Audio Video News

An Israeli chip maker has joined forces with several major TV manufacturers to add yet another wireless high-def home distribution standard to an already crowded field.

Amimon has been best known, so far, for providing the technology behind Belkin's Flywire. But now it's teaming up with Hitachi, Motorola, Samsung, Sharp, and Sony to develop a Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI). The group intends to finalize the standard before the end of 2008, so this appears to be more than a pie-in-the-sky effort.

WHDI would use the same 5GHz spectrum as 802.11n wi-fi to deliver uncompressed HD video at resolutions up to 1080p. Data rate would be up to 3 gigabits per second. That's a lot of bits. The standard would also operate on the 20MHz band to deliver up to 1.5Gbps, supporting 1080i and 720p. The system architecture would not be merely point to point within one room, but more of a short range broadcast from any signal source in the home to any TV in the home. Devices would be protected by a passkey.

There are other entries in the wireless-HD field, most notable Ultra WideBand (UWB), which has hundreds of supporters. So now it's a horserace.

See Amimon site, illustrated press release on eHome Upgrade, plus good writeups at Gizmodo and ArsTechnica.