Jan 3, 2008 11:18 AM
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Westinghouse is jumping into the wireless TV business with partner Pulse-LINK to unveil an ultrawideband HDTV in the second quarter of next year. Using Pulse-LINK's wireless HDMI system, a highbandwidth Blu-ray or HD DVD signal can be streamed through an invisible pipeline of up to 500 Mbps at 8 feet, or 115 Mbps at 40 feet, with video encoded on the fly using the JPEG 2000 codec. We've seen 802.11-based wireless HDTVs from Samsung and LG, but this is the first integrated UWB version. Sadly, the initial rollout will be for corporate customers only, with their fancy kiosks and point-of-purchase displays. But if we know Westinghouse, we'll soon see that stuff coming our way (and for cheaper than the other leading brands). Jump for press release.
Westinghouse Digital and Pulse~LINK Unveil the World's First Fully Integrated Wireless HDTV at CES 2008Las Vegas, NV—January 3, 2008—Westinghouse Digital Electronics, one of the top five LCD manufacturers in the U.S.*, and Pulse~LINK, Inc., the UWB semiconductor performance leader, today introduced the world's first fully integrated wireless HDTV. The High Definition LCD TV, featuring Pulse~LINK's integrated CWave® UWB Wireless HDMI technology, will be on display for the first time at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, January 7-10. An initial debut will take place at the CES Unveiled press event on Saturday, January 5, in the Sands/Venetian Marco Polo Ballroom, followed by demonstrations throughout the show at the Las Vegas Convention Center in the Pulse~LINK booth (South Hall 2, #25559) and in the Westinghouse Digital booth (South Hall 1, #21707).
"Our focus at Westinghouse Digital has been centered around delivering the best HD has to offer," states John Araki, Vice President and General Manager, Commercial Business Unit, at Westinghouse Digital Electronics. "HDMI digital transport provides the full HD resolution our customers expect and we are extremely impressed with the performance and capabilities of Pulse~LINK's Wireless HDMI solution. The fact that it is fully integrated into our HDTV display is unprecedented in the industry and will certainly raise expectations for high quality ready to mount wall display products in the marketplace."
The Westinghouse Digital Wireless HDMI HDTV is planned for initial commercial release to the B2B digital signage market in Q2 2008. CWave® HDMI products offer real-time visually lossless wireless streaming of high quality audio and video content between entertainment source devices and HDTV displays. With the integration of CWave® Wireless HDMI, digital display products can be mounted anywhere in the room without needing to run data cabling from the TV to the content source, such as a DVR, Blu-ray or HD DVD player, or a live cable or satellite feed. Video data is encoded using the JPEG2000 video codec, the same codec used by movie theaters for "Digital Cinema," providing a secure high quality HD experience. Pulse-LINK's Wireless HDMI solution is engineered to be equivalent in both content protection and visual experience to a wired HDMI connection.
Pulse~LINK recently announced that its FCC Certified CWave® UWB chipset was validated in independent testing to be the world's fastest commercially available wireless networking technology. A comprehensive test of UWB products, conducted by octoScope, showed CWave's 1.35 Gbps over-the-air signaling rate delivering 890 Mbps application layer throughput - faster than any other wireless product currently available. Wireless range was also impressive in the test report- with CWave surpassing 500 Mbps at 8 feet and more than 115 Mbps up to 40 feet, at which point they ran out of space in the test facility.
"This is an eye opener. People are going to deeply desire this Westinghouse Digital Wireless HDMI HDTV in their living room as soon as they see it at CES," states Bruce Watkins, Pulse~LINK President and Chief Operating Officer. "We've been leading the technical pursuit of this for several years. Pulse~LINK has publicly demonstrated various wireless HDTV radio prototypes for some time, but nothing compares to the real thing when you finally see it. Actually watching this gorgeous Westinghouse High Definition television - with nothing coming out of the TV accept the power cord and a vibrant high definition image - is an experience beyond comparison with anything that has come prior to now. This really changes everything."
Pulse~LINK is the only semiconductor company to deliver production silicon with Gigabit data rates for both wired and wireless HD video distribution. A long time recognized innovator of UWB technology, Pulse~LINK was the first company to demonstrate Wireless HDMI in 2005 and continues to set the performance bar for high data rate wireless connectivity. Pulse~LINK also invented the use of Ultra Wideband over coax systems and was the first to patent and demonstrate this revolutionizing technology for streaming HD content throughout the home.
Send an email to Wilson Rothman, the author of this post, at wilson@gizmodo.com.
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