The Boob Tube Goes Broadband

Continued from page 1

By Wade Roush

Friday, January 05, 2007

UWB chip sets from Hauppauge, NY-based semiconductor maker Tzero, for example, are finding their way into media devices from Audiovox, Siemens, ViewSonic, and other consumer-electronics companies. UWB devices send data over a large range of frequencies, rather than over specific channels, as Wi-Fi routers and most other wireless devices do. This protects signals against interference and allows time-based rather than frequency- or amplitude-based signal modulation, meaning UWB signals can carry up to 480 megabits of data per second over short distances (10 meters or less), according to Tzero. At CES, Tzero and Audiovox plan to introduce a UWB media adapter, to be marketed under Audiovox's Terk brand name, that can connect PCs, set-top boxes, HD DVD players and DVRs, and big-screen displays without the usual tangle of cables.

And there's one more way to link entertainment devices without adding new wires: plug straight into your home's electrical outlets. Electronics vendors have been talking up powerline networking in the home for ages, but interference problems and bandwidth limitations have kept the idea from catching on (see "Are Powerline Networks Finally Ready?" June 2001). Arkados is one of the companies that will argue at CES that the technology is now ready for consumers. It's working with GigaFast and other manufacturers to put its chips and software into small "bridge" devices that can connect a PC to any television in a home. The devices can transmit data at up to 100 megabits per second--more than enough for HD-quality video. (For $250, Netgear will sell you a powerline adapter for the Digital Entertainer.)

Apple may actually make the biggest home-networking splash at CES, even though Steve Jobs and crew will be 400 miles away at San Francisco's MacWorld convention, slated for January 8 through 12. The company is expected to preview--or at least talk about--a set-top device dubbed "iTV" that wirelessly streams iTunes music, videos, or movies from any computer in the home to a TV set. Given consumers' familiarity with Apple digital media products like the iPod, an Apple entry in the media-adapter market could severely limit the opportunities for competitors like Netgear or D-Link.

Despite all these newfangled networking technologies, Sneakernet may not be dead yet. Think of it this way: if you carry a 4.7-gigabyte DVD down a ten-meter-long hallway at one meter per second, you've effectively "transmitted" the data on that disc at more than 3,700 megabits per second--a speed home networks won't be reaching for a long time.