Israel-based Amimon is pioneering what it calls an uncompressed wireless high-definition interface, or WHDI, and is showing off some interesting OEM products of its technology. Using what Amimon VP of Marketing and Business Development Noam Geri calls “video modem” technology, the Amimon offerings consist of paired transmitters and receivers that can handle all the way up to full 1080p HDMI 1.3a signals (including uncompressed 7.1 high-definition audio schemes such as Dolby True HD or DTS-HD Master Audio). The following photos depict the transmitter circuitry above and the receiver circuitry below.

The real beauty of Amimon’s "video modem" approach to handling uncompressed video is that they don’t use bitstream technology to handle the modulation and demodulation of the signals involved. As Geri explains this choice, he correctly observes that in video data streams not all bits are equal, and therefore it makes sense to protect the most significant bits more during transmission and reception whereas the less significant bits don’t need as much coddling. The human will correct very well for minor errors so the circuitry can concentrate on ferrying the most significant information between sender and receiver. This technological sleight of hand is what lets Amimon ferry enormous amounts of data using only 20 MHz of bandwidth, and use the technology through walls and other obstructions with no perceptible loss of quality.

During their demonstration, I watched two HDTVs side-by-side showing the same source material from the same Blu-ray player (Discovery Channel’s gorgeous Planet Earth rainforest episode). The player was in another room about 15 m (nearly 50 feet) away, and the room was packed with people, but neither they nor the walls had any noticeable impact on the signal. Right now, Amimon has deals with some players-namely, Belkin for an aftermarket WHDI device, and Sony for add-ins to upcoming TV sets and players-but Geri indicates that numerous other major announcements should follow in the near future.

Aside from eliminating long cable runs between player and output device, the Amimon technology offers to liberate the fixed player to monitor/display links that have been the norm until now. The real gee whiz factor in this technology, which has an effective range of 50-plus meters (almost 165 feet) and is thus able to interlink any two devices inside most households, is that you can use it play back video games on any TV set or monitor you like (as long as both ends come equipped with the proper Amimon components). But with WHDI set to become an industry standard later this year, and widespread adoptions among major consumer electronics vendors looming, all this looks more like immanent reality than nascent fantasy.

Alas, as a new technology it’s also not cheap. Geri indicated that the Belkin product costs about $500 (and includes a transmitter/receiver pair), and that it will add perhaps $100-200 to the cost of high end players and HDTVs likely to include such circuitry). But over time, he says, economies of scale should drive this circuitry down to commodity pricing, at which point we’ll all take being able to leave the PSP in the den, while using it to play on the 180" LCD in the living room. I only hope I live so long! For more information, check out the Amimon WHDI Web pages.