CES: New Alliance to Promote Uncompressed HD in the Home

LGE, Samsung, Sony and Valens Semiconductor this week (Dec. 15) announced plans to ramp up a "cross-industry alliance to promote and standardize" a technology known as "HDBaseT" for home distribution of uncompressed HD content from an array of potential HD-centric media (i.e., DTV sets, laptops, smart-phones, etc.).

The aptly named HDBaseT Alliance said it will engage "key players" across multiple industries—notably consumer electronics, Hollywood, and other content parties—to work in tandem to create a "global standard for advanced digital media distribution."

The alliance will release more details about itself and the sign-on of new members at the International CES in Las Vegas, Jan, 7-10.

According to a jointly issued statement this week from the four founding members, the fledgling alliance's standardization activities will cover the entire "digital media ecosystem," as well as various market segments such as DTV sets, projectors, AV equipment, home theater, content providers and IT companies.

"As the…demand for high-quality HD content increases, so does the interest of the end user in extending their entertainment experience to their entire home," according to the alliance. "Consumers are looking for a way to connect TVs and other display equipment with entertainment devices—such as a Blu-ray…player[s]—for in-home converged distribution of HD multimedia content."

While some existing technologies are limited in terms of bandwidth and, therefore, can't support uncompressed HD video, the alliance believes the demand for in-home converged distribution of HD multimedia content is driving the industry toward an HD digital connectivity standard such as HDBaseT.