A group of consumer electronic manufacturers and wireless technology firms have announced they are working on a new standard to bring HD television across the home using Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) technology. The group is made up of Amimon, Hitachi, Motorola, Samsung, Sharp and Sony and hopes to have specifications finalised by the end of the year.
A key ingredient of WHDI technology is a new video-modem that operates in the 5GHz unlicensed band to enable robust wireless delivery of uncompressed HD video (including 1080p). WHDI allows secure, encrypted HD video delivery through multiple rooms and other potential signal obstructions, such as people and furniture, while maintaining superb quality and robustness with less than one-millisecond latency.
The objective of this special interest group is to enhance the current WHDI technology to enable wireless streaming of uncompressed HD video and audio between CE devices such as LCD and plasma HDTVs, multimedia projectors, A/V receivers, DVD and BD players, set-top boxes, game consoles, and PCs. The new interoperable standard aims to ensure that CE devices manufactured by different vendors will simply and directly connect to one another.
“WHDI technology complements other wireless and wired standards with a new class of connectivity within the home,” said Dr David Lee, the founder of the HDMI standard and a member of AMIMON’s board of directors, in a prepared statement. “WHDI’s connectivity matrix introduces to consumers new possibilities to enjoy their high definition entertainment network.”
