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January 24th, 2007

CES: New Wireless audio and video solutions could finally spell the end for hard wiring

Posted by David Berlind @ 9:45 am

Categories: CES 2007, Entertainment, Events, General, Personal Technology, Video, Video@CES, Wired & Wireless, Wireless Report Card

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In Focus » See more posts on: CES, Video

Here at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, there are several technology providers demonstrating advancements in the wireless distribution of Hi Definition video as well as surround sound audio. Two solution providers I spoke with — Open Interface and Tzero (both of whose technologies would be embedded in other products) — are off the mind that wireless' time has finally come when it comes to the distribution of both audio and video. Previously, neither could be distributed flawlessly, or without compromise to the visual or audible experience. Of course, the human eye can tolerate a few lost frames of video. But interruptions, dropout, or deprecation to CD quality audio, especially in home theatre situations, are to most humans intolerable.

So, given the way wireless solutions haven't been up to the task of distributing hi-quality audio and video, it should come as no surprise that hard wiring is still the choice of most home theatre buffs and audiophiles (including me… I have several miles of Monster cable stretched through the walls of my house). But now that wireless solutions such as those from Tzero (audio and video) and Open Interface (surround sound audio) that appear to finally be up to the task, the end of the cost and hassles associated with hard wiring for audio and video could be near for all but the most demanding applications. The result? With the audio and video sources (eg: CD players, DVD players including Hi-Def ones, settop boxes, etc.) in one spot and the target devices (Hi-Def flat panels, speakers, etc.) in another, home theatre and hi-end audio installations can now finally go where they couldn't go before, and rapidly so at a reduced cost.

While at the show, I had an opportunity to speak with Tzero CEO and president Mike Gulett as well as Open Interface CTO Greg Burns, both of whom offered some details about their solutions as well as their opinions of hard wiring and its future.

Here's the video:

David Berlind has been Executive Editor at ZDNet since 1998 and has been a technology journalist since 1991. Although he can't respond to all e-mails, he reads them all. You can reach David at david.berlind AT cnet.com. If you don't want the content of your e-mail to turn up in a blog entry, make sure you say so. To the extent that most e-mail he receives looks to sway his opinion about something, he usually looks to pass those points of view onto ZDNet's audience members for their consideration . For disclosures on David's industry affiliations, click here.