AMIMON's WHDI wireless HD modules coming to netbooks and laptops
By Darren Murph 
posted Nov 17th 2009 6:44PM
posted Nov 17th 2009 6:44PM
AMIMON Introduces WHDI Modules for the Notebook PC Market
Enables a wireless HD connection from PCs to HDTVs; Consumers Can Finally Watch all PC Content Conveniently on their HDTV
Santa Clara, Calif. – November 18, 2009 – AMIMON Inc., the market leader in wireless High Definition semiconductor solutions, today announced the availability of WHDI™ modules which can be embedded into notebook PCs and netbook PCs. The WHDI modules are available today with a mini-PCI form-factor of 50mm*30mm and will also be offered with a standard Display-Mini card form-factor of 44.4mm*26mm based on the interface defined by the PCI SIG® which uses Displayport™. Additionally, these cards are designed for the WHDI™ (Wireless Home Digital Interface™) standard and are capable of wirelessly delivering full uncompressed 1080p/60Hz HD content throughout the entire home.
The AMIMON WHDI modules' compact form factor enables seamless integration into PCs. The WHDI modules are also designed for low power consumption suitable for battery-powered devices.
Notebook PCs embedded with the new WHDI modules are expected to be in the market in 2010 offering consumers the ability to connect their notebook wirelessly to any WHDI-enabled HDTV or, through an external WHDI-to-HDMI adaptor, also to any HDTV. The new modules will also enable external wireless PC-to-TV accessories ('dongles') which connect to the PC and TV via HDMI.
With WHDI consumers can view the entire content of their notebook screen on their TV. Content such as Internet video, flash media, digital photos, PC games can all be viewed and experienced on the TV with a convenient wireless connection.
"PCs are increasingly becoming a source of multimedia entertainment like Hulu, YouTube, etc. Consumers will be able to wirelessly connect their PCs and watch all this cool new content on their big screen TV anywhere in the home," said Noam Geri, vice president of marketing and business development for AMIMON. "WHDI is gaining momentum with TV OEMs and now also PC OEMs set to offer consumers multiple WHDI enabled products in 2010."
The WHDI modules are based on the revolutionary video modem technology operating in the 5GHz unlicensed band, pioneered by AMIMON and the backbone of WHDI. WHDI co-exists in the same frequency spectrum with Wi-Fi and uses similar RF building blocks and antennas. The WHDI synergies with Wi-Fi enable a roadmap to integrated WHDI + Wi-Fi semiconductor components which will offer notebook OEMs the prospect of a very low cost WHDI wireless HD link to the TV.
The WHDI Modules are designed and manufactured by AMIMON's ODM Partners. Key features include:
* Based on AMIMON's AMN 2120/2220 WHDI chipset, designed for the WHDI standard
* Compact form factor
* Support for full high definition resolutions up to 1080p/60Hz
* Practically no latency - less than 1 millisecond
* Hollywood approved HDCP 2.0 copy protection
* Low power consumption modes for portable devices
* Low cost
* 5GHz unlicensed band with support for Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS)
About AMIMON
AMIMON is a fabless semiconductor company pioneering wireless uncompressed high-definition video for universal connectivity among CE video devices. AMIMON is a founding member of the WHDI Consortium (Wireless Home Digital Interface) formed by leading CE companies to define a new industry standard for multi-room wireless HDTV connectivity.
AMIMON is headquartered in Herzlia, Israel, with offices in California, USA; Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China. More information is available at www.amimon.com and www.whdi.org.
WHDI and Wireless Home Digital Interface are trademarks of WHDI, LLC. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are those of their respective holders.
Enables a wireless HD connection from PCs to HDTVs; Consumers Can Finally Watch all PC Content Conveniently on their HDTV
Santa Clara, Calif. – November 18, 2009 – AMIMON Inc., the market leader in wireless High Definition semiconductor solutions, today announced the availability of WHDI™ modules which can be embedded into notebook PCs and netbook PCs. The WHDI modules are available today with a mini-PCI form-factor of 50mm*30mm and will also be offered with a standard Display-Mini card form-factor of 44.4mm*26mm based on the interface defined by the PCI SIG® which uses Displayport™. Additionally, these cards are designed for the WHDI™ (Wireless Home Digital Interface™) standard and are capable of wirelessly delivering full uncompressed 1080p/60Hz HD content throughout the entire home.
The AMIMON WHDI modules' compact form factor enables seamless integration into PCs. The WHDI modules are also designed for low power consumption suitable for battery-powered devices.
Notebook PCs embedded with the new WHDI modules are expected to be in the market in 2010 offering consumers the ability to connect their notebook wirelessly to any WHDI-enabled HDTV or, through an external WHDI-to-HDMI adaptor, also to any HDTV. The new modules will also enable external wireless PC-to-TV accessories ('dongles') which connect to the PC and TV via HDMI.
With WHDI consumers can view the entire content of their notebook screen on their TV. Content such as Internet video, flash media, digital photos, PC games can all be viewed and experienced on the TV with a convenient wireless connection.
"PCs are increasingly becoming a source of multimedia entertainment like Hulu, YouTube, etc. Consumers will be able to wirelessly connect their PCs and watch all this cool new content on their big screen TV anywhere in the home," said Noam Geri, vice president of marketing and business development for AMIMON. "WHDI is gaining momentum with TV OEMs and now also PC OEMs set to offer consumers multiple WHDI enabled products in 2010."
The WHDI modules are based on the revolutionary video modem technology operating in the 5GHz unlicensed band, pioneered by AMIMON and the backbone of WHDI. WHDI co-exists in the same frequency spectrum with Wi-Fi and uses similar RF building blocks and antennas. The WHDI synergies with Wi-Fi enable a roadmap to integrated WHDI + Wi-Fi semiconductor components which will offer notebook OEMs the prospect of a very low cost WHDI wireless HD link to the TV.
The WHDI Modules are designed and manufactured by AMIMON's ODM Partners. Key features include:
* Based on AMIMON's AMN 2120/2220 WHDI chipset, designed for the WHDI standard
* Compact form factor
* Support for full high definition resolutions up to 1080p/60Hz
* Practically no latency - less than 1 millisecond
* Hollywood approved HDCP 2.0 copy protection
* Low power consumption modes for portable devices
* Low cost
* 5GHz unlicensed band with support for Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS)
About AMIMON
AMIMON is a fabless semiconductor company pioneering wireless uncompressed high-definition video for universal connectivity among CE video devices. AMIMON is a founding member of the WHDI Consortium (Wireless Home Digital Interface) formed by leading CE companies to define a new industry standard for multi-room wireless HDTV connectivity.
AMIMON is headquartered in Herzlia, Israel, with offices in California, USA; Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China. More information is available at www.amimon.com and www.whdi.org.
WHDI and Wireless Home Digital Interface are trademarks of WHDI, LLC. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are those of their respective holders.
OK. I'll just file this away in my "I'll believe it when I see it" file.
This is a feature I could see Apple building in, but then again I could also see them deciding they could do it better (somehow) and making their own "standard". Could this be built into an Expresscard, or does this need integration at the lowest level of a computer's inner working and interconnectivity? I think it'd be awesome to add to my MacBook Pro, but for now, a 15' DVI->HDMI cable stretching from my TV to couch is good enough (thanks monoprice!).
-Brian
This wireless-HD has some real issues with it that I haven't seen resolved
1) the cost - it's been introduced on high-end TVs to "eliminate wires", inflating the price for people who have already run cables.
2) security - what measures are in place to prevent "neighbors" from viewing your viewing or pc display? Note that electronic surveillance used to be able to pick up and record CRT signals.
3) RF traffic - why is this using the 5ghz band? Wifi is starting to return to 5ghz because 2.4 ghz is *completely* saturated in some dense areas. In the future, it's may not have enough bandwidth to perform adequately
Maybe in the form of pairing devices much like how Bluetooth is? limited short range.. i expect because for the amount of bandwidth 1080P requires.
Exactly how much bandwidth does 1080p require?
This is cool, but I would hope it will transfer audio over this wireless HDMI connection. Otherwise you would still have to run a cable from your laptop for audio.