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Hands-on: Is Intel's Wireless Display a game changer?

The relationship between TV and PC is a complicated one. Over the years, we've used desktops, laptops, and small form factor machines to act as media centers, networked entertainment hubs, and more recently, as Hulu and streaming-Netflix players.

Our love/hate relationship with getting a PC signal on a large TV screen has recently moved toward ambivalence, as living room game consoles have taken over many streaming media tasks, adding Netflix streaming as well as their own libraries of movies and TV shows to buy or rent.

To that end, one of the CES announcements we were most excited about, at least in theory, was Intel's Wireless Display technology. This combination of hardware and software would allow you to wirelessly stream whatever was on your laptop display to a nearby plasma or LCD TV.

Having seen a few demos of varying effectiveness (which didn't stop the technology from winning CNET's People's Voice award at CES 2010), we were excited to be able to hook up a Wireless Display (or WiDi, as it is also known) setup in the CNET Labs to test it out.

While the underlying technology is part of Intel's 2010 Core series platform, to start it'll be available only in three specific laptops, one each from Dell, Sony, and Toshiba. All three are Best Buy exclusives, but they also, fortunately, come bundled with all the hardware you'll need to hook the WiDi up.

That means these three laptops are WiDi-certified, and each comes bundled with an adapter from Netgear somewhat awkwardly named Push2TV. When and if the WiDi technology gets rolled out on more laptops, the Netgear box will be available separately for $99.

Though there are other ways to wirelessly stream audio and video to your big-screen TV, the possibility of effortlessly mirroring whatever is on your desktops to another display, with near-zero setup, makes this a much better candidate for mainstream adoption.

With a new Toshiba E205 laptop (one of the three initial WiDi models) in hand, and the included Netgear adapter, we set out to test Intel's Wireless Display. In practice, the actual results were not completely effortless, but they came pretty close. … Read more

Netgear's Push2TV adapter links Intel's Wireless Display and your TV

LAS VEGAS--The adapter for Intel's just-announced Wireless Display technology is called Push2TV and is being manufactured by Netgear.

As we noted earlier this evening, this WiDi technology will be built into select laptops with 2010 Intel Core processors. A hardware adaptor box that plugs into the HDMI or AV jacks of your monitor or television receives the signal.

Netgear says that the Push2TV box will be bundled together with select WiDi-enabled laptops from Dell, Sony, and Toshiba (such as the Toshiba E205) at Best Buy stores, starting later in January.

The Push2TV box will also be available separately for $… Read more

Intel's Wireless Display technology connects PCs and TVs

Update: Intel's Wireless Display technology has been nominated for the Best of CES Awards in the Computers and Hardware category.

LAS VEGAS--While many media consumers have connected laptops, desktops, and small form factor PCs to their large plasma and LCD monitors for years, these setups typically required either a direct video connection or the use of clunky media extender boxes, with limited functionality and file format compatibility.

Intel aims to radically change this equation with its new Wireless Display technology, also known as "WiDi."

The process involves taking a WiDi-enabled laptop with one of Intel's new … Read more