While MoCA and G.hn are slugging it out for both the current and future generations of wired TV connections, another technology called HDBaseT, which we have been following for just over a year, is gradually reaching maturity, and it threatens to sail right past these approaches in terms of total bandwidth.
To be fair HDBaseT targets HDMI and DisplayPort more as device connector technologies, but there will clearly be comparisons with MoCA and G.hn because these signals can travel so far they will form the basis of whole home networks. HDMI and DisplayPort can reach just a few meters without expensive repeaters, whereas HDBaseT can go 100 meters.
The HDBaseT Alliance has now published its base specification. Although the Alliance has no installed base, and adoption of the technology would mean replacing tons and tons of coaxial cable with Ethernet style cabling, it has every chance of finding its own niche in whole home networking.
The key to it is offering 5 services ‘ uncompressed HD video, audio, 100BaseT Ethernet, electric power and various control signals ‘ all through one 100 meter CAT5e/6 LAN cable. It might be more expensive for each foot laid than other cable, but you’re not going to have to replace it anytime soon and you don’t have to lay 5 cables. 10.2 Gbps is delivered in the first iteration and speeds up to double that in later versions.
By comparison MoCA 2.0 and G.hn will deliver a maximum of 1 Gbps in their latest versions. This new wired approach is also way faster than Wireless 60 GHz approaches, which are only for line of sight, same room connections, which may approach the Gbps level when they finally arrive, but won’t get close to the 20 Gbps promised in the second generation of HDBaseT.
The Alliance has been formed by LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Valens Semiconductor, all of which make up the HDBaseT Alliance’s Board of Directors. Valens is a small Israeli semiconductor design house which put this entire idea together and reckons that cheap adjustments to existing Gigabit Ethernet chips will do the trick, and drive this technology. GE chips are in wide use in modern enterprise LANs, and have the existing volume to make this kind of cabling fairly affordable.
‘HDBaseT Alliance’s creation of a unified specification based on technology will raise the bar as the most technologically advanced, unmatched solution for optimum digital media distribution,’ said Ariel Sobelman, president and chairman of the HDBaseT Alliance. ‘HDBaseT technology is poised to become the unrivaled next-generation home networking transport to meet the ever-changing trends in the digital media market.’ Well that’s what they all say, but backing the existing enterprise technology is never a bad idea.
HDBaseT claims to have the bandwidth to support the highest video resolutions such as full HD 1080p as well as 3D and 2Kx4K formats. Actually that’s only part of the problem. Many CE manufacturers want to add more description bits to distribution video as well as use data between frames to smooth out pictures. 200 Hz TV sets with high bit rate color data are just around the corner in Japan and Korea.
The addition of internet into the equation and gaming control signals means that your TV set will only ever need a single cable going to it, while today it needs power, plus a signal, plus an Ethernet cable for the internet and another for games controllers, at the very least.
HDBaseT can also be used to network resources ‘ so DVRs, Blu-ray players, game consoles, PCs and mobile devices connected to any of these, can all be directly connected to displays in multiple locations in the home in both a daisy chain or star topology. The technology is also being pushed for in-store digital signage.
Most broadcasters and pay TV services use 4:2:0 sampling, which means that the colors (chrominance) and brightness (luminance) only have that many bits to describe their exact measurement. In effect they are throwing away data about the original signal when it is placed into the Codec in order to get a best fit. Contribution systems use anything up to 10 bit 4:2:2, and are the best format for sending video around the world for later editing.
But already the big Consumer Electronics manufacturers are looking to use 36 bits to more accurately describe each pixel and some have roadmaps to go to 48 bits. This technology is referred to as Full HD Deep Color mode. Add 3D to that, which doubles the signal and we can easily end up sending many times more video data around a home, compared to what we do today.
To support 1080p 60 Hz deep color, uncompressed video sent from a playing device to a TV screen will require 16 times the pixel density of today’s signals, 4 times the refresh rate and be described in 6 times the detail. That increases the bandwidth requirement for connecting these devices by 16 x 4 x 6, an increase of around 384 times.
The finalization of the HDBaseT specification paves the way for HDBaseT embedded products to hit the market. The HDBaseT Alliance anticipates products with embedded HDBaseT technology to be available in the second half of 2010, with the majority of adoption taking place in 2011. The specification will also be available for licensing within the second half of 2010.
Development and preparation for an HDBaseT Alliance Compliance Program is now under way and the Alliance will use a logo as part of its licensing program so customers can recognize interoperable HDBaseT devices in the market.