Wireless HDMI standard in development

Daily Tech reports that TZero Technologies and Analog Devices are working together to develop an acceptable wireless HDMI standard, other companies have been working on this, but did not manage to come up with a good proposal. Tzero has now developed a prototype using standards set forth by Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sharp and Sony in July 2003.

TZero manufactures chips for ultrawideband technology, a transmission system which will eventually replace USB. The system they have developen can tranfer up to 500MBits/second, is supposed to be extremely reliable and its speed will not be affected by other devices like mobile phones or microwaves.

"It needs to be good under all conditions," said Dan Karr, VP of TZero's marketing division. "Wi-Fi serves this market very well, but in a video environment you can see that would be very problematic."

The first prototype of wireless HDMI is built up from Tzero's TZ7000 chipset and Analog Devices' JPEG2000 codec. At the moment it can only function as a simple cable replacement, but the companies are also working on a distribution device that can provide streams to up to three different receivers. The size will also be reduced further, making it easier to integrate it into televisions, set top boxes, projectors, etc.

A full functional device should be ready by the end of this year, according to TZero the prices of the technology will be similar to those of other wireless systems.