. For quite some while, we've been wondering when the industry at large would embrace wireless HD and HDMI technology, and now we're beginning to think that said embrace will never happen in any significant capacity. Even Wireless USB couldn't cut it, and we're guessing there are an awful lot more USB users out there than HDMI. If the price dropped dramatically and the sector consolidated a bit in order to agree on a single standard, we'd say wireless HD / HDMI has a fighting chance. 'Til that happens, you can pretty much bank on the FlyWire fiasco becoming a model for the rest. Belkin's statement in full is past the break.
Panasonic pries open room for WirelessHD availability in the UK
Panasonic has cleared a path for its WirelessHD equipped HDTV to launch in the UK now that Ofcom has opened up the necessary radio spectrum for use by all manufacturers. As it stood, manufacturers needed to get permission to use any part of the wireless spectrum, but now anyone should be able to use the 57-66GHz range. Expect the 54-inch version of Panasonic's wireless set to run around £5,000 when it becomes available in a few weeks, with other wireless TVs from LG and other coming later in the year.[Via Stuff]
Panasonic Z1 wireless HDTV appearing in US retailers
Hey, look at that -- it's Panasonic's super-hot one-inch thick Z1 wireless HDTV, just cold sitting out for sale in a San Jose Magnolia store. No official availability announcement yet, but we're guessing it's coming soon, right on time for the Z1's planned summer debut. Everyone got their $6,000 ready?
LG LH-series wireless HDTVs hit the FCC
LG's LH-series wireless HDTVs just made their debut in South Korea last month, and it looks like they're on their way to a Stateside launch soon -- there's the 55LH85, sitting pretty in Uncle Sam's FCC workshop. Of course, the real noise with these sets is the ASW1000 Media Box, which has three HDMI jacks, a pair of component inputs, antenna in, and VGA, all of which it can wirelessly send to your set from 10 meters (32.8 feet) away at 60GHz. Sadly, you can't just tuck it away, since it needs line of sight or close to it to work -- it'll bounce the signal off walls, but placing it right next to the TV won't work so great, according to the manual. Still, it's definitely cool tech -- let's hope ol' Sammy gets through with it soon so we can try it ourselves.
Ralink and Celeno team up on HD WiFi home networking wares
We've known for some while that Celeno had a thing for high-def over WiFi, and that favoritism has never been more clear. Today, the outfit is announcing a partnership with Ralink that will hopefully lead to an array of WiFi home networking designs that are optimized for HD video distribution. The first solution will combine the CL1300 and CLR230 802.11n chipsets along with Ralink's RT2880 and RT2850 chips. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if Celeno is announcing any set-top-boxes to contain said solution just yet, but hopefully that's just a few months away. Hey, CEDIA ain't too far off, is it? Full release is after the break.
GefenTV Wireless for HDMI Extender does one to one, or many streaming
Gefen's silver coated WHDI towers may have taken a little longer than expected to get here, but for $899 they might do wireless HD streaming differently enough to arouse your interests. Using Amimon's 5 Ghz tech, it can switch from one to one streaming with HDCP for tossing Blu-ray or upconverted DVDs around, or switch over to broadcast mode, supporting up to 5 remote receivers getting the same video stream, albeit without HDCP. Maximum range is 100 feet line-of-sight and it supports resolution up to 1080p30 with Dolby 5.1 surround audio, that enough to get your credit card out? Picture of the back is after the break, specs beyond the read link.
Agilent readies first automated WirelessHD test system
The biggest question about all that wirelessly connected AV equipment coming our way in the near future (other than how much extra will it cost) is how well it will all work together and under what conditions. Agilent says its CTS-1000 automated test system is up to the task of sorting things out for WirelessHD hardware, measuring frequency, power, bandwidth error rate and other stats to make sure equipment makes the 60 GHz grade before its stamped with the WiHD logo. Pictured above is just one piece of the system, the Infinium 90000A Series Oscilloscope, a better look at things can be had for an easy $350,000 - $500,000, depending on setup, available now for early implementers (we assume Panasonic has one) and June 1 for everyone else.
LG's WirelessHD LH80 LCD TVs released in Korea
With its 2009 LED-backlit LH90 LCDs already announced, LG has decided its LH80 line should be next up, its first of many -- following Panasonic's lead -- packing a Wireless HD media box to stream any HDMI, USB, or OTA content to the TV. Available in Korea is just this 55-inch model for about 5.1 million South Korean won ($4,008) but you can check out our CES '09 Wireless HD demo for a better look at the box and display while we wait for its LH85 branded U.S. cousin to make an appearance later on this year.
Heavily-backed WiGig Alliance to stream everything over 60GHz
Yes folks, we're back to the drawing board. Again. With a litany of wireless technologies floundering about and struggling to find real traction in the market, a cadre of market powerhouses have joined up to take wireless streaming to the next level -- or so they say, anyway. The newly formed WiGig Alliance aims to use unlicensed 60GHz waves in order to stream just about anything you can think of: HD video, images, phone contacts, instant messages, audio, etc. This "unified" approach differs from most other alternatives, which generally pick one niche (1080p video, for instance) and stick to it. If the more than 15 technology firms have their collective druthers, the WiGig specification will find its way into everything from set-top-boxes to telephones to home stereos, ready and willing to stream to other WiGig-enabled devices at a moment's notice. The group consists of household names such as Microsoft, LG, Dell, Samsung, Marvell, Nokia, NEC, Intel and Broadcom (just to name a few), and when we spoke to executives about the announcement, they told us that plans were to have the specification available to member organizations in Q4 of this year. The sad part is that this likely means we won't see shipping products with the WiGig logo for another year after that -- if we're lucky. We can't argue that some stability would be nice in this volatile sector; after all, we've been waiting for promising products like Belkin's FlyWire to ship for well over a year. The execs we spoke with couldn't speak on behalf of the partner firms in terms of what WiGig products were looming on the horizon, but as we alluded to earlier, the playing field is wide open. Honestly, we'd love for this to take off and finally give high-bandwidth wireless applications the support it needs to flourish, but as we've seen over the past few years, the road ahead ain't an easy one to walk. The full release is after the break.
802.11n to dominate the wireless HD wars, says In-Stat
Industry watchers In-Stat didn't mention which variant of WiFi based HD streaming it expects to win out, but just based on the install base 802.11n should be the leader. UWB? DOA. WHDI and WirelessHD? Too expensive, too power hungry, too new. WiFi isn't perfect however, requiring codec support on either end to work with HD video but that's not expected to hold back the 25 million TVs with wireless hardware In-Stat sees shipping by 2013, but for the rest of the details you'll need $3,495 for the research report or a time machine.[Via TG Daily]
AMIMON's second-gen WHDI spec does full uncompressed 1080p
AMIMON, the company behind the wireless HD technology (WHDI) in Belkin's FlyWire (among other devices), has just introduced its second-generation chipset. The device, which utilizes video modem technology operating in the 5GHz unlicensed band, consists of the new AMN 2120 transmitter and AMN 2220 receiver, both of which are angling to slip into set-top-boxes, HDTVs and all sorts of other HDMI-enabled devices in short order. AMIMON asserts that this chipset is the first capable of "delivering full uncompressed 1080p/60Hz HD content throughout the entire home," with a range of beyond 100 feet through walls, under one millisecond of latency and support for HDCP 2.0. Best of all, the new kit is available now for manufacturers to snap up, so for the legions of consumers waiting for someone to get wireless HD right, let us say this: "get to snapping." The full release is after the break.
Panasonic's first Wireless HD televisions on sale in Japan
Finally, something wireless high definition related that's not delayed. As promised, Panasonic's Z1 line of Wireless HD packing 1080p plasmas and assorted accessories went on sale this week for the discerning yen spending consumer. It'll be June before these make a U.S. debut, pop on over to Panasonic's Japan site and pore over some machine translated spec sheets in the meantime.%Gallery-41205%
Belkin's $1,500 FlyWire delayed again, now slated for August release
And you wonder why people refuse to take wireless HD / HDMI seriously. A full 15 months after Belkin's FlyWire was introduced at CES 2008, the world is still waiting for it to ship. When launched, it promised the consumer world a device that would take multiple HDMI devices and stream them (one at a time, obviously) to your HDTV sans wires. The box itself relies on AMIMON's WHDI technology, and while we've seen with our own eyes just how marvelous it works, Earthlings won't be able to purchase one until -- drumroll, please -- August 2009. According to a Belkin PR manager that we spoke with on the matter, the January 2009 ship date has now slipped to late summer for the US market, though the altogether painful $1,499 price tag remains firmly in tact. So, what's the over / under on Belkin actually keeping its word this go 'round?Update: Contrary to some reports, the delay is absolutely not related to WHDI. Belkin's own PR team has confirmed that the hold-up is in no way related to WHDI, but that it is "paying very close attention to the user experience." In other words, it's delaying things to get things totally right, and for $1,500, we'd expect nothing less than perfection.
Sewell's WiFi-based HD Media Extender should be more affordable
You know what's most annoying about wireless HD solutions? Two things, really. First off, 95 percent of 'em only come out to play at trade shows. Secondly, the other 5 percent require you to refinance your now-worthless home to even procure 'em. Sewell, a company known for delivering unexpected treasures when it comes to adapters, has just pumped out its very own wireless HDMI media extender. The good news is that it's shipping right now and it relies on 802.11a/n technology rather than WHDI, UWB or any other less ubiquitous option. The bad news is that 15 to 30 feet of cord-free AV goodness will set you back $1,199.95. You can weigh the pros and cons yourself, but we'll be begrudgingly sticking with coat hangers cheap-o interconnects 'til it becomes just a touch more of a bargain.
Comtrend's wireless video adapters based on Celeno HD WiFi chip
Earlier this year, Celeno and Cavium teamed up to pump out a WiFi-based wireless HDMI Solution, and now the former company has notched yet another partner in its quest to spread the joys of wireless video the world over. Announced at the IPTV World Forum, Comtrend has selected Celeno's HD WiFi chips for its wireless video adapters, which are available now for service providers worldwide. Their purpose? To distribute multiple HD IPTV content from any Ethernet-equipped home gateway or DVR to IP set-top-boxes. In other words, the solution ensures reliable IPTV home networking, providing whole home coverage without any new wires. There's no specific word on where we'll see this stuff roll out, but those over in London can check it out in person starting tomorrow. Full release is after the break.
Panasonic's ultra-thin 54Z1 plasma in the wild
Now that it's official and priced, Panasonic seems much happier to show off its wireless HD-sporting, ultra-thin Z1 series, and it's quite the sight to behold. The 54Z1 we got to look at was very strikingly clad in brushed metal gray -- compared to the regular black of most of Panasonic's TV lineup -- and of course incredibly thin. The wireless HD receiver box was across the room and working flawlessly, and it was nice to see that the included remote is an RF unit, capable of non-line-of-sight channel changing -- it's starting to feel like the 21st century around here! The plasma picture was of course very good, and we're really feeling those Viera Tools icons across the bottom. $6,000 though? That's your call.
ASUS shows off Wireless LCD prototype, "Green" monitors
ASUS news from CeBIT? Say it ain't so! Just hours after the company introduced two new "Green" LCDs, we stopped by to see what all the fuss was about. What we found were two rather vanilla looking LCDs (they're in the gallery below, we promise) sitting beside something entirely more interesting: a Wireless LCD prototype. An ASUS rep informed us that the model shown was utilizing the currently-in-limbo ultra-wideband (UWB) standard, and he affirmed that the monitor didn't have a model name nor an estimated ship date or price; it was simply on hand to prove that wireless LCDs were possible and that they're on the way. He noted that ASUS was looking into other wireless protocols -- namely wireless HD and WHDI -- and that it was "waiting things out" before making a final decision on what variation to use. Our take? We suspect it's both testing for best compatibility / range and waiting to see if UWB will remain viable in the coming months, which likely means no shipping product for quite some time. For what it's worth, the on-hand demo was stellar, with no visible lag, glitches or dropped frames to speak of.
Staccato CEO says UWB still has more to give
Staccato Communications has been a big fan of this whole wireless USB thing for years now, and while it seems that most of the industry has presumed ultra-wideband as dead and gone, the aforesaid company is still firmly supportive. The company's CEO has issued an absurdly long letter in response to the death knell reports that flowed after UWB mainstay TZero decided to fold, and while we could go on and on about his deepest, darkest feelings on the matter, here's what really counts. The bigwig has suggested that UWB is still far from dead, and in fact, it's just now shaping up to grow. He promises that 2009 has big things in store for the format, and evidently, those "big things" will breath "new life" into the flagging protocol. We're still pretty skeptical that UWB will break out within the next 10 months or so, but we suppose we've seen crazier things come together.[Via Slashdot]
TZero closes up shop, UWB all but dead
It's been a slow, painful death, but it's about time to just pull the white sheet over ultra-wideband and let the wireless standard rest in peace. After Intel pulled its support for UWB and proponent WiQuest shut down late last year, all that the format really had left was TZero. After successfully surviving some legal issues, we thought the company was good to go in fighting a hopeless battle against wireless HD upstart AMIMON. Now, it seems that WHDI (that's AMIMON's magic) is free to take the market by storm, but only time will tell if wireless HD is even remotely close to mainstream. In one sense, we're sad to see competition die, but on the other hand, it's always good to see fruitless format wars fade away. Don't be too down on yourself, TZero -- it's not like anyone really had high expectations for you or anything.
Panasonic's CES 2009 VIERA HDTV lineup priced and dated... for Japan
Remember those fancy new VIERA HDTVs introduced at CES by Panasonic? Yeah, well every last one just got a price tag and release date for the Japanese market. The Z, V and G Series (13 models in all) have been officially given a sticker and launch window, with the earliest ones heading out in March and the laggards getting boxed up in late April. Needless to say, there are far too many zeros and commas to list here, but you can head past the break along with your trusty currency converter to get a ballpark estimate of what these will run on American soil.
