Ofcom approves spectrum for wireless high definition usage
It's been over two years since Toshiba developed 60GHz wireless technology for bandwidth-intensive streaming applications, such as uncompressed high definition video and audio.
Although the technology gained industry support it does seem as if the predicted wireless HDTV explosion will rely more on the 802.11n at 5GHz.
So, will Ofcom's recent, and very speedy, decision to open up the 57GHz-66GHz spectrum, make any difference?
According to reports, Panasonic is looking at integrating wireless technology within this frequency range into its new HDTVs -- at a price, of course.
Two obvious advantages to wireless streaming of uncompressed HD content are for getting video and audio from a PC or Blu-ray player to a display, and for building ultra-thin TVs where the receiver is housed in a separate box.
I'm not sure the new spectrum will make much difference for those wanting to watch content from their laptop onto a TV because many PCs already have 802.11n Wi-Fi built-in, so it would be much more cost effective to fit a wireless receiver to an HDMI port on the TV.
For TV manufacturers wanting to separate receiver from screen, the technology may be worth building in -- it has a range of about 10 metres -- though 802.11n technology on 5GHz also has a very good range and is possibly more of a mainstream technology at present.
So, hats off to Ofcom for clearing the airwaves to make wireless HD a possibility. I'm just not convinced that it will have an immediate impact. What do you think?
(Via Tech Digest)
Post a comment
Required fields marked by *