LAS VEGAS – The
next-generation of
in-room cable-replacement technology will get its
first demo at a trade show during CES on the eve of the spec’s final adoption,
WirelessHD consortium chairman John Marshall said.
For video streaming, the new version supports select 3D high-definition
video formats and higher pixel resolutions of 2K and 4K, Marshall
said. The new spec also adds support for high-speed point-to-point AV streaming
of uncompressed 1080p video from battery-powered portable devices such as
camcorders, portable media players, and laptops.
The next-gen spec could be finalized and published shortly after CES,
and products incorporating the technology could appear sometime in 2011 as a
result, he said. “We’re very, very far along,” he said before the show.
At CES, “there will be some
demonstrations of multiple technologies included in the next-gen spec
supporting different features and functions,” Marshall told TWICE. Consortium members hope
to show WirelessHD 3D streaming and data transfer at 1Gbps data rates, he
added.
First-generation 60GHz-band WirelessHD 1.0 replaces wired HDMI
connections, delivering uncompressed copy-protected high-definition video at
resolutions up to 1080p from set-top boxes or DVRs to an HDTV within a room up to 10 meters away. The
technology isn’t designed to penetrate walls to deliver multiroom video. In the
U.S., the technology appears
in a Panasonic plasma TV, two LG LCD TVs, a Sony LCD TV, and in recently
available $599 Rocketfish adapter kit from Best Buy, said Marshall. Monster Cable and Gefen also have
announced adapters, he said.
The current 4Gbps-throughput technology streams uncompressed, no-loss
high-definition video at 1080p using a version of 128-bit
Digital
Transmission Content Protection
(DTCP) encryption technology authorized
by the Digital Transmission License Administrator (DTLA) organization. DTCP
permits HD video streaming for copying, not just for display, the consortium
said.
To support 3D and 2K/4K streaming, the consortium upped the next-gen
spec’s throughput to more than 10Gbps. Set-top boxes and laptops plugged into
household AC would be able to achieve that streaming rate.
In
battery-operated portable devices such as camcorders and cellphones, AV
streaming and file transfers must support a minimum 1Gbps throughput when not
plugged into household AC. Depending on “how they want to
balance/prioritize performance versus battery life,” however, suppliers could
build portable devices that
stream and transfer wirelessly at 10Gbps, with about 4Gbps required for 1080p
streaming, Marshall said.
For portable
devices, “battery life is an implementation matter,” but the next-gen spec is
optimized “to allow lower-power implementations while
still being interoperable,” he noted. “A notebook PC that is plugged into power could stream at the highest rate of
10Gbps, or when unplugged and in “conserve battery” mode might shift
down to a 1Gbps rate,” he continued. “It’s
flexible and at the discretion of the device
manufacturer as to how they want to balance/prioritize performance versus
battery life.
