WHDI - does the world need yet another wireless media standard?

I’ve written before about various technologies and standards that have been created to enable seamless sharing of media from one device to another, whether it be between PCs and TVs, MP3 players and HiFis, or any combination of any device.

Technologies such as UPnP and its younger brother, DLNA, have all been around for a while now, and each has made the same claim about enabling a wirefree world of digital connectivity in which devices seamlessly share your media throughout your home.

And where are they now? No idea! Not in my home, that’s for sure! They would be, but I really don’t have the thousands of pounds needed to buy the devices that come with support for these technologies.

This then, is the crux of the problem: the only devices that support these technologies tend to be at the premium end of the market, and that makes them expensive. While they’re expensive, there’s no inventive for the average consumer to buy them, and with no-one buying them, there’s no incentive for other manufacturers to release cheaper devices that also support them. After all, if the demand isn’t there, why add unnecessary technology that isn’t being asked for?

So forgive me for being a bit cynical when I read today that six big name companies have come together to create yet another technology for wirelessly sharing media throughout the home. This time, the technology is called the Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI), whose main claim to fame is the ability to pump uncompressed HD video at 1080p around the home to whichever device wants it (I’ll make a wild stab in the dark and guess it’ll be your HDTV and not your kettle!)

Will it work? Will the public want it? Can the companies involved (AMIMON, Hitachi, Motorola, Samsung, Sharp and Sony) make it cheap enough to reach a bigger market than previous technologies? Read the details of WHMI after the jump, and decide for yourselves.

From the press release:
AMIMON, Hitachi Ltd., Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Sharp Corporation and Sony Corporation today announced the formation of a special interest group to develop a comprehensive new industry standard for multi-room audio, video and control connectivity utilizing Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI™) technology. The group’s intention is to complete the new standard in 2008.

A key ingredient of WHDI technology is a revolutionary video-modem that operates in the 5GHz unlicensed band to enable robust wireless delivery of uncompressed HD video (including 1080p). WHDI allows secure, encrypted HD video delivery through multiple rooms and other potential signal obstructions, such as people and furniture, while maintaining superb quality and robustness with less than one-millisecond latency.

The objective of this special interest group is to enhance the current WHDI technology to enable wireless streaming of uncompressed HD video and audio between CE devices such as LCD and plasma HDTVs, multimedia projectors, A/V receivers, DVD and BD players, set-top boxes (STBs), game consoles, and PCs. The new interoperable standard aims to ensure that CE devices manufactured by different vendors will simply and directly connect to one another.

“WHDI technology complements other wireless and wired standards with a new class of connectivity within the home,” said Dr. David Lee, the founder of the HDMI™ standard and a member of AMIMON’s board of directors. “WHDI’s connectivity matrix introduces to consumers new possibilities to enjoy their high-definition entertainment network.”

“WHDI delivers the robust performance that wireless connections must have to meet and exceed consumer demands,” offered Dr. Paul Moroney of Motorola. “This new standard will help ensure optimal video delivery in the home.”

“The development of the new standard will ensure that when consumers purchase CE devices and take them home, they will enjoy a fast, easy and hassle-free wireless connection that delivers the highest quality,” said Dr. Yoav Nissan-Cohen, chairman and CEO of AMIMON. “The WHDI standard’s objective is to enable an enriched customer experience with multi-vendor interoperability.”

Not from the press release:

Apparently AMIMON own “WHDI” as a trademark: never a good sign for an open standard when one company owns its name! We’ll keep an eye on this technology and see how it develops, but don’t expect any products with it for a while.

[Source: MarketWire]