Next WirelessHD standard tips up

Support for 3D TV, cinema quality resolution and ultra high data rates.

The WirelessHD Consortium has approved the second generation of its digital wireless interface standard, updated for today's latest AV technology.

With the growing adoption of consumer electronics such HDTVs and Blu-ray disc players, as well as media focused PCs and portable devices, the demand to easily share and stream content wirelessly is also growing.

The next generation spec goes way beyond 1080p HD with support for 4,000 pixel resolutions, backed by an increased data rate of between 10 and 28Gbps, and will define common 3D formats and resolutions for WirelessHD-enabled devices.

It also extends support to in low-power portable devices such as portable media players, netbooks and smartphones with details of sync'n'go file transfers and lossless video streaming at 1Gbps and IP connectivity for Internet access and networking of WirelessHD devices.

For those interested in DRM there is also HDCP 2.0 content protection over WirelessHD included, with added support both streaming and copying of multimedia content.

The next generation standard will be backward compatible to those products using WirelessHD 1.0 that have been shipping since early 2009.

"The dramatic increase in maximum speed achieved in the next generation of the WirelessHD specification will enable WirelessHD to stay far ahead of the bandwidth demands of future high definition source and display devices," said John Marshall, chairman of the WirelessHD Consortium.

Furthermore, the group also extended the capabilities of it Compliance Test Program with the authorised self test house (ASTH), developed by Panasonic to provide an internal facility to test WirelessHD products for protocol compliance and interoperability.

The consortium was formed back in 2006 by several of wireless industry heavyweights, including Broadcom, Intel, LG, Panasonic, NEC, Philips, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba, to create a de facto standard wireless digital interface for high definition consumer electronics.