Smart Home Theater System for Video Distribution: Liquid HD
Liquid HD is a new technology for consumer electronics products that provide whole-home distribution of high definition video, music, photos, and other media on any Liquid HD device. By using Liquid HD technology, all Liquid HD devices can view and share content with any other Liquid HD device, creating a whole-home high definition video distribution capability.
One main focus for Liquid HD is utilizing the same wires and technology already in use with the home theater components. Many home theater owners already have coaxial wires, Ethernet, or power line connecting their devices to their TV. With Liquid HD, consumers may take advantage of existing technology. Very much like HDMI has been integrated into all sorts of consumer electronics devices, consumer electronic devices that may be equipped with Liquid HD technology include TVs, PCs, DVD players, Blu-Ray players, mobile devices like cell phones, game consoles, and many more. Consumers want to be able to view and watch select content on any device that has a video display. In addition, those most interested in the technology want to be able to store and access content from anything that has either a hard drive or solid state flash memory. Liquid HD brings that capability, adds the intelligence to these devices, but makes it simple enough that the consumer does not have to set up IP addresses or understand a DHCP server. Using Liquid HD is just as simple as turn on the device. Once the device icons appear on the screen, the selection is made, and the user is connected to the selected source.
Liquid HD provides the new capability for allowing home theater owners to start watching a movie or favorite show in one room and continue watching it in another. Regardless of the viewer’s location or initial device, the viewer may be interrupted and later continue watching at another location using Liquid HD. Liquid HD helps alleviate any contention in the home theater household. For example, when the kids are playing their favorite video game and the parents want to watch a new release video, the kids may be dispatched to another room to continue playing their video game while the parents use the TV for watching their movie.
The digital video recorder (DVR) remains in the living room, but something that we recorded on the DVR in the living room may be viewed in another room using Liquid HD. The ultimate result is the capability for everyone to enjoy his or her favorite HD activity without competition or conflict over one location or device.
Liquid HD is a groundbreaking technology that will revolutionize viewing capabilities for home theater owners. The creators of Liquid HD are working with major consumer electronics companies to integrate the technology into various products. Consumers will see the first Liquid HD-equipped products beginning in 2010 and many more in the years ahead.
Home Theater and the Compatibility of InstaPort™ Technology
The introduction of InstaPort™ into the home theater market leads many home theater owners to ask one specific question before investing in products enabled with the technology: is InstaPort™ backwards compatible? What home theater owners need to know is whether or not an InstaPort™ technology-enabled television will work with existing satellite boxes, Roku boxes, PlayStation 3 console, or other devices. In other words, will all system devices work together as long as the television is enabled with the technology?
In a simple explanation, InstaPort™ technology is implemented into the television and it will work with any HDMI source device in the market today. Primarily, by addressing the switching device in the TV, the source device does not have to be modified to support InstaPort™ technology. Many HD consumers have also begun to wonder if InstaPort™ technology is available as an external unit, another set top box, or if it is strictly a chip set that goes inside new television sets that are InstaPort™ enabled.
InstaPort™ technology was specifically designed for televisions. Televisions being introduced in the high definition market today are supporting 3 to 4 HDMI ports. In moving forward from 2009 into 2010, televisions will be introduced that will support up to 5 HDMI ports. As users connect more and more of HD source devices to the television, InstaPort™ technology becomes a vital feature of the selected television model.
The clear advantage of InstaPort™ technology is the elimination of wait time between device switching. For example, if the consumer is watching basketball on TV and also playing basketball on an Xbox 360 console, it is possible to switch back and forth between the real game and the video game with no waiting involved. InstaPort™ technology is all about instant access. And that is what consumers want when they are watching content. When they want to switch from game console content to a soccer game, they want to make sure they get the access instantaneously.
Upon the announcement of InstaPort™ technology, there was a lot of interest in collaboration from major TV manufacturers because they saw the value of InstaPort™. The developers of InstaPort™ technology have been working with interested TV manufacturers to design the sets implementing the technology. Sets equipped with InstaPort™ technology are introduced in models in the latter half of 2009.
