James Delahunty
10 Jan 2009 23:35
Silicon Image, an innovative chip-maker that helped to pioneer< the High-definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard, has revealed its intention to make media available throughout the home on all available displays. The company touted LiquidHD at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The new technology can connect all televisions, Blu-ray / DVD players, games consoles, DVRs and computers to a single home network.
In use, a user could, for example, pause a video game or Blu-ray movie in the living room, and then go to another room in the house and resume play on a different television with just one remote control. "This is presaging a whole new generation of smarter consumer devices that are aware of each other and able to share content across a very cheap commodity network," Silicon Image Chief Executive Steve Tirado said in an interview ahead of the start of CES.
The company has created a chip that manufacturers can embed in the next generation of television models, while it can offer software development kits for makers of games consoles, DVRs and Blu-ray players. TVs currently on the market can also be used with the system through the use of a small external device.
Silicon Image doesn't expect to have the first products incorporating LiquidHD on the market until 2010, but has already gotten approval from Fox Studios for the security and content protection used by the technology. The company will form a consortium to develop an international LiquidHD standard and promote it, mimicking the approach used with HDMI. Over 800 manufacturers have adopted HDMI.