1394 Trade Association Demonstrates Latest Home Networking Audio/Video Solutions at CEDIA EXPO 2008

Members of the 1394 Trade Association delivered a pair of demonstrations to CEDIA EXPO 2008 in Denver, showing the latest UWB over coax technology along with a complete audio-video transport system using new, globally available audio and video products.

With the High-Definition Audio-Video Networking Alliance (HANA), the Trade Association demonstrated a home networking solution that streams HD content throughout a home scenario using 1394 over a coax cable infrastructure, allowing consumers to securely distribute HD content, using one wire and one remote control.  Two HD DVRs and two DTVs were connected to each other using FireWire over standard in-home coax cabling and splitters in a three-room configuration. The demonstration showed multiple HD content streams being distributed simultaneously. The demo used products from 1394 Trade Association member companies Samsung (contributing 1394 over coax technology and DVRs) and Pulse~LINK (who also contributed 1394 over coax products). IntellaSys also provided a DVR for the demo.

Another CEDIA EXPO demonstration in the 1394 Trade Association booth moved high quality real-time video and audio between rooms, using long-haul FireWire over CAT5 cable – and featuring products that are commercially available worldwide.

Audio and video were distributed over CAT5 cabling using a Universal Media Access Networks (UMAN) enabled router from CAMCO. The UMAN protocol, based on standard FireWire with an embedded IP layer, enables the system to be scaled to a many-to-many distribution matrix for audio, video and TCP/IP.

Video from a standard video source was converted to FireWire using a Thomson Grass Valley professional grade ADC and routed to different rooms using the CAMCO router. Audio converted to FireWire using a UMAN audio bridge was routed directly to a FireWire/UMAN digital amplifier from Behold.  TC Applied Technologies played a major organizational role in the demonstration.   Key contributors to the 1394 for HD audio and video also include Texas Instruments, Eqcologic, and VividLogic, Inc. The exhibits featured products now in the market from Samsung, Pulse~LINK, Camco, Canopus, UMAN, IntellaSys, and IOI.

Although crowds were not the largest seen at CEDIA EXPO, there was significant interest in the Trade Association demonstrations. "Installers and other attendees continue to be very excited about what we were showing and what we can do using 1394,” noted James Snider, executive director.  “We asked them about long distance HDMI, which was featured in several locations at CEDIA EXPO, and got some very interesting feedback. Basically, we were hearing it doesn’t work very well.  Installers instead said they want what we have.”