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Westinghouse Digital Electronics, a major US LCD manufacturer, is boasting the debut of the world's first fully integrated wireless HDTV at CES 2008. It features Pulse~LINK's CWave UWB Wireless HDMI technology, for lossless wireless streaming of HD content between devices and HDTV displays.
"Our focus at Westinghouse Digital has been centered around delivering the best HD has to offer," said John Araki, general manager of the Commercial Business Unit, 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 idea of CWave Wireless HDMI is that digital display products can be mounted anywhere in a room without the need to run cabling from the content source, be it a DVR, Blu-ray or HD DVD player, or a live cable or satellite feed. Video data is encoded using the JPEG2000 video codec.
According to Westinghouse, recent tests showed CWave's 1.35 Gbps over-the-air signaling rate delivering 890 Mbps application layer throughput. In terms of wireless range, it was claimed that CWave can surpass 500 Mbps at 8 feet and more than 115 Mbps at up to 40 feet.
"This fundamentally raises your expectations of what a TV should be and what it should do," states Bruce Watkins, Pulse~LINK President and Chief Operating Officer. "Watching this Westinghouse Digital HDTV - with no antennas or dongles or anything coming out of it except the power cord and a vibrant High Definition image - is an experience much like watching true High Definition for the first time. As soon as they see it, people will want this Wireless HDMI HDTV in their living room."
Commercial release, initially to the B2B digital signage market, is planned for Q2 2008. Details of the size and format of the display have not yet been revealed.
Pulse~LINK first demonstrated Wireless HDMI back in 2005 and has patented technology for streaming HD content through the home.
See also: Motorola preps MPEG-4 set-tops for HD programming
See also: Digital TV: Your Electronics Weekly guide and Electronics Weekly's Focus on Wireless, a roundup of content related to wireless communications.