- What is WHDI™?
- What transmission range does WHDI™ support?
- Which High Definition resolutions can WHDI™ deliver?
- Can WHDI™ go through walls?
- Can I continue using WiFi with WHDI™ in the same room?
- Will my cordless phone interfere with WHDI™ operation?
- Can I buy WHDI™-equipped TVs at retail stores?
- What frequency does WHDI™ use?
- What is the wireless data rate transmission of WHDI™?
- Do you deliver compressed HDTV?
- What makes WHDI™ different from 801.11a solutions?
- What products can use WHDI™ technology?
- Why shouldn't I continue to use a cable?
- Do you support HD-DVD or Blu-Ray Disc standards?
- What about audio transmission?
- If I've already bought a HD TV, can I still take advantage of WHDI™?
- What is WHDI™ latency? Will I have problems with lip-sync?
- What is the quality of the video that is received?
- What are the chipset interfaces?
- What other wireless solutions are available to transmit wireless uncompressed HDTV?
- I heard that in one or two years theres supposed to be a new standard called IEEE802.11n that sends large files in no time. Will I be able to use it for transmitting HDTV?
- What about using higher radio frequency bands (60Ghz) to enable higher bandwidth and avoiding interferences?
- What is so much better about uncompressed video transmission?
- Is WHDI™ secured? Could someone eavesdrop on my wireless high definition video?
What is WHDI™?
AMIMON’s Wireless High Definition Interface (WHDI™) technology enables a wireless link of uncompressed High Definition (HD) audio and video between HD (or Standard Definition -SD) video sources, such as: HD set-top-boxes, PCs, DVDs and HD-DVD/Blu-Ray players to flat panel plasma/LCD displays and multimedia projectors. WHDI™ delivers the same high-quality audio/video as that achieved with wired interfaces, such as: HDMI™, component video or VGA (PC output).
What transmission range does WHDI™ support?
WHDI™’s supported range is at least 30m indoors with no line-of-sight required and 60m line-of-sight outdoors. Special configurations will enable longer ranges.
Which High Definition resolutions can WHDI™ deliver?
WHDI™ can deliver HD:
Video resolutions up to: 720p, 1080i, 625i, 575i, 575p, 480p, 480i;
PC resolutions up to: 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 @ 60 and 70Hz; and
Flat Panel Display (FPD) resolutions up to: 854x480, 1280x768 or 1366x768 @ 48, 50, 60 and 72 Hz.
WHDI™ is the only wireless technology that can support the delivery of an uncompressed HDTV video stream with video data rates of up to 3 Gbps (1080p).
Can WHDI™ go through walls?
Yes. WHDI™ supports wireless transmission through regular gypsum, wood, or concrete walls. However, iron walls can decrease system performance, affecting its range and quality.
Can I continue using WiFi with WHDI™ in the same room?
Sure. Most common WiFi solutions are based on a standard called IEEE802.11b/g, which operates in the 2.4GHz band. Only the less common IEEE802.11a\n standards utilize the 5GHz band like WHDI™. The WHDI system will automatically identify other 5GHz transmissions and will switch frequencies seamlessly in order to avoid disturbance and interference with the WiFi system.
Will my cordless phone interfere with WHDI™ operation?
No. Only a few cordless phones use the 5 GHz band. In these cases, the WHDI™ system will automatically identify them and avoid interference.
Can I buy WHDI™-equipped TVs at retail stores?
Not yet, but hopefully very soon you will be able to purchase WHDI™-enabled TV’s. Leading manufacturers are working on designing televisions with WHDI™ capability built inside. A stand-alone wireless HDMI™ extender (‘dongle’) is also expected to be available soon, allowing consumers to wirelessly connect their existing TV’s, projectors and monitors.
What frequency does WHDI™ use?
WHDI™ operates in the 4.9-5.9 GHz frequency band, according to each country’s specific regulations. These frequencies were allocated for public use worldwide, and users are not required to purchase licenses for them.
What is the wireless data rate transmission of WHDI™?
WHDI™ can support the delivery of an uncompressed HDTV video and audio stream with data rates of up to 3 Gbps (1080p) in a 40MHz channel and up to 1.5Gbps in a 20 MHz channel.
Do you deliver compressed HDTV?
No, WHDI™ does better than that, it delivers uncompressed HDTV. There is no need to compress the signal before wirelessly sending it, and decompressing it afterwards. Thus, there is no added cost for a decoder, no latency in the process, and original quality is maintained.
What makes WHDI™ different from 801.11a solutions?
IEEE802.11a is a wireless LAN standard, which was defined primarily to enable wireless data network connectivity. The low transmission rate supported by 802.11a (54Mbps) along with its data orientation, make it inappropriate for transferring high definition video data.
What products can use WHDI™ technology?
Any audio or video content can be transmitted over WHDI™. This includes TV or PC monitor regular resolutions, and all new high definition TV standards.
Why shouldn't I continue to use a cable?
Cables are a great solution but have a number of limitations:
- Range A 30 meter HDMI cable to deliver High Definition TV is very expensive and usually degrades the video quality.
- Flexibility Any change in the transmitter or receiver location requires new cable installation.
- Simplicity A cable is a point to point connectivity solution. If you want to connect two sources to one TV, or one source to drive several TV’s, you need to install an expensive cable and a splitter box for each source or destination.
- Esthetics You can finally get rid of those messy cables!
Do you support HD-DVD or Blu-Ray Disc standards?
Yes. Both HD-DVD & Blu-Ray players include HDMI interface (High Definition Media Interface). WHDI™ is the only solution that can deliver this signal wirelessly to a TV, while maintaining its high video quality.
What about audio transmission?
WHDI™ supports high-quality audio transmission. This includes DTS, Dolby Digital, AC3 or any other stereo or multi-channel digital audio standard.
If I've already bought a HD TV, can I still take advantage of WHDI™?
Absolutely. In 2007 'after-market' solutions will be available to consumers enabling them to replace annoying cables with two small wireless units: one will be connected to the HDTV source and the other to your TV or projector.
What is WHDI™ latency? Will I have problems with lip-sync?
While latency is indeed a major problem in most wireless audio-video solutions, the latency of WHDI™ is less than 1mS (!). This is de facto no latency, which means you will not experience any lip-sync problems.
What is the quality of the video that is received?
The quality of the received wireless video is perfect. You won't be able to distinguish between a WHDI™-connected and a cable-connected HDTV.
What are the chipset interfaces?
WHDI™ interface is generic, allowing the design of a simple ‘interface-board’ to connect easily to all audio and video standard interfaces: HDMI, DVI, VGA, Components, Composite, S-video, SPDIF, Toslink, Analog audio, and others.
What other wireless solutions are available to transmit wireless uncompressed HDTV?
While there have been a number of exotic and expensive technological attempts at delivering uncompressed HDTV, AMIMON is the only company that offers a solution for wireless transmission of uncompressed HDTV. The reason is that High Definition Video, which is uncompressed, requires ultra-high rate transmission that even advanced (but still traditional) wireless solutions cannot provide. AMIMON's unique video solution is capable of transmitting wireless HDTV without derogating from the high definition video quality.
I heard that in one or two years theres supposed to be a new standard called IEEE802.11n that sends large files in no time. Will I be able to use it for transmitting HDTV?
802.11n is the next standard in the successful wireless LAN 802.11 family and is expected to support actual transmission rates of up to 200Mbps. While this rate is much higher than prior 802.11 wireless standards, it is still far from transmitting 1.5Gbps-the minimum required for uncompressed High Definition TV. In order to transmit wireless HDTV, implementers of 802.11n will have to compress the data, and then decompress it on the other side. This adds higher costs and complexity to the system, as well as unacceptable latency.
What about using higher radio frequency bands (60 GHz) to enable higher bandwidth and avoiding interferences?
Using higher radio frequencies (RF) will avoid the interferences caused by the 'crowd' of applications, as seen today in the 2.4GHz band, and may also be the case in the future for the 5GHz frequency band.
AMIMON's technology (patented modulation scheme) does not depend on the frequency used: It can be implemented in various RF bands, enjoying the same inherent advantages. Therefore, using AMIMON's wireless technology to transmit in an 'interference free’ frequency band, will allow AMIMON's solutions to reach even higher transmission rates, with lower costs and superior quality.
As for the recently-publicized 60GHz based wireless approach, AMIMON's solution could be implemented to work in this band, once it is actually available. Unfortunately, for now, this technology is still in its infancy: Radio ICs for this frequency are immature and expensive; it is highly dependent on directional antennas; and its range is very limited.
What is so much better about uncompressed video transmission?
The main problem with compressed video is that it isn't available to the user. Every HD DVD player, HD satellite/cable set-top-box, or HD PC outputs uncompressed video. So the most natural solution is sending this uncompressed video as is to the TV, monitor or projector for display.
Most wireless technologies aren't capable of delivering uncompressed video, due to its high bit rate, so they have to compress the signal, send it wirelessly and then decompress it again. Because this process takes time, latency is added to the transmission; it is more expensive; and video quality is degraded.
AMIMON’s technology is capable of sending uncompressed video, thus avoiding all these problems.
Is WHDI™ secured? Could someone eavesdrop on my wireless high definition video?
WHDI™ uses strong encryption (AES 256 bit-based) to protect the high definition wireless link. This ensures that all video or audio content transmitted wirelessly over WHDI™ links is safe from intentional or accidental eavesdropping.