News and Reviews....

Beware of Wireless Formats ..... February  2008

By Bob Lieto

    Now that the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is over for 2008, a number of issues have surfaced. One that struck my interest was the number of wireless formats that will be coming soon. Almost everyone agrees (but us old school types) that wireless is the way to go for connectivity in the home for 2009, but there are devils in the mix. For one, I counted almost six (6) different and NON-COMPATIBLE ways to go. There is Samsung with their WUSB (Wireless USB variant of ultra wide-band) for HDTV, HD cameras, camcorders and printers. Panasonic with SD cards for HDTV and then 60 GigaHertz radio technology, Toshiba will pass on the Wireless USB in favor for 60 GHz Radio, LG will initially use (802.11)  WiFi, Philips and Sony are ready to bring to market proprietary versions of UWB (ultra-wide band) from Radiospire, Sony may also use propriety versions (Amimon's .11g) of Wi-Fi called Transferjet, and Sharp demonstrated UWB in Japan but committed only to wired powerline in U.S.A.  Each company is committed to their specific path. The result will be a broad range of incompatible products shipping into the digital living room in 2009. Even more perplexing is that not any one player is answering the major request of the consumer to make things easier.

Another stark image is that during some of the demonstrations at the CES, of the new and great wireless schemes, the components linked together could not recognize each other. An image pops into my mind of a customer installing one of these new systems, having not hardwired any backup, and finding that the system needs to be brought up from the bottom (power down all products and restart all products) every few days due to a  wireless glitch inherent in the product. He or she calls an 800 number to an outsourced customer service representative that cannot be understood. It has happened to us all. And we haven't even begun to speak about interference from outside the products net maybe due to location. Can you spell customer frustration ? Can you spell JUNK ?

I don't see a problem with the use of SD cards which are flash cards that can be loaded with Hi-Def materials like pictures from camcorders and the newer cards which will hold 32-Gbyte supporting Class 6 data transfers of up to 20 Mbytes/second. That card will hold 5-1/2 hours of 1920 x 1080i full HD. The card reverts to a hard form of storage and not wireless transfer.

Once the 60 Ghz radio is perfected from Panasonic,  the wireless home will be able to deliver 4 Gbits/second, adequate for uncompressed video. The downside is that 60 GHz radios are relatively immature at this time and all equipment ultimately, has to be compatible.

This will be another inconsistent approach to providing the consumer with digital hardware just when the entire format for receiving the images for TV changes. (See our Reviews " The End of Analog TV... Parts 1-6) What is also important to weigh is that most of the formats listed above will be pointed at future mobile communication, but taking that communication device onto the road via your car and onto airplanes will most certainly run into roadblocks. The only technology that can be used today, in automobiles of today as well as on airplanes is 802.11 Wi-Fi.

Comment .....  Are we in transition ? Be careful when purchasing a product. Look at the larger picture of how broad that product line is as well as what might be missing for your particular needs down the road. Don't jump into a product line when a loss leader is advertised for the sake of that one product. It is going to take a very knowledgeable and patient consumer to be able to navigate the waters of wireless digital for many years to come. I will be sorting all the lines in the coming months and directing my customers to the one or group we see as the final or best overall choice.