Off a tip from Mitch Singer, we got a really interesting demo of a new technology from the Israeli company, Valens, that has the potential to transform multi-room video consumption in the home. If you thought HDMI made connections simpler, wait until you see HDBaseT… The demo we saw was of a single Cat-5 ethernet cable carrying power, uncompressed 1080p video, ethernet, and control data (e.g. the ability to get access to remote control devices or even see USB devices across the network). One connection – for POWER, the WEB, and HD Video and sound… with cable runs of up to 100M.
Two weeks ago, Valens, Samsung, LG and Sony Pictures announced the formation the HDBaseT Alliance to standardize and roll-out HDBaseT, which they expect to hit shelves in late 2010.
The concept is not only one of simplifying cabling and allowing for longer cable runs without amplification (e.g. vs. HDMI), but also to allow networked access to content from device-to-device in quality we have not seen before. Of course, implementation is everything, so we’ll be interested to see how LG, Samsung & others bake it in.