Posted Tue Feb 2, 2010 at 01:00 PM PST by Mike Attebery
All three companies are developing wireless chips for the 60GHz frequency.
Judging from the number of announcements from companies working on wireless high definition in the last few years, you’d think we’d have it by now. And technically we do, it’s just not at a price most people are willing to pay.
While wireless HDMI is easy to dismiss, the option to go wireless with a TV can’t be overlooked. Getting rid of the need for wires allows incredible freedom of placement for a television, though the need for power, and the cost and reliability of wireless HDMI units are still limiters.
From the looks of things, the technology is finally ready for mass production, as Hitachi, Panasonic and Toshiba have all stated that they’re working on wireless chips of their own. Each company is independently working on semiconductors, says one Hitachi engineer, to avoid having to rely on third party manufacturers.
There’s no word as to which company is going with which wireless standard, WiGig or WirelessHD. Either way, the 60GHz spectrum will allow transfer rates as high as 1.5 gigabits a second without interference from other wireless devices.
Even at a 1Gb/s transfer rate – about two thirds of the maximum – a full audio CD could be transferred in about five seconds, while a full movie could be sent in nine. Blu-ray discs have a 54Mb/s transfer rate, and even at the proposed 8x read speed, they’ll only need 288Mbps. If 60GHz streaming works in the home like it does in demos, and the costs aren’t prohibitive, we’re in for a treat.
Source: Tech On
See what people are saying about this story in our forums area, or check out other recent discussions.
The latest news on all things 4K Ultra HD, blu-ray and Gear.