WHDI 2.0 spec to cover 3D, mobile app integration

Amimon-led WHDI LLC, the organization responsible for licensing the Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) standard, announced the technical features for the upcoming WHDI 2.0 specification—scheduled for release in Q2 11.

The new spec. will include: full 3-D support; support for the next generation 4Kx2K HD format; WHDI-Wi-Fi integration and same channel co-existence; and mobile device integration through reduced power consumption and footprint.

The WHDI 2.0 spec, although not available until a year from now, appears to hit all the hot-button issues revolving around wireless HD video apps and their requirements.

The question one has to ask, though, is how significant WHDI's roadmap is to the rest of the electronics industry today, when the Wi-Fi's future still remains unsettled. Indeed, many players—chip vendors and consumer system OEMs included—are all eager to debate the future of the Wi-Fi, and yet most are still sitting on the fence when it comes to their own wireless HD video strategies.

As the industry's debate on the future of Wi-Fi heats up, one would wonder where that leaves proprietary, uncompressed wireless video technology companies such as Amimon and SiBeam in the fledgling high-bandwidth wireless home networking world.

After all, various industry groups including the IEEE 802.11ad group, the Wi-Fi Alliance, the WiGig Alliance and WirelessHD, are all jockeying for position to be a part of the higher data throughput wireless standard that can do so much more than what the current Wi-Fi offers—including uncompressed wireless HD video.

On one hand, SiBeam, proponent of the WirelessHD (a 60GHz technology alternative to WiGig Alliance), appears betting its survival on a newly formed deal with WiGig Alliance. SiBeam recently agreed to offer hybrid silicon supporting both the latest WiGig and WirelesHD specs.

On the other hand, Amimon, a developer of WHDI technology running at 5GHz frequency, hopes to stay above the fray. Yoav Nissan-Cohen, chairman and CEO of Amimon, said, "We are taking a 'wait' position on the 60GHz frequency standards' activities."

Unlike its competing 60GHz-based wireless video solution limited to single-room solutions, WHDI offers the wireless, multi-room distribution of HD (full 1080p/60Hz) video, allowing HD sources to connect to TVs throughout and across the home, according to Amimon.

What should matter to the industry, in Amimon CEO's opinion, is that Amimon's WHDI standard is set; the updated spec supporting 3D is coming soon; and most important of all, their products are already shipping in volume in the wireless HD video market.

Les Chard, president of WHDI LLC, said that the group's new WHDI 2.0 spec will promise a much higher data throughput—enough to fill eight million pixels on a screen required for the next generation 4Kx2K HD format. More significantly, the newly planned WHDI-Wi-Fi integration feature also allows WHDI and Wi-Fi to co-exist simultaneously in the same channel, added Nissan-Cohen.