Belkin wireless HDMI box spied at CES
Cable-free link for HD TVs
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CES Belkin's experimentation with running HDMI connections wirelessly will finally bear fruit this coming summer when the accessory maker ships FlyWire, a wireless video connectivity box for HD TVs.
FlyWire operates in the 5GHz wireless band to stream signals from a transmitter hooked up to, say, you Blu-ray Disc player over to a receiver plugged into your HD TV. The system supports the transmission of uncompressed 1080p HD video, and six sources can be connected to the transmitter.
Belkin's FlyWire: wirelessly connect your HD TV to six players
Think of it as a wireless equivalent of the HDMI switching boxes already offered by Belkin and specialists like Gefen.
It's not based on Wi-Fi but rather a proprietary wireless protocol developed for the purpose. And unlike 5GHz 802.11n based HD streaming units – such as the set unveiled yesterday by Netgear – the FlyWire units connect to the AV equipments' HDMI ports.
Theoretically, then, it can also route HDMI control data, allow you to operate your disc player's options even though you're sitting in front of an HD TV in another room altogether. However, Belkin has yet to confirm this kind of operation.
Since FlyWire operates in the 5GHz band, that puts it at odds with the recently completed WirelessHD (WiHD) specification, which sits in the 60GHz spectrum. With a targeted throughput of 4Gb/s, WiHD is clearly about sending a number of HD streams to multiple rooms. FlyWire, by contrast, appears to be more of a point-to-point system.
Belkin said that FlyWire will go on sale in the summer of 2008 for $499-599 (£250-300), giving it a decent window of opportunity before WiHD devices start appearing in significant numbers.
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COMMENTS
Ooooh a new toy......
I'll have to try and find out more about this - I have a family contact working for Belkin UK, oddly enough responsible for the work that goes on to bring new products to release in the UK market. I have no idea if he has been specifically involved with this but I'm damned well gonna ask :)
He might even have a sample to play with before long, if not already.....
Hmmm
i hope to god its not lke other belkin products..
Tend not to work after 3 months..
Or like my belkin router kept droping all the time until i changed it for a different brand
@ Richard Gadsen
So long as the system is a single HDMI being transmitted point to point, not point to multipoint, I can't see a problem.
It is effecctively a wire simulator.
More concerned about whether we will actually be allowed to use this in the UK. All depends on the channel bandwidth employed.............Apple had this problem on the Airport Extreme, having to limit the performance due to restrictions on channel bandwidth. Wonder if Ofcom ever sorted it out?????????
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