TiVo's Wireless G USB network adapter has been out and about since late 2005, so to say an 802.11n version is past due would be understating things dramatically. At long last, it seems as if high-speed network access is coming to the heralded DVR, with an AN0100 802.11n AP recently splashing down at the FCC. There's no instruction manual or indication of whether this is the device we've been waiting for in order to stream networked media to the TV through one's TiVo, but why else would the outfit bother with tossing out a new dongle with support for higher throughput? We know, we're letting ourselves get a bit too optimistic here -- but c'mon, can you really blame us?

Sure VIZIO only just showed off new updates in its high end XVT series, but it's already planning the next generation of LCDs with VIZIO Internet Apps included. Packing widget functionality, 802.11n wireless networking and slider QWERTY Bluetooth remote, the SV422XVT, SV472XVT and VF552XVT Connected HDTVs are coming home in November, October and December, respectively. Already on deck to serve up content for your widgets are Vudu, Revision3, Facebook, Twitter, Rhapsody, Blockbuster OnDemand, Showtime, Flickr and more. The biggest surprise? There's apparently no price premium planned for these features, with the 55-inch clocking in at the same $2,199 price as the model it's replacing, though the 47-inch jumps $200 over the previous edition to $1,699, while adding the local dimming LED backlit technology previously reserved for the 55-inch. The 42-inch will be the first and cheapest available at $1,199 -- we'll see if that bar is low enough to get viewers to jump into the internet-connected display future.

Read - VIZIO Announces High Performance XVT HDTV Line Up with 240Hz SPS(TM), TruLED(TM) and Smart Dimming(TM) Technology, VIZIO Internet Apps (VIA), and Slim Line(TM) 120Hz LCD HDTV Models
Read - VIZIO Unveils Rhapsody Digital Music Service for VIZIO Internet Apps (VIA(TM)) Connected HDTVs
Read - VIZIO Reveals Dynamic New Content Partners for VIZIO Internet Apps Connected HDTV Feature

We've known for some while that Celeno had a thing for high-def over WiFi, and that favoritism has never been more clear. Today, the outfit is announcing a partnership with Ralink that will hopefully lead to an array of WiFi home networking designs that are optimized for HD video distribution. The first solution will combine the CL1300 and CLR230 802.11n chipsets along with Ralink's RT2880 and RT2850 chips. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if Celeno is announcing any set-top-boxes to contain said solution just yet, but hopefully that's just a few months away. Hey, CEDIA ain't too far off, is it? Full release is after the break.

Icron's PC-on-TV solution has been out and about since late last year, but we'd venture to say that adoption in the consumer market has been minimal at best. 'Course, the bevy of internet-to-TV set-top boxes that have emerged in the meanwhile certainly haven't help its cause, and the whole "wired Ethernet" requirement was also a real deal-breaker, ladies. Now, it seems as if the company is looking to leapfrog those who leapfrogged it by showcasing a wireless (802.11n) solution at the Connections Digital Living Conference. The product is still based around its ExtremeUSB technology, which passes along VGA / USB signals from a PC to a TV so that your computer can be fully seen and controlled on your den's HDTV. Unfortunately, two critical data points are still missing: first, there's no expected release date, and second, there's no independent reports on how well all of this works sans cabling.

True, Sanyo's LP-WXU700 is limited to a WXGA (1280 x 800) pixel image. But it's still the world's first to transmit that video over 802.11b/g/n (draft 2.0). Grabbing wireless video off your Vista PC is a snap thanks to the projector's Windows Embedded CE 6.0 software with Video Streaming Function that links back to Vista's Network Projector Function. Spec-wise we're looking at a 0.74-inch 3LCD panel capable of projecting a 100-inch image at a distance of 2.5 to 4-meters at 3,800 lumens with a 500:1 contrast ratio. Sanyo even tosses in a single HDMI jack in addition to the usual analog inputs. While, it's targeted at offices and schools, it wouldn't surprise us to see this ¥62,790 (about $642) projector show up in make-shift home theaters and gaming rooms when it launches in June.

Update: Oops, dropped a 0 from the price. It's actually ¥627,900 or about $6,445 according to the native English press release but even that doesn't sound right.

[Via Akihabara News]

Industry watchers In-Stat didn't mention which variant of WiFi based HD streaming it expects to win out, but just based on the install base 802.11n should be the leader. UWB? DOA. WHDI and WirelessHD? Too expensive, too power hungry, too new. WiFi isn't perfect however, requiring codec support on either end to work with HD video but that's not expected to hold back the 25 million TVs with wireless hardware In-Stat sees shipping by 2013, but for the rest of the details you'll need $3,495 for the research report or a time machine.

[Via TG Daily]

As the wireless HD world continues to turn, Celeno Communications is back with news that it's already field testing OptimizAIR WiFi based hardware. Promising 1080p video at distances of up to 120 feet through walls and floors to WiFi-capable devices, its MIMO technology is expected to see "massive deployment" by this summer, with IPTV customers likely to get the first shot. We're still concerned at a lack of vendors lining up behind it, though backwards compatibility certainly gives a leg up on Wireless HD, WHDI and the rest. Making a note in the calendar to check for possible product rollouts once the weather warms up seems like a reasonable next step.

[Via SmartBrief]

What do you know -- Conceptronic managed to add in BitTorrent functionality and a compatibility with a 802.11n USB dongle to its alphabet soup CFULLHDMA Grab 'n GO Full HD streamer, and have upped the name to CFULLHDMAi while keeping the Flash Gordon design intact. New firmware for the 802.11n dongle support will also be made available to owners of the earlier model. That wireless upgrade will come in handy with the new model's BitTorrent client, too, alowing you grab some public domain vids for your viewing pleasure. No onboard storage, sorry, but with support for SAMBA, NFS and external USB storage, we think you should be able to find a home for the public commons content you'll be downloading.

[Thanks, KJ]

The wireless HD world is as mangled as ever, with a variety of formats vying for supremacy and the general populace turning a deaf ear to the whole concept (by and large, anyway). According to ProVision co-founder Andrew Nix, 802.11n is the "only standard capable of cost-effectively transmitting interactive wireless HD video across all rooms within a home." Oddly enough, his company will be supporting Pulse~LINK, SiBEAM and AMIMON, backing the HDMI, Wireless HD and WHDI standards respectively, so we're curious if it will be trying to push its WiFi-favoring ways onto these guys. Or, of course, it could bust out its own WiFi-based solution at CES while sticking tight to the others for mere business reasons. We'll agree that a one-format solution would likely aid adoption, but haven't we already seen that WiFi isn't exactly the most stable protocol to handle continuously streaming high-def material?

Generally speaking, it's tough to find someone who doesn't love their Popcorn Hour media streamer. Not to say everything's perfectly kosher, however, as the lack of internal WiFi is a niggle that many cord haters have found inexcusable. Curiously enough, we heard back in May that the outfit was preparing a new trio of streamers, and one of 'em was destined to have WiFi built-in; we're still waiting on that unit, but Popcorn Hour is more than happy to give the option of retrofitting. The WN-100 is a draft-N WiFi adapter that adopts MIMO technology, supports 64- / 128-bit WEP encryption (along with WPA / WPA2, etc.) and comes sporting with a $37 price tag. Or, you can snag the A-110 with WN-100 bundle and save a whopping two bucks from buying separately.

[Thanks, AFB]

For those of you yearning for a little more oomph in your wireless HD options, Hisense and Metalink have heard (and answered) the call. The two firms are collaborating to unveil solutions to HD streaming that "enable the wireless transmission of multiple HDTV streams from centrally-located DTVs, PVRs and STBs to any room in the house." Based around Metalink's WLANPlus chipset, devices sporting the newfangled technology will be capable of supporting up to 300Mbps transmission speeds using both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands; moreover, Metalink claims that this creation offers "more than twice the reach of competing 802.11n solutions" due to its implementation of a Maximum Likelihood (ML) decoder combined with advanced Forward Error Correction (FEC) scheme and the use of Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) technology. A lot of jargon, we know, but cramming chipsets that can handle a bevy of HD streams on a vanilla 802.11n network into gateways and access points makes perfect sense to us.

We certainly wish we had some accompanying images to give you with Sammy's new SMT-H6155, because it actually sounds vaguely interesting. Quietly debuted at CeBIT amidst their other gear, the STB uses 802.11n to shoot high def video around the house -- as so many forthcoming gadgets are expected to. We'll keep an eye on this one for ya.

Samsung has just released information about its 2007 lineup of HDTVs, including new LCDs, DLPs, plasmas and even CRTs. There's too much high contrast, HDMI 1.3-equipped, Deep Color enabled for one page, so continue on for pictures and detailed specs, or check out our live coverage of the press conference.

Okay, so we had a sneaking suspicion that this whole "uncompressed streaming of high definition video sans wires" was a bit too good to come true at CES 2006, but once again AMIMON is promising to showcase its WHDI (wireless high definition interface) at next week's Vegas extravaganza. Providing a little backbone to the claim is Sanyo, which is slated to showcase the "world's first wireless HD projector" using AMIMON's technology. The demo will utilize a yet-to-be-named Sanyo PJ and will reportedly beam unadulterated imagery via an "802.11a/n RFIC chipset" from an HD DVD player without the help of wires, and the quality should look exactly the same as if you were using a DVI / HDMI cable. Current developer platforms allow connections from any device outputting in HDMI, component, S-Video, composite, or VGA, and WDHI operates in a "5GHz unlicensed band" which enables video streaming "of up to 3Gbps" from 100 feet away. Sure, even today this still sounds mildly unbelievable, but if both firms keep their word, we'll be seeing just how truthful these bold claims are in a matter of days.

Chip producer Metalink and television manufacturer Haier have demonstrated sending multiple high-definition streams wirelessly over 802.11n at SINOCES, the Asian Consumer Electronics Show winding down today in China. While broadcasting HD over the air is nothing new, they have integrated the chipset directly into the TV, and claim to be the first to send multiple HD streams to sets around your house simultaneously. Of course, there is nothing in the press release to expand on these statements or the details of the test, and I suspect they were simply sending the same stream to all the HDTVs, and not different streams to different sets, which is what most people would want in a whole–house distribution network.

The question remains, is it worth it for the hardware manufacturers of set-top boxes, DVRs, television sets to buy n–based chipsets for their equipment, or should we wait for something more - say, WiMax or ultra wideband?