Amimon

Networking and storage at CES 2011: Faster, more connected

Knowing I was going to Las Vegas for CES, my friends said, "Have fun!" The truth is, friends, fun, whether or not the kind that stays in Las Vegas, is not the first thing one can expect from covering CES. It's always a lot of work.

I did have fun seeing my colleagues all in one place, however, especially those from the East Coast, whom I don't get to see very often. Now that we've all returned home or are on the way back, here are the things in the networking and storage categories that are sticking with me from the show.

In the networking department, faster is the main theme, and this is true for both wireless and powerline networking. Powerline networking is now pumped up to support 500Mbps by adhering to the latest IEEE 1901 standard (up from the 200Mbps of the HomePlug AV standard). There were several 500Mbps powerline products announced at CES this year, such as the Trendnet TPL 401E and Netgear's XAVB5004.

Networking vendors also introduced the first hybrid wireless routers that have built-in support for powerline technology, such as the WNXR200 from Netgear.

Wireless networking this year is seeing many vendors moving to the three-stream standard that offers a throughput speed of up to 450Mbps (as opposed to the 300Mbps of the popularly used dual-stream standard). Examples of these are Netgear with the WNDR4000, Trendnet with the TEW-692GR, and D-Link with its HD Media routers.

On the client side, the three-stream wireless standard is supported by Intel's Centrino N-5300 and Centrino N-6300 Wi-Fi adapters. These two Wi-Fi chipsets, also known as Intel's Ultimate N Wi-Fi Link family, can handle all standards of Wi-Fi, including the three-stream standard. Trendnet also released the first 450Mbps gaming adapter. In the future, networking vendors will also release USB adapters that support this higher speed.

D-Link's HD Media routers, by the way, are the first that sport an SD card reader, and some of them are also the first with built-in USB 3.0 to support faster network storage performance.

Speaking of USB 3.0, most storage vendors have now moved to this standard for their external drives. This is a natural move, as USB 3.0 offers a speed that's easily 10 times that of USB 2.0 and is backward-compatible with all previous versions of USB standards. External drives are now also getting tinier, and many of them now are also based on solid-state drives. Examples of these are the GoFlex Slim from Seagate, Verbatim's Titan XS, and the i-Disk Rex 100 from Pretec.… Read more

Amimon demos WHDI connectivity's full potential

LAS VEGAS--Amimon, which is the strongest supporter of the Wireless Home Digital Interface display standard and announced the Asus WAVI earlier this week, demoed at CES 2011 a variety of solutions through which WHDI-enabled devices could potentially change the way we interact with indoor entertainment.

Similar to Intel's WiDi and Sibeam's WirelessHD, WHDI is a technology that allows devices to connect to a HDMI TV wirelessly and transmit audio and video at full HD quality (1080p). The strength of WHDI is the fact that it has almost no latency and, therefore, other than high-def movies, enables interactive applications, … Read more

Asus, Amimon show off WHDI-based wireless 3D gaming video kit

LAS VEGAS--You want to connect your desktop computer to a big-screen TV so your gaming can go big, literally? Now you can do that, and more, wirelessly.

Amimon, a prominent member of the Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) consortium, together with Asus today announced the WAVI 3D wireless PC-to-TV package. This kit is the first of its kind to enable consumers to wirelessly connect a desktop PC to a TV with support for 3D content.

This means you now can enjoy 3D PC video games as well as 3D movies on any 3D-capable HDTV, using the PC as the player.… Read more

WHDI to change indoor entertainment big-time

There are currently a few ways to display a computer's screen on the big TV wirelessly, including Intel's WiDi (which is part of Wi-Fi Plus), WHDI, and the upcoming 60Ghz Wi-Fi.

I've always been skeptical about the viability of these solutions when it comes to displaying high-def and interactive content, especially after seeing how Netgear's Push2TV, which is based on Intel's WiDi technology, shows a significant amount of lag, making it impossible to play games.

However, Amimon's recent demonstration proved that WHDI could seriously change the way we think about indoor entertainment. Amimon is … Read more

Asus adopts WHDI with Amimon chipset

The future in which you can display your laptop's content wirelessly on an HDTV is getting closer.

Amimon, a member of the WHDI consortium that makes Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) chips for wireless HDTV connectivity solutions, announced Tuesday that it has been picked by Asus to power the upcoming WiCast EW2000 PC to TV connectivity kit. This means Asus' WiCast kit will use Amimon's WHDI technology to enables users to wirelessly connect their computers to their TVs. Asus also announced that it has joined the WHDI consortium.

WHDI is an emerging wireless technology that offers wireless alternatives … Read more

Home devices to connect wirelessly via WHDI

It's going to be a while before you can take advantage of the new 60Ghz Wi-Fi technology to connect your Blu-ray player to your TV wirelessly. To get similar high-bandwidth wireless connectivity between home entertainment devices soon, however, there's an alternative.

Amimon, a member of the WHDI consortium and a developer of wireless HDTV solutions, announced Monday that it has surpassed half a million units in sales and orders for its 1080p Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) chipset. This suggested a very strong demand for the technology and it is expected that the first WHDI-enabled products will be … Read more

Another wireless HDMI casualty: Belkin cancels FlyWire

Belkin will not be releasing its FlyWire wireless HDMI accessory.

CNET has learned that the company has decided not to offer the FlyWire for sale. A Belkin spokesperson confirmed the product's cancellation, saying that "its retail price of $1,499 would be out of line given the current state of the economy."

The FlyWire was introduced at CES 2008. The unit was a transmitter/receiver combo: the transmitter toggled between multiple audio and video sources (HDMI and analog), which were then wirelessly beamed to a receiver. Since the tiny receiver required only AC power and utilized a single HDMI output, it could be stealthily mounted behind wall-mounted flat screens or ceiling mounted projectors, eliminating the need for long unsightly cable runs. At one point, Belkin was mulling two versions: an initial high-end, multiroom-capable $1,499 version for multiple AV sources, followed by a less pricey single-source transmitter.

Early demos of the FlyWire impressed us--enough that we nominated it as a finalist in the Home Video category for Best of CES 2008. (It was edged out by the Dish Network DTVPal DVR.) But the FlyWire's premature death is just another indication that wireless HDMI technology is all but stillborn at the consumer level. Other notable no-shows, at least so far: the Philips wireless HDMI kit (introduced January 2007) and the Monster Express HD System (announced summer 2008). … Read more

Mitsubishi to make a wireless HDTV

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

Wireless chipmaker Amimon is set to announce Thursday 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. The 40-inch model will cost 300,000 yen (or $2,731), and the 46-inch model will sell for 400,000 yen ($3,642).

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 … Read more

Sharp ready to roll out wireless HDTVs

There was a time, somewhere back in the Dark Ages before cable and satellite, when the television set needed only to have a single connection--plug it into the wall outlet, and it was good to go. That day may finally have returned for Sharp's newest line of ultra-thin LCDs with the help of Amimon, an Israeli company that developed its first chips for wireless HDMI connections last summer.

The technology--known as WHDI, for "Wireless High Definition Interface"--can send 1080p signals up to 100 feet and "through four or five walls," according to Dvice, which … Read more