Wireless USB took a big leap towards standardization — and its seven major proponents hope towards market adoption — with the release of a version 1 specification.

Backers Intel, Agere Systems, Microsoft, NEC, Philips Semiconductors, Samsung and Hewlett Packard have defined the specification with the help of another 100 contributing companies.
They announced its release at the first Wireless USB Developers Conference this week in San Jose, Calif.

The 1394 Trade Association announced that a new study group has been formed to investigate the need and demand for a new specification to transport MPEG-4 video over IEEE 1394.

The group will identify which parts of the MPEG-4 standard are applicable, and review strategies for possible implementation.
It will operate under the auspices of the 1394 Trade Association’s Architecture Work Group, which is chaired by Peter Johansson. Don Harwood of Oxford Semiconductor, a leading member of the 1394 Trade Association, will direct the MPEG-4 over IEEE 1394 project, and the group will meet regularly beginning in March to complete its evaluation and report the results to the Architecture Work Group.

Philips Semiconductors has expanded the roster of companies supporting DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld), announcing it will deliver it promised mobile digital TV receiver/demodulator in a system-in-package (SiP) by the end of the year.

The SiP, unveiled Monday (Feb. 14) at the 3GSM World Congress (Cannes, France) will integrate all requirements for DVB-H-compliant mobile DTV reception, ranging from a DTV tuner/receiver to a channel decoder and discrete components such as filtering and capacitors. The chip, however, does not include a source decoder for compressed video such as H.264.

Thomson to Introduce HD DVD Players and Provide Disc Replication Support for HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc Formats

Thomson announced that it will support next-generation DVD formats by manufacturing HD DVD and Blu-ray discs through its Technicolor business and providing consumer HD DVD players through its THOMSON and RCA brands.

Next generation DVD formats provide higher resolution video and audio, advanced navigation, web connectivity and other advanced features.  Other essential features include advanced content access and robust content security technology, which are critical for content owners. 

In addition, the development of the next-generation DVD formats is expected to fuel the continued consumer acceptance of high definition television around the world.

The DVB Steering Board has approved a revision to its well known implementation guidelines for audio and video codecs over a broadcast Transport Stream to include the option of both H.264/AVC video and High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) audio codecs.

The revision to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) document (TS 101 154) will now be forwarded to ETSI for standardisation and will be published shortly.

Upon publication it will be available for download via www.etsi.org.

The new document mandates support of Main Profile for H.264/AVC SDTV receivers, with an option for the use of High Profile. The support of High Profile is mandated for H.264/AVC HDTV receivers.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) today announced the adoption of Bluetooth Core Specification Version 2.0 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate). Increased data rates – up to three times current levels – and lower power consumption will improve the Bluetooth user experience when running multiple Bluetooth devices simultaneously and transferring large data files, as well as enabling longer battery life in mobile devices.

The new specification provides improved facilities to use several functions or devices simultaneously and transfer large data files, due to more available bandwidth. The lower power consumption will enable a new generation of Bluetooth devices to last up to twice the current operating time. Version 2.0 + EDR is backwards compatible with all previous specifications.

The Internet streaming media alliance (ISMA) will release the second generation of its specification integrating the latest streaming media technologies before its next member meeting.

The new specification builds on the existing ISMA 1.0 specification with support for new codecs to drive new streaming media solutions ranging from mobile communications devices to high definition set top boxes.

The new ISMA 2.0 specification supports the following features:

Datamonitor forecasts there will be 4.6 million HDTV households in Europe by 2008, up from 50,000 at the end of 2003.

Germany, the UK and France will lead the European rollout. The analysts expect MPEG-4 to dominate as the preferred compression technology, despite Microsoft efforts on Windows Media 9.

ìWireless FireWireí Product Development Set to Move Forward"



The 1394 Trade Association today approved the new Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) for IEEE 1394 over IEEE 802.15.3, which enables new ìWireless FireWireî product development that will let consumers easily connect wireless electronics components to each other and to the wired home entertainment network.

The 1394 Trade Association will bring a new set of FireWire technology demonstrations to this yearís Windows Hardware Engineering Conference May 4-7 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle.

Developed and managed by Oxford Semiconductor, a leader in 1394 product design, the demonstrations will be part of the Windows Community Pavilion on the WinHEC floor.