News and New Products

Tzero promises demo of 1080p60 wireless HDMI using UWB

Company claims bill-of-materials below $50 per node will make system commercially viable.

By Matthew Miller, Editor in Chief, EDN.com -- EDN, 12/3/2008

UWB (ultrawideband) silicon provider Tzero Technologies today announced that it plans to demonstrate at a developer's conference in Japan this week a "commercially viable" UWB implementation capable of delivering a 1080-line, 60-frame/sec HDTV signal.

The company claims that its ZeroWire 2.0 product, based on its TZC7200 UWB chipset, is the world's first commercially viable wireless HDMI product that supports full HD streaming with 7.1-channel surround sound and the sub-frame latency necessary for gaming applications—a key early adopter market. The "commercially viable" claim rests on an expected bill-of-materials cost below $50 per device.

The TZC7200 chipset features MIMO (multiple in, multiple out) signal-processing technology, a peak link rate of 480 Mbps, and the ability to maintain an HDMI link over ranges greater than 20m, according to the company. In addition, the chipset, which uses a standard-compliant H.264 codec, is DCP (digital content protection) certified and "Hollywood approved," Tzero adds.

The demo at a Tzero-hosted conference in Japan will allow attendees to view live wireless-streamed video and play 1080p60 video games over a UWB connection, the company said.

"Wireless HDMI over UWB will be a critical technology for the Japanese consumer electronics industry in 2009 and beyond as they launch new products with support for the latest high-definition capabilities," Rajeev Krishnamoorthy, TZero's CEO, said in a statement.