Amimon promises mobile streaming alternative

Connecting cables to watch high-definition video could soon be a thing of the past according to microchip designer Amimon.

The company was at the Computex trade show in Taipei demonstrating what it called the 'ecosystem' of the WHDI or Wireless Digital Home Interface, which allows portable devices such as phones to be attached wirelessly to television sets.

Unlike media streaming products, WHDI does not require any kind of home network connection to run. Instead it connects to a device's HDMI socket and wirelessly transmits the picture and audio to any device with an HDMI input such as a flat-panel TV.

You can see Amimon's CEO and chairman Yoav Nissan-Cohen demonstrating the product in our video above.

Several manufacturers are already signed up to the WHDI standard, including Hitachi, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sharp and Sony. Existing products from Asus (pictured), HP and others already work with the first version of WHDI but new products due by the second half of 2011 will improve performance and cost less.

According to Dr Nissan-Cohen, around 50 companies are working on new WHDI products, and the first tablet computer with it built in is under development, to be released early in 2012.

He said that the requirements for such a product are that it works with "any device, any application, anywhere," and that WHDI met those needs, offering 1080p video with a range of 30m including working through walls.

To read more of our coverage from Computex Taipei 2011, click here