Intel Announces WiDi - Wireless Laptop A/V Out
This would be great for next-generation consoles.
While they may not be the most efficient tool for the job, laptops make great little home theatre PCs given that nearly all of them have both audio and video out. The hardest, and perhaps most hassling part is getting them hooked up and then trying to operate the laptop while it's tethered to the TV. Intel believes it has the answer to that hassle with the Wireless Display – or WiDi.
Officially unveiled at CES, the technology uses 802.11n WiFi technology to stream video and audio wirelessly to an adapter hooked up to a TV. It's a pretty slick trick for those who hate wires.
"Computing in the home is rapidly expanding beyond the PC," said Intel Corporation President and CEO Paul Otellini. "The TV will continue to be a focal point of the home while becoming smarter, much in the way phones are evolving into smartphones. New user interfaces and forms of connectivity will change the way we interact with entertainment in the home."
Of course, for it all to work, Intel wants to keep everything in the family, which means you'll need one of the new mobile Core i3, Core i5 or Core i7 processors with Intel HD integrated graphics, Centrino Wireless N, and Windows 7.
The wireless adapter box will cost an estimated $100 and will ship January 17.
http://www.intel.com/consumer/products/technology/wirelessdisplay.htm
If you have the CPU, you'll have the Intel HD graphics, whether you're using it or not.
I'll pass.
What I still want to know is can we disable the on chip IGP? esp. if you have a GPU and OCing.
Pretty soon we'll be using our cellphones as the computer/browser, our TV as a wireless monitor, and a wireless keyboard for input. anamaniac has no vision. There's no reason why this tech couldn't be used on a computer monitor instead of a TV. BTW, I wouldn't plug the adapter directly into a TV. I'd plug it into an RF modulator and plug the modulator into the TV.
but it is limited to the resolution of the laptop display since it only works in clone mode and not dual display (intel driver problem and not a widi problem)
only problem is it has about a 1-3 second delay between a change on the laptop screen and tv. From the info I have seen on it was that even though it only does one thing, the one thing that it does is extremely good to have.
with it you never need to worry about what format is supported because if the computer can play it then it will always work
sadly it will fail since it seems to be restricted to intel video hardware which do not handle the offloading of stuff like this so there is a high CPU usage
if they don't make it work with desktop PC's no one will buy it.
what intel needs to do is include this technology into a TV so there can be live desktop streaming, just about everyone on the planet with a computer has a wireless router. have the device or tv connect to the wireless network and have a program that allows any computer on the network to live stream the desktop to the tv
but with the way it is now being limited to intel video hardware and requiring a fast system, the laptops that meet that requirements will be very few.
the device is only designed for watching video and listening to music and it's advantage over devices like a xbox 360 is that it supports all video and audio formats that the computer supports.
That will be better i think.
I think Loomis is on to something with the phone-to-TV idea. I've had similar thoughts since I got an hp iPAQ 6945. As a road warrior, I would love to be able to shed my laptops (yes, I have to carry one per client) and just carry a PDA-phone device around that can connect up to monitors, keyboards, mice, networks and printers. The elimination of airport hassles alone would make such a device worth its weight in gold.
Current technologies don't allow for more than ~640x480 res output from such devices as far as I am aware, but if I could output 1080p and have enough CPU power for office tools I would lose the laptops forever.
Will Intel support a Dual screen? Yes, some of us have two HDMI in the living room cabled up to a PC. Some games support that mode.
Catalin
Professional Streaming Consultant