As if the recording industry didn't already have its hands full suing music file traders, pretty soon anyone will be able to wirelessly stream high-quality, uninterrupted video and audio from their PCs to their TVs.
All they need is a pair of dongles, and voila -- the movie they've downloaded from the Internet appears on their TV screen.
"Typically, people will want to take MP3 files or music downloads and be able to play them through their stereo, which is a much better system than listening to music on a PC," said Ian McPherson, principal analyst at Wireless Data Research Group. "And as we get more bandwidth and more capabilities, we will see more streaming video applications that will be served by the PC in the home. But you still want to watch it on your television."
Also, people could play music from radio stations all over the world -- the beauty of listening to music on the Web -- rather than relying on their local broadcasters, McPherson said.
All of this will be possible thanks to WiMedia, or, technically speaking, 802.15.3, a new wireless standard developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The new standard, which shares the same chunk of airwaves as cordless phones, microwave ovens and other popular wireless protocols such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, would ensure fast, uninterrupted streaming media. Once a connection is made between WiMedia devices, the network automatically switches channels if it detects any interference from other technologies, said Robert Heile, chairman of the IEEE 802.15 working group and chief technology officer for wireless radio and software maker Appairent Technologies.
802.15.3-compliant devices, which could be TV sets, stereo systems, computers, camcorders or any other consumer electronics devices, would connect wirelessly without the user doing anything, Heile said.
"The networking capabilities are what we call ad hoc," Heile said. "They figure out what do by themselves."
Unlike the Wi-Fi Internet hotspots that have emerged in coffee shops, libraries and even McDonald's in recent months, WiMedia would not need a separate access point to power the system or additional configuration. WiMedia also boasts uninterrupted streaming between two devices 300 feet apart and at speeds of up to 55 Mbps, three times the distance and five times the maximum throughput of Wi-Fi. Bluetooth, which connects wirelessly to devices within 30 feet, tops out at 1 Mbps.
More than 70 home entertainment and networking vendors, including Sony, Samsung, Royal Philips Electronics and Sharp, helped develop the standard and are poised to release products next year, Heile said.
McPherson expects vendors to sell their first 802.15.3 products by the end of next year under their own brand names. The first products most likely will be $100 dongles with cards hanging off the ends of them to plug into entertainment appliances, he said. A user would need to purchase at least two dongles to connect one appliance with another.
Eventually, McPherson expects manufacturers to build the technology into their products just as laptop computer makers have done with Wi-Fi.
"The form factors will change and I imagine we will see them invisible over time," he said. "For the time being they will be add-ons for small devices."
