Ceatec summary from CNET

A good summary today from CNET on the Ceatec show in Japan, one that provides a likely highlight of what's to be shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Ultra-thin HDTVs, smart home concepts, 3D displays, and green technology were on display.

Since I'm tracking the development of next-gen wireless home networking solutions for consumer electronics, the comments about WirelessHD and WHDI technologies were interesting:

And for the first time, we saw lots of wireless high-def in action. Panasonic and Sony are using WirelessHD, which sends high-definition video signals without the need for HDMI cables between a TV and a video source. Hitachi did a demonstration using ultra-wideband technology, which uses a different part of the wireless spectrum to send video signals between devices. WirelessHD's solution is best for use in a single room of a house, while UWB can be used in an entire home.

It's been a couple years since this technology was first promised, and most of the hurdles have been overcome. At CES, we'll see even more gadget makers employing either WirelessHD or WHDI.

I do have to take issue with the comment about the positioning of WirelessHD versus UWB solutions, though. The UWB vendors with whom I've spoken indicate that it wouldn't be appropriate to characterize UWB as a whole-house solution, but rather as an in-room (or more accurately in-cluster) HDMI cable replacement between audio/video components and high-definition displays. Given where UWB transmissions sit relative to the noise floor and given the emphasis that developers place on low power emissions (as regulated by the FCC), I don't see UWB as a whole-house solution.