Amimon, a startup based in Santa Clara, California, has unveiled a chipset that enables transmission of high-definition video streams over the air, virtually eliminating the need of wires for high definition multimedia interface (HDMI). The company calls its technology Wireless High-definition Interface (WHDI) and claims that consumer electronics (CE) makers may start to embed the tech already.

WHDI supports delivery of uncompressed 1080p (with equivalent video rates of up to 3 Gbps) in a 40MHz channel in the 5GHz unlicensed band, in compliance with FCC regulations. Uncompressed 720p, 1080i and 1080p 24/30p (with equivalent video rates of up to 1.5 Gbps) can be delivered in a 20MHz channel, conforming to worldwide 5GHz regulations. Range is beyond 100 feet through walls (30 meters), and latency is less than 1 millisecond.

The WHDI chipset can be embedded into CE devices such as LCD and plasma HDTVs, multimedia projectors, A/V receivers, high-definition DVD players, set-top boxes (STBs), game consoles, PCs and HD video accessories (wireless for HDMI dongles), allowing wireless streaming of uncompressed HD video and audio.

Amimon’s WHDI chipsets and reference designs are available now. Companies, engineers and developers interested in additional information on WHDI chipsets should contact Amimon.

CE manufacturers Loewe and Funai will be demonstrating wireless HDTVs based on Amimon’s WHDI technology at the IFA Consumer Electronics tradeshow in Berlin, August 31 – September 5, 2007.

“With WHDI chipsets in hand, CE manufacturers will now be able to offer consumers wireless HDTVs and other HD wireless video devices based on the WHDI standard. Consumers should see initial WHDI-based products at the end of this year, with a wide variety of WHDI-based CE products available in 2008,” said Noam Geri, vice president of marketing and business development at Amimon.