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The State of Wireless HDMI and WirelessHD: "HD television may be the wave of the future, but it's a future that's still cluttered by messy wires. Fortunately there are two competing technologies aimed at wirelessly connecting HDTVs to our entertainment setups: Wireless HDMI and WirelessHD. We checked in with the major players in this developing arena to get the scoop on their forthcoming product features and timelines.

Wireless HDMI is exactly what it sounds like: a 'high definition multimedia interface' (HDMI) free of cables. Wireless HDMI is not a standard itself, although its backers say that implementations can be non-proprietary when deployed using Ultrawideband (UWB) under the WiMedia standard.

There are currently a few companies that have developed chipsets for this purpose, but the chipsets are just now beginning to be integrated into products that will debut later this year. Some companies that offer chipsets and solutions under the name 'Wireless HDMI' are Philips, Tzero Technologies, and Radiospire networks.

Ars spoke with Tzero's Matt Keowen, senior director of corporate marketing, and Dan Karr, senior vice president of marketing and sales. Tzero's Wireless HDMI chipset is called ZeroWire HDMI, and it uses 'ultrawideband because it is much more reliable and offers much higher throughput,' Keowen said, adding that there's no interference or fading like WiFi.

At the center of Tzero's offering is WiMedia, a UWB standard created by the non-profit WiMedia Alliance. The WiMedia alliance is embraced by heavy hitters in the wireless industry, including Bluetooth and USB Forum implementers as well as research institutions and over 200 international corporations. The aim is to create a way for all UWB devices, which could eventually include laptops, cameras, and set-top boxes, to interact and co-exist in the same environment. Promoters include companies like HP, Microsoft, Nokia, Texas Instruments, Samsung, and Sony.

Tzero says that its embrace of WiMedia will allow ZeroWire HDMI to eventually interact with laptops, cameras, and other technologies that may be on your future personal area network. According to Keowen, Tzero's ZeroWire HDMI can use the WiMedia UWB standard to 'deliver more than 300Mbps of sustained throughput for in-room coverage.' The theoretical maximum throughput of UWB, however, is 480Mbps.

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(Read Original Article - Via arstechnica .)