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The Register: Those déclassé wires tethering your wide-screen TV to your set-top box or Blu-Ray drive may finally disappear when ultra-wideband HDTV sets hit the market later this year, thanks to a group of announcements at this year’s CES. According to a report by the IEE Times, wireless-chip designer SiBEAM “snagged three major design wins with top TV makers” – namely LG Electronics, Panasonic, and Toshiba.

SiBEAM also announced today that its SB9120 WirelessHD HRTX Transmit Network Processor and SB9121 WirelessHD HRRX Receive Network Processor have recently begun volume production. These 60GHz ultra-wideband CMOS chips are based on the company’s OmniLink60 technology, which complies with the WirelessHD 1.0 spec published by the WirelessHD group.

The concept of wireless HDTV isn’t new. A number of technologies designed to accomplish this feat were demonstrated in 2008, including WHDI, used in Sony’s Bravia ZX1, and Pulse~Link’s CWave, used in Westinghouse’s Digital Wireless HDMI HDTV demonstrated at last year’s CES along with SiBEAM’s own demonstration of WirelessHD prototypes. Amimon demonstrated its 1.36Gbps wireless HDTV technology as long ago as CES 2007 and now claims 3Gbps performance with its WHDI implementation.

What is new and notable, according to SiBEAM, is that the now-in-mass-production SB9120 and SB9121 “are the first and only option” that can support “video resolutions from 480p/60Hz to 1080p/60Hz, uncompressed and lossless” due to their claimed data rate of 4Gbps. Also, the company claims that since the SB9120 and SB9121 are CMOS-based chips, they can be “affordable for the mass market.”

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Cdfreaks.com: During the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next month, several companies will discuss at least four different wireless high-definition TV standards.

A panel discussion between vendors and representatives of the following formats will take place:  AMIMON, a WHDI supporter; Pulse-LINK, HDMI supporters; SiBEAM, wireless HD supporters; and ProVision, the 802.11n backer.

Out of the four standards, only 802.11n “is the only standard capable of cost-effectively transmitting interactive wireless HD video across all rooms within a home,” said Professor Andrew Nix.

Broadcom, Hitachi, Motorola, Samsung, Sharp, and Sony joined the WHDI Special Interest Group (SIG), in the hope of creating and promoting a new 5 GHz platform. Intel, Panasonic, LG Electronics, NEC, Toshiba, Samsung and Sony also are supporting a 60Hz technology used by Wireless HD.

“SiBEAM has recently completed a new round of fundraising, successfully securing the participation of two major backers, Panasonic and Samsung,” ABI Research analyst Steve Wilson said in a statement.  “Broadcom has also joined the consortium.  Meanwhile Mitsubishi has announced its choice of the Amimon chipset.”

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DVICE: At the recently concluded CEDIA Expo we saw plenty of cool wireless systems for distributing music throughout your house, but it looks like sending HD video without wires is proving to be a tougher nut to crack.

A few weeks back we looked at a wireless HD video protocol called WHDI, and at CEDIA, a handful of companies demonstrated products using this or other similar technologies which they promise to deliver soon.

First out of the gate will likely be the already mentioned Belkin FlyWire, which can send 1080p HD signals throughout your house without compression.

Sony wasn’t divulging too much information about their Bravia Wireless Link, and the only one I found on their stand was jammed in on its side next to a PS3 and a Blu-ray player.

Few people are familiar with Aurora Multimedia, but they too were showing an upcoming HD wireless video link.

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Crave: Mitsubishi will be joining the rarefied ranks (in TV anyway) of Sony and Samsung in offering wireless television.

Wireless chipmaker Amimon announced that Mitsubishi will use its technology to send high-definition TV signals to its latest LCD TV without wires. It will come in 40-inch and 46-inch sizes.

Mitsubishi’s TV will have the chips embedded in the TV, and will come with a separate receiver unit that can send and receive uncompressed HD video signals up to 100 feet (30,5 meters) away.

That means you can keep the receiver in a room downstairs or in a cabinet–no line of sight necessary.

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TMCNet: A new study conducted by ABI Research has revealed that after wireless phones, wireless Internet and wireless home networks, wireless high-definition TV is going to be the hot product. However, the wireless high-definition TV market is still in its infant stage, as less than 100,000 devices are expected to ship this year. The report expects that by the year 2012, a milestone of one million wireless HDTV installations worldwide will be achieved.

The report says that at the moment, a “battle of technologies” is being fought among three technology systems, which are 5 GHz, 60 GHz, and ultra wideband (UWB).

Steve Wilson, principal analyst for ABI, said that 5 GHz technology is better understood and more proven, but achieving the required data rates requires new approaches and more complex solutions. Wilson noted that UWB technology has bandwidth advantages at in-room distances but drops rapidly at greater ranges, whereas 60 GHz allows high data rates, but so far only one company is even close to a viable solution.

Wireless HDTV sets will be simple to be installed, and more flexible to be relocated. That’s why, the initial sweet spot in the market will be where wired installation would be difficult or complicated, according to Wilson. Wireless HDTV will have both commercial and domestic applications, such as a digital signage, and a wall-mounting flat-screen HDTV.

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