Wireless HD Expanding to PCs as Embedded Strategy Emerges

SEATTLE -- The battle to deliver wireless HD video is expanding to PCs from CE products as the technology widens its reach from dongles to embedded technology, industry executives said at the Society for Information Display conference.

WirelessHD and rival WHDI, which use the 60 GHz and 5 GHz spectrums to delivery data and video, are broadening their reach to PCs. Asus is expected to ship an optional EEE WiCast WHDI adapter ($199) in the coming weeks that allows some of its notebook PCs to link to a TV attached to a separate receiver, said Noam Geri, vice president of business development at chip supplier Amimon. The WiCast device plugs into a notebooks HDMI port and connects two of its USB connectors for power. WHDI will be embedded in notebook PCs starting in early 2011, he said. WirelessHD is expected to announce alliance for embedded PCs in “the next few days,” WirelessHD President John Marshall said.

The growth of the technology into PCs comes as Amimon and Sibeam, the chief supplier of WirelessHD chipsets, deliver second-generations ICs that boost processing speeds and features. Sibeam earlier this year began shipping the SB9220 network processor that boosted its clockspeed to 300 MHz from 160 MHz. WirelessHD also unveiled a 1.1 spec that added support for 3D, 4,000x2,000 resolution and increased throughput to 10-28 Gbps from 4-6 Gbits. Sibeam also unveiled in May hybrid silicon that could support the latest Wireless Gigabit Alliance and WirelessHD specs. WiGig has a 7 Gbps maximum data rate and the alliance recently stuck a deal with the Wi-Fi Alliance to have its 60 GHz networking considered as the next generation of WiFi. Wireless also gained HDCP 2.0 support earlier this year.

WHDI and WirelessHD also have moved to slash the price of their respective chipsets as Amimon and Sibeam switched to a 65-nanometer manufacturing process from 90 nanometers at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC). The new Sibeam chips, including the SB9210 RF transmitter, were to slash total system costs 35-40 percent, company officials have said (CED Oct 13 p1). WHDI, which finalized its 1.0 spec in late 2009, has receivers and transmitters priced at $17 and $22, respectively, in volumes of 10,000 units, and allows notebooks to add the technology for a $75 premium, Geri said. The prices will be halved next year, he said. That’s a major departure from first-generation WHDI-equipped devices that cost several hundred dollars. Among the last devices to use the first-generation chip was Philips’ Wireless HDTV Link that arrived in September at $850. “It shows the technology is getting absorbed into the consumer experience when it gets embedded into product,” Geri said.

CE manufacturers frequently have shifted alliances between WHDI and WirelessHD. For example, LG Electronics fielded WirelessHD-equipped LCD TVs last fall, but switched this year to make 26 of its LCD TVs compatible with WHDI, Geri said. Sony, which was one of WHDI’s early adopters, threw support this year behind WirelessHD. Panasonic, which is an investor in Sibeam, continues to field WirelessHD-equipped plasma TVs. But Samsung, which also invested in Sibeam in late 2008, has yet to field a WirelessHD product. Best Buy has marketed a WirelessHD adapter under its Rocketfish brand, but Monster Cable hasn’t shipped a planned product. Best Buy also is an investor in Sibeam.

"You are starting to see true source devices introducing WirelessHD creating that whole eco-system,” Marshall said. The value of any communications network is defined by the number of nodes in that network and as the number expands, so does the value of the network. Having one fax machine in the world is valueless, but having millions of fax machines creates value and the same holds true for WirelessHD."

With the increased adoption, Amimon has sold 500,000 WHDI chipsets so far, all but 150,000 of which are second-generation ICs, Geri told us. It’s targeting sales of one million units by year-end, he said.

There are also signs that wireless HD technologies are piquing consumer interest, Marshall said. More than 50 percent of those surveyed by the WirelessHD group last year wanted a wireless TV systems and were interested in networking their HD components, Marshall said.

"With a wireless in-room network they are sensitive to video quality,” Marshall said. “They worry that as you connect things wirelessly, the video will go down. They wanted to make sure that if they are buying the HD experience that it remains a lossless uncompressed experience and the picture quality of that wireless link is perfect. They want all of those things and for that they are willing to pay a premium.”

SID Conference Notebook

Hillcrest Labs will release by mid-June new reference kits for its Freespace technology, including one with a Broadcom Bluetooth chip, Chad Lucien, vice president of Freespace products and corporate strategy, told us. Freespace is an in-air pointing and motion control technology with an STMicroelectronics processor. The STMicroelectronics IC will reside in the reference kit alongside Broadcom’s BCM2022 chip, Lucien said. Hillcrest wrote a proprietary RF protocol to bring the Freespace technology to its Loop in-air mouse pointer, but is moving to broaden its use for licensing, Lucien said. “We wanted to create an interface that could be common across multiple RF technologies and Broadcom is our starting point,” Lucien said. Demand for Hillcrest’s Kylo Web browser that’s designed to link PCs and TVs has “exceeded expectations” since it was made available for Windows and Macintosh PCs in March (CED March 23 p4), Lucien said. The Mozilla-based browser, a 10-20 MB file depending on the PC, isn’t designed to replace Internet Explorer, Apple Safari or Firefox browsers, company officials have said. Kylo features an on-screen keyboard and fonts, cursor and on-screen icons. While Kylo is available as a free download, it hasn’t been decided whether it will be licensed to PC or CE manufacturers, Lucien said. But Hillcrest expects to forge partnerships for Kylo this year, he said. Meanwhile, a promotion pricing the Loop in-air pointer at $49 will end June 11, Lucien said. The retail will return to $99, Lucien said. The Loop pointer is compatible with a range of products including Sony’s PS3, AppleTV and Kodak’s HD Theater Player, the latter of which has been discontinued. The Loop technology also was designed into Universal Electronics’ Dolphin remote control and a Logitech mouse.